Recursive objects in F#? - recursion

This snippet of F# code
let rec reformat = new EventHandler(fun _ _ ->
b.TextChanged.RemoveHandler reformat
b |> ScrollParser.rewrite_contents_of_rtb
b.TextChanged.AddHandler reformat
)
b.TextChanged.AddHandler reformat
results in the following warning:
traynote.fs(62,41): warning FS0040: This and other recursive references to the object(s) being defined will be checked for initialization-soundness at runtime through the use of a delayed reference. This is because you are defining one or more recursive objects, rather than recursive functions. This warning may be suppressed by using '#nowarn "40"' or '--nowarn:40'.
Is there a way in which the code can be rewritten to avoid this warning? Or is there no kosher way of having recursive objects in F#?

Your code is a perfectly fine way to construct a recursive object. The compiler emits a warning, because it cannot guarantee that the reference won't be accessed before it is initialized (which would cause a runtime error). However, if you know that EventHandler does not call the provided lambda function during the construction (it does not), then you can safely ignore the warning.
To give an example where the warning actually shows a problem, you can try the following code:
type Evil(f) =
let n = f()
member x.N = n + 1
let rec e = Evil(fun () ->
printfn "%d" (e:Evil).N; 1)
The Evil class takes a function in a constructor and calls it during the construction. As a result, the recursive reference in the lambda function tries to access e before it is set to a value (and you'll get a runtime error). However, especially when working with event handlers, this is not an issue (and you get the warnning when you're using recursive objects correctly).
If you want to get rid of the warning, you can rewrite the code using explicit ref values and using null, but then you'll be in the same danger of a runtime error, just without the warning and with uglier code:
let foo (evt:IEvent<_, _>) =
let eh = ref null
eh := new EventHandler(fun _ _ ->
evt.RemoveHandler(!eh) )
evt.AddHandler(!eh)

Related

Hiding a System.Random instance by returning a function

The following code comes from Stylish F# 6: Crafting Elegant Functional Code for .NET 6 listing 9-13:
let randomByte =
let r = System.Random()
fun () ->
r.Next(0, 255) |> byte
// E.g. A3-52-31-D2-90-E6-6F-45-1C-3F-F2-9B-7F-58-34-44-
for _ in 0..15 do
printf "%X-" (randomByte())
printfn ""
The author states, "Although we call randomByte() multiple times, only one System.Random() instance is created."
I understand randomByte returns a function that does not create a System.Random() instance, but it seems to me multiple System.Random() instances would be created each time through the for-do-loop anyway.
I would appreciate an explanation of how multiple instances of System.Random() are not created in this case.
The key point is that randomByte is not a function. It's a value with some complex initialization logic. Like, for example, I could write:
let x = 5
Or I could write:
let x =
let fourtyTwo = 42
let thirtySeven = 37
fourtyTwo - thirtySeven
And these would be equivalent. Both declare a value named x and equal to 5. I hope you can see how the expression fourtyTwo - thirtySeven is evaluated only once, not every time somebody gets the value of x.
And so it works with randomByte too: it's a value with non-trivial initialization logic. During that value's initialization, first it creates an instance of System.Random, and then it creates an anonymous function that closes over that instance, and this anonymous function becomes the value of randomByte.

