I am learning functional programming using Haskell. I am trying to create a function that takes a function f, and executes the function on some input x, n number of times.
(a -> a) -> a -> Int -> [a]
repeat f x n
So, the output list is like this:
[x, f(x), f(f(x)), ..., f^n(x)]
So far I have been able to come up with a function that I believe does this, but I don't know how to constrain it so it only performs n number of times:
fn f a = (f a) : (fn f (f a))
Could someone lend a hand? Thanks!
You just need to specify two separate cases: one where recursion happens and the list continues, and another where recursion does not happen, and there needs to be some way to decide between the cases. The third parameter n looks like just the right thing for that:
fn f a 0 = []
fn f a n = f a : fn f (f a) (n-1)
I'm here to give another way (just for fun).
There is a very similar function: scanl :: (b -> a -> b) -> b -> [a] -> [b] in the library, it performs:
scanl f z [x1, x2, ...] == [z, z `f` x1, (z `f` x1) `f` x2, ...]
which is quite similar to what you want to do.
So we can write:
fn :: (a -> a) -> a -> Int -> [a]
fn f a n = scanl (\x _ -> f x) a (replicate n ())
-- or you can write:
-- fn f a n = scanl (const . f) a (replicate n ())
In (\x _ -> f x) we discard the second parameter (which is the ()).
Note how it works:
fn f a n == [a, (\x _ -> f x) a (), (\x _ -> f x) ((\x _ -> f x) a ()) (), ...]
== [a, f a, f (f a), ...]
Related
I want a higher-order function, g, that will apply another function, f, to a list of integers such that
g = [f x1, f(f x2), f(f(f x3)), … , f^n(xn)]
I know I can map a function like
g :: (Int -> Int) -> [Int] -> [Int]
g f xs = map f xs
and I could also apply a function n-times like
g f xs = [iterate f x !! n | x <- xs]
where n the number of times to apply the function. I know I need to use recursion, so I don't think either of these options will be useful.
Expected output:
g (+1) [1,2,3,4,5] = [2,4,6,8,10]
You can work with explicit recursion where you pass each time the function to apply and the tail of the list, so:
g :: (Int -> Int) -> [Int] -> [Int]
g f = go f
where go _ [] = []
go fi (x:xs) = … : go (f . fi) xs
I here leave implementing the … part as an exercise.
Another option is to work with two lists, a list of functions and a list of values. In that case the list of functions is iterate (f .) f: an infinite list of functions that can be applied. Then we can implement g as:
g :: (Int -> Int) -> [Int] -> [Int]
g f = zipWith ($) (iterate (f .) f)
Sounds like another use for foldr:
applyAsDeep :: (a -> a) -> [a] -> [a]
applyAsDeep f = foldr (\x xs -> f x : map f xs) []
λ> applyAsDeep (+10) [1,2,3,4,5]
[11,22,33,44,55]
If you want to go a bit overkill ...
import GHC.Exts (build)
g :: (a -> a) -> [a] -> [a]
g f xs0 =
build $ \c n ->
let go x r fi = fi x `c` r (f . fi)
in foldr go (const n) xs0 f
Given
> foldr (+) 5 [1,2,3,4]
15
this second version
foldr (\x n -> x + n) 5 [1,2,3,4]
also returns 15. The first thing I don't understand about the second version is how foldr knows which variable is associated with the accumulator-seed 5 and which with the list variable's elements [1,2,3,4]. In the lambda calculus way, x would seem to be the dependent variable and n the independent variable. So if this
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
foldr _ z [] = z
foldr f z (x:xs) = f x (foldr f z xs)
is foldr and these
:type foldr
foldr :: Foldable t => (a -> b -> b) -> b -> t a -> b
:t +d foldr
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
its type declarations, can I glean, deduce the answer to "which is dependent and which is independent" from the type declaration itself? It would seem both examples of foldr above must be doing this
(+) 1 ((+) 2 ((+) 3 ((+) 4 ((+) 5 0))))
I simply guessed the second, lambda function version above, but I don't really understand how it works, whereas the first version with (+) breaks down as shown directly above.
Another example would be this
length' = foldr (const (1+)) 0
where, again, const seems to know to "throw out" the incoming list elements and simply increment, starting with the initial accumulator value. This is the same as
length' = foldr (\_ acc -> 1 + acc) 0
where, again, Haskell knows which of foldr's second and third arguments -- accumulator and list -- to treat as the dependent and independent variable, seemingly by magic. But no, I'm sure the answer lies in the type declaration (which I can't decipher, hence, this post), as well as the lore of lambda calculus, of which I'm a beginner.