porting python class to Julialang

I am seeing that Julia explicitly does NOT do classes... and I should instead embrace mutable structs.. am I going down the correct path here?? I diffed my trivial example against an official flux library but cannot gather how do I reference self like a python object.. is the cleanest way to simply pass the type as a parameter in the function??
Python
# Dense Layer
class Layer_Dense
def __init__(self, n_inputs, n_neurons):
self.weights = 0.01 * np.random.randn(n_inputs, n_neurons)
self.biases = np.zeros((1, n_neurons))
def forward(self, inputs):
pass
My JuliaLang version so far
mutable struct LayerDense
num_inputs::Int64
num_neurons::Int64
weights
biases
end
function forward(layer::LayerDense, inputs)
layer.weights = 0.01 * randn(layer.num_inputs, layer.num_neurons)
layer.biases = zeros((1, layer.num_neurons))
end
The flux libraries version of a dense layer... which looks very different to me.. and I do not know what they're doing or why.. like where is the forward pass call, is it here in flux just named after the layer Dense???
source : https://github.com/FluxML/Flux.jl/blob/b78a27b01c9629099adb059a98657b995760b617/src/layers/basic.jl#L71-L111
struct Dense{F, M<:AbstractMatrix, B}
weight::M
bias::B
σ::F
function Dense(W::M, bias = true, σ::F = identity) where {M<:AbstractMatrix, F}
b = create_bias(W, bias, size(W,1))
new{F,M,typeof(b)}(W, b, σ)
end
end
function Dense(in::Integer, out::Integer, σ = identity;
initW = nothing, initb = nothing,
init = glorot_uniform, bias=true)
W = if initW !== nothing
Base.depwarn("keyword initW is deprecated, please use init (which similarly accepts a funtion like randn)", :Dense)
initW(out, in)
else
init(out, in)
end
b = if bias === true && initb !== nothing
Base.depwarn("keyword initb is deprecated, please simply supply the bias vector, bias=initb(out)", :Dense)
initb(out)
else
bias
end
return Dense(W, b, σ)
end
This is an equivalent of your Python code in Julia:
mutable struct Layer_Dense
weights::Matrix{Float64}
biases::Matrix{Float64}
Layer_Dense(n_inputs::Integer, n_neurons::Integer) =
new(0.01 * randn(n_inputs, n_neurons),
zeros((1, n_neurons)))
end
forward(ld::Layer_Dense, inputs) = nothing
What is important here:
here I create an inner constructor only, as outer constructor is not needed; as opposed in the Flux.jl code you have linked the Dense type defines both inner and outer constructors
in python forward function does not do anything, so I copied it in Julia (your Julia code worked a bit differently); note that instead of self one should pass an instance of the object to the function as the first argument (and add ::Layer_Dense type signature so that Julia knows how to correctly dispatch it)
similarly in Python you store only weights and biases in the class, I have reflected this in the Julia code; note, however, that for performance reasons it is better to provide an explicit type of these two fields of Layer_Dense struct
like where is the forward pass call
In the code you have shared only constructors of Dense object are defined. However, in the lines below here and here the Dense type is defined to be a functor.
Functors are explained here (in general) and in here (more specifically for your use case)

How do I get information about function calls from a Lua script?

I have a script written in Lua 5.1 that imports third-party module and calls some functions from it. I would like to get a list of function calls from a module with their arguments (when they are known before execution).
So, I need to write another script which takes the source code of my first script, parses it, and extracts information from its code.
Consider the minimal example.
I have the following module:
local mod = {}
function mod.foo(a, ...)
print(a, ...)
end
return mod
And the following driver code:
local M = require "mod"
M.foo('a', 1)
M.foo('b')
What is the better way to retrieve the data with the "use" occurrences of the M.foo function?
Ideally, I would like to get the information with the name of the function being called and the values of its arguments. From the example code above, it would be enough to get the mapping like this: {'foo': [('a', 1), ('b')]}.
I'm not sure if Lua has functions for reflection to retrieve this information. So probably I'll need to use one of the existing parsers for Lua to get the complete AST and find the function calls I'm interested in.
Any other suggestions?
If you can not modify the files, you can read the files into a strings then parse mod file and find all functions in it, then use that information to parse the target file for all uses of the mod library
functions = {}
for func in modFile:gmatch("function mod%.(%w+)") do
functions[func] = {}
end
for func, call in targetFile:gmatch("M%.(%w+)%(([^%)]+)%)") do
args = {}
for arg in string.gmatch(call, "([^,]+)") do
table.insert(args, arg)
end
table.insert(functions[func], args)
end
Resulting table can then be serialized
['foo'] = {{"'a'", " 1"}, {"'b'"}}
3 possible gotchas:
M is not a very unique name and could vary possibly match unintended function calls to another library.
This example does not handle if there is a function call made inside the arg list. e.g. myfunc(getStuff(), true)
The resulting table does not know the typing of the args so they are all save as strings representations.
If modifying the target file is an option you can create a wrapper around your required module
function log(mod)
local calls = {}
local wrapper = {
__index = function(_, k)
if mod[k] then
return function(...)
calls[k] = calls[k] or {}
table.insert(calls[k], {...})
return mod[k](...)
end
end
end,
}
return setmetatable({},wrapper), calls
end
then you use this function like so.
local M, calls = log(require("mod"))
M.foo('a', 1)
M.foo('b')
If your module is not just functions you would need to handle that in the wrapper, this wrapper assumes all indexes are a function.
after all your calls you can serialize the calls table to get the history of all the calls made. For the example code the table looks like
{
['foo'] = {{'a', 1}, {'b'}}
}