Update
I've found this
reverse = foldl (flip (:)) []
and then applying to a list
foldl (flip (:)) [] [1,2,3]
foldl (flip (:)) (1:[]) [2,3]
foldl (flip (:)) (2:1:[]) [3]
foldl (flip (:)) (3:2:1:[]) []
. . .
Here it's obvious that the order is "accumulator" and then list, and flip is flipping the first and second variables, then subjecting them to (:). Again, this
reverse = foldl (\acc x -> x : acc) []
foldl (\acc x -> x : acc) [] [1,2,3]
foldl (\acc x -> x : acc) (1:[]) [1,2,3]
. . .
seems also to rely on order, but in the example from further above
length' = foldr (\_ acc -> 1 + acc) 0
foldr (\_ acc -> 1 + acc) 0 [1,2,3]
how does it know 0 is the accumulator and is bound to acc and not the first (ghost) variable? So as I understand (the first five pages of) lambda calculus, any variable that is "lambda'd," e.g., \x is a dependent variable, and all other non-lambda'd variables are independent. Above, the \_ is associated with [1,2,3] and the acc, ostensibly the independent variable, is 0; hence, order is not dictating assignment. It's as if acc was some keyword that when used always binds to the accumulator, while x is always talking about the incoming list members.
Also, what is the "algebra" in the type definition where t a is transformed to [a]? Is this something from category theory? I see
Data.Foldable.toList :: t a -> [a]
in the Foldable definition. Is that all it is?
By "dependent" you most probably mean bound variable.
By "independent" you most probably mean free (i.e. not bound) variable.
There are no free variables in (\x n -> x + n). Both x and n appear to the left of the arrow, ->, so they are named parameters of this lambda function, bound inside its body, to the right of the arrow. Being bound means that each reference to n, say, in the function's body is replaced with the reference to the corresponding argument when this lambda function is indeed applied to its argument(s).
Similarly both _ and acc are bound in (\_ acc -> 1 + acc)'s body. The fact that the wildcard is used here, is immaterial. We could just have written _we_dont_care_ all the same.
The parameters in lambda function definition get "assigned" (also called "bound") the values of the arguments in an application, purely positionally. The first argument will be bound / assigned to the first parameter, the second argument - to the second parameter. Then the lambda function's body will be entered and further reduced according to the rules.
This can be seen a bit differently stating that actually in lambda calculus all functions have only one parameter, and multi-parameter functions are actually nested uni-parameter lambda functions; and that the application is left-associative i.e. nested to the left.
What this actually means is quite simply
(\ x n -> x + n) 5 0
=
(\ x -> (\ n -> x + n)) 5 0
=
((\ x -> (\ n -> x + n)) 5) 0
=
(\ n -> 5 + n) 0
=
5 + 0
As to how Haskell knows which is which from the type signatures, again, the type variables in the functional types are also positional, with first type variable corresponding to the type of the first expected argument, the second type variable to the second expected argument's type, and so on.
It is all purely positional.
Thus, as a matter of purely mechanical and careful substitution, since by the definition of foldr it holds that foldr g 0 [1,2,3] = g 1 (foldr g 0 [2,3]) = ... = g 1 (g 2 (g 3 0)), we have
foldr (\x n -> x + n) 0 [1,2,3]
=
(\x n -> x + n) 1 ( (\x n -> x + n) 2 ( (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 ))
=
(\x -> (\n -> x + n)) 1 ( (\x n -> x + n) 2 ( (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 ))
=
(\n -> 1 + n) ( (\x n -> x + n) 2 ( (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 ))
=
1 + ( (\x n -> x + n) 2 ( (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 ))
=
1 + ( (\x (\n -> x + n)) 2 ( (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 ))
=
1 + (\n -> 2 + n) ( (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 )
=
1 + (2 + (\x n -> x + n) 3 0 )
=
1 + (2 + (\x -> (\n -> x + n)) 3 0 )
=
1 + (2 + (\n -> 3 + n) 0 )
=
1 + (2 + ( 3 + 0))
In other words, there is absolutely no difference between (\x n -> x + n) and (+).
As for that t in foldr :: Foldable t => (a -> b -> b) -> b -> t a -> b, what that means is that given a certain type T a, if instance Foldable T exists, then the type becomes foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> T a -> b, when it's used with a value of type T a.
One example is Maybe a and thus foldr (g :: a -> b -> b) (z :: b) :: Maybe a -> b.
Another example is [] a and thus foldr (g :: a -> b -> b) (z :: b) :: [a] -> b.