ambuigity on function call in julia

I have this error
ERROR: MethodError: vcat(::Array{Real,2}, ::TrackedArray{…,Array{Float32,2}}) is ambiguous. Candidates:
vcat(364::AbstractArray, x::Union{TrackedArray, TrackedReal}, xs::Union{Number, AbstractArray}...) in Tracker at C:\Users\Henri\.julia\packages\Tracker\6wcYJ\src\lib\array.jl:167
vcat(A::Union{AbstractArray{T,2}, AbstractArray{T,1}} where T...) in Base at abstractarray.jl:1296
Possible fix, define
vcat(::Union{AbstractArray{T,2}, AbstractArray{T,1}} where T, ::Union{TrackedArray{T,1,A} where A<:AbstractArray{T,1} where T, TrackedArray{T,2,A} where A<:AbstractArray{T,2} where T}, ::Vararg{Union{AbstractArray{T,2}, AbstractArray{T,1}} where T,N} where N)
Telling me that two vcat() functions are ambiguous. I want to use the Base.vcat() function but using it explicitly throws the same error. Why is that ? And what is this "possible fix" proposed by the error throw?
Moreover, when I call manually each line in the REPL no error is thrown. I do not understand this behavior. This only happens when vcat() is in a function called inside another function. Like in my example below.
Here is a code that reproduces the error:
using Flux
function loss(a, b, net, net2)
net2(vcat(net(a),a))
end
function test()
opt = ADAM()
net = Chain(Dense(3,3))
net2 = Chain(Dense(6,1))
L(a, b) = loss(a, b, net, net2)
data = tuple(rand(3,1), rand(3,1))
xs = Flux.params(net)
gs = Tracker.gradient(() -> L(data...), xs)
Tracker.update!(opt, xs, gs)
end
As mentionned in comments with Henri.D, we've managed to fix it by being carreful with the type of a which was an Array of Float64, default type returned by rand whereas net(a) returned a TrackedArray of Float32 and made impossible to vcat it with a.
I've managed to fix vcat by changing your loss function with this: net2(vcat(net(a),Float32.(a))) because vcat couldn't concatenate as net(a) was a Float32 Array and a a Float64 one. Then L(data...) is a TrackedArray of 1 element whereas I think you need a Float32 that's why I finally replace loss function by net2(vcat(net(a),Float32.(a)))[1]

How can I make a retry function tail recursive?

I have a discriminated union that is similar to the Result type used in Scott's Railway Oriented Programming. For simplicity's sake, it's slightly simplified here:
type ErrorMessage = ErrorMessage of string
type ValidationResult<'a> =
| Success of 'a
| Error of ErrorMessage
I have a corresponding module ValidationResult that contains functions that act on these ValidationResults, one of them is a recursive retryable function that allows the parameter, f: unit -> 'a, to be called again (such as reading from stdin) if the ValidationResult is Error:
module ValidationResult
let doubleMap success error = function
| Success x -> success x
| Error e -> error e
let rec retryable errorHandler f =
let result = f ()
let retry e =
errorHandler e
retryable errorHandler f
doubleMap id retry result
But it isn't tail recursive and I would like to convert it to be so. How can I do that?
The F# compiler compiles tail-recursive functions in two different ways.
If the function is simple (calls itself directly), then it is compiled into a loop
If the tail-recursion involves multiple different functions (or even function values), then the compiler uses the .tail IL instruction to do a tail-call. This is also a tail-call, but handled by the .NET runtime rather than eliminated by the F# compiler.
In your case, the retryable function is already tail-recursive, but it is the second kind. Daniel's answer makes it simple enough so that it becomes the first kind.
However, you can keep the function as you have it and it will be tail-recursive. The only thing to note is that the compiler does not generate the .tail instruction by default in Debug mode (as it messes up the call stack) and so you need to enable it explicitly (in project options, check "Generate tail calls").
Just removing the call to doubleMap should do it:
let rec retryable errorHandler f =
match f() with
| Success x -> x
| Error e ->
errorHandler e
retryable errorHandler f

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