(edit:) So let's focus on lists. What does it mean for a function foo to have that type,
foo :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
? It means that it expects an argument of type a -> b -> b, i.e. a function, let's call it g, so that
foo :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
g :: a -> b -> b
-------------------------------------
foo g :: b -> [a] -> b
which is itself a function, expecting of some argument z of type b, so that
foo :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
g :: a -> b -> b
z :: b
-------------------------------------
foo g z :: [a] -> b
which is itself a function, expecting of some argument xs of type [a], so that
foo :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
g :: a -> b -> b
z :: b
xs :: [a]
-------------------------------------
foo g z xs :: b
And what could such function foo g z do, given a list, say, [x] (i.e. x :: a, [x] :: [a])?
foo g z [x] = b where
We need to produce a b value, but how? Well, g :: a -> b -> b produces a function b -> b given an value of type a. Wait, we have that!
f = g x -- f :: b -> b
and what does it help us? Well, we have z :: b, so
b = f z
And what if it's [] we're given? We don't have any as then at all, but we have a b type value, z -- so instead of the above we'd just define
b = z
And what if it's [x,y] we're given? We'll do the same f-building trick, twice:
f1 = g x -- f1 :: b -> b
f2 = g y -- f2 :: b -> b
and to produce b we have many options now: it's z! or maybe, it's f1 z!? or f2 z? But the most general thing we can do, making use of all the data we have access to, is
b = f1 (f2 z)
for a right-fold (...... or,
b = f2 (f1 z)
for a left).
And if we substitute and simplify, we get
foldr g z [] = z
foldr g z [x] = g x z -- = g x (foldr g z [])
foldr g z [x,y] = g x (g y z) -- = g x (foldr g z [y])
foldr g z [x,y,w] = g x (g y (g w z)) -- = g x (foldr g z [y,w])
A pattern emerges.
Etc., etc., etc.
A sidenote: b is a bad naming choice, as is usual in Haskell. r would be much much better -- a mnemonic for "recursive result".
Another mnemonic is the order of g's arguments: a -> r -> r suggests, nay dictates, that a list's element a comes as a first argument; r the recursive result comes second (the Result of Recursively processing the Rest of the input list -- recursively, thus in the same manner); and the overall result is then produced by this "step"-function, g.
And that's the essence of recursion: recursively process self-similar sub-part(s) of the input structure, and complete the processing by a simple single step:
a a
: `g`
[a] r
------------- -------------
[a] r
[a]
a [a]
--------
(x : xs) -> r
xs -> r
----------------------
( x , r ) -> r --- or, equivalently, x -> r -> r
Well, the foldr itself knows this by definition. It was defined in such way that its function argument accepts the accumulator as 2nd argument.
Just like when you write a div x y = ... function you are free to use y as dividend.
Maybe you got confused by the fact that foldr and foldl has swapped arguments in the accumulator funtions?
As Steven Leiva says here, a foldr (1) takes a list and replaces the cons operators (:) with the given function and (2) replaces the last empty list [] with the accumulator-seed, which is what the definition of foldr says it will do
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
foldr _ z [] = z
foldr f z (x:xs) = f x (foldr f z xs)
So de-sugared [1,2,3] is
(:) 1 ((:) 2 ((:) 3 []))
and the recursion is in effect replacing the (:) with f, and as we see in foldr f z (x:xs) = f x (foldr f z xs), the z seed value is going along for the ride until the base case where it is substituted for the [], fulfilling (1) and (2) above.
My first confusion was seeing this
foldr (\x n -> x + n) 0 [1,2,3]
and not understanding it would be expanded out, per definition above, to
(\x n -> x + n) 1 ((\x n -> x + n) 2 ((\x n -> x + n) 3 0 ))
Next, due to a weak understanding of how the actual beta reduction would progress, I didn't understand the second-to-third step below
(\x -> (\n -> x + n)) 1 ...
(\n -> 1 + n) ...
1 + ...
That second-to-third step is lambda calculus being bizarre all right, but is at the root of why (+) and (\x n -> x + n) are the same thing. I don't think it's pure lambda calculus addition, but it (verbosely) mimics addition in recursion. I probably need to jump back into lambda calculus to really grasp why (\n -> 1 + n) turns into 1 +
My worse mental block was thinking I was looking at some sort of eager evaluation inside the parentheses first
foldr ((\x n -> x + n) 0 [1,2,3,4])
where the three arguments to foldr would interact first, i.e., 0 would be bound to the x and the list member to the n
(\x n -> x + n) 0 [1,2,3,4]
0 + 1
. . . then I didn't know what to think. Totally wrong-headed, even though, as Will Ness points out above, beta reduction is positional in binding arguments to variables. But, of course, I left out the fact that Haskell currying means we follow the expansion of foldr first.
I still don't fully understand the type definition
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
other than to comment/guess that the first a and the [a] mean a is of the type of the members of the incoming list and that the (a -> b -> b) is a prelim-microcosm of what foldr will do, i.e., it will take an argument of the incoming list's type (in our case the elements of the list?) then another object of type b and produce an object b. So the seed argument is of type b and the whole process will finally produce something of type b, also the given function argument will take an a and ultimately give back an object b which actually might be of type a as well, and in fact is in the above example with integers... IOW, I don't really have a firm grasp of the type definition...
So I'm learning about Haskell at the moment, and I came across this question:
The type of a function f is supposed to be a->[a]->a. The
following definitions of f are incorrect because their types are all
different from a->[a]->a:
i. f x xs = xs
ii. f x xs = x+1
iii. f x xs = x ++ xs
iv. f x (y:ys) = y
My answers as I see it are:
i) f :: a -> a -> a
This is because x or xs can be of any value and is not a list as it does not contain the ':' operator.
ii) f :: Int -> a -> Int
This is because the + operator is used on x, meaning x is of type Int.
iii) f :: Eq a => a -> a -> a
The ++ operators are used, therefore in order to concatenate they must be of the same type..?
iv) f :: a -> [a] -> a
f returns an element from the list.
The last one is definitely wrong, because it can't be of type a -> [a] -> a. Are there any others I did wrong, and why? I'm hoping I can fully understand types and how to find out the types of functions.
i) f :: a -> a -> a
f x xs = xs
This is because x or xs can be of any value and is not a list as it does not contain the ':' operator.
True, but it also does not have to be of the same type!
So, it's actually f :: a -> b -> b.
ii) f :: Int -> a -> Int
f x xs = x+1
This is because the + operator is used on x, meaning x is of type Int.
Correct. (Actually, in Haskell we get Num b => b -> a -> b which generalized the Int to any numeric type, but it's not that important.)
iii) f :: Eq a => a -> a -> a
f x xs = x ++ xs
The ++ operators are used, therefore in order to concatenate they must be of the same type..?
True, but they must be lists. Also, Eq is only needed if you use == or something which compares values.
Here, f :: [a] -> [a] -> [a].
iv) f :: a -> [a] -> a
f x (y:ys) = y
f returns an element from the list.
The type of x does not have to be the same. We get f :: b -> [a] -> a.
i. f x xs = xs
(...)
i) f :: a -> a -> a
Although this can be a type signature, you make it too restrictive. The function takes two parameters x and xs. Initially we can reason that x and xs can have different types, so we say that x :: a, and xs :: b. Since the function returns xs, the return type is b as well, so the type is:
f :: a -> b -> b
f x xs = xs
ii. f x xs = x+1
(...)
ii) f :: Int -> a -> Int
Again you make the function too restrictive. Let us again assume that x :: a and xs :: b have different types. We see that we return x + 1 (or in more canonical form (+) x 1. Since (+) has signature (+) :: Num c => c -> c -> c (we here use c since a is already used), and 1 has signature 1 :: Num d => d, we thus see that we call (+) with x and 1, as a result we know that a ~ c (a and c are the same type), and c ~ d, so as a result we obtain the signature:
f :: Num c => c -> b -> c
f x xs = x+1
iii. f x xs = x ++ xs
(...)
iii) f :: Eq a => a -> a -> a
This is wrong: we here see that f has two parameters, x :: a and xs :: b. We see that we return (++) x xs. Since (++) has signature (++) :: [c] -> [c] -> [c], we thus know that a ~ [c] and b ~ [c], so the type is:
f :: [c] -> [c] -> [c]
f x xs = x ++ xs
iv. f x (y:ys) = y
(...)
iv) f :: a -> [a] -> a
This is again too restrictive. Here we see again two parameters: x and (y:ys). We first generate a type a for x :: a, and (y:ys) :: b, since the pattern of the second parameter is (y:ys), this is a list constructor with as parameters (:) :: c -> [c] -> [c]. As a result we can derive that y :: c, and ys :: [c], furthermore the pattern (y:ys) has type [c]. Since the function returns y, we know that the return type is c, so:
f :: a -> [c] -> c
f x (y:ys) = y
Note: you can let Haskell derive the type of the function itself. In GHCi you can use the :t command to query the type of an expression. For example:
Prelude> f x (y:ys) = y
Prelude> :t f
f :: t1 -> [t] -> t
At the moment I am learning Haskell, but I am struggling with the syntax of a few example. What do they exactly mean?
First: What is the difference between these two lambdas (-> \y and y)?
lambda1 = \x -> \y -> x + y
lambda2 = \x y -> x + y
Second: What does this mean? Is this a lambda that act as a "pseudo" list generator that generates a list with 3 elements. How can I create such a list?
lambda3 = [\x -> x+1, \x -> 2*x, \x -> x^2]
Third: What does the \_ exactly mean?
lambda4 = \_ -> (\x -> x+1, \() -> 'a')
lambda2 is syntactic sugar for lambda1. All of these are equivalent:
f = \x -> \y -> x + y
f = \x y -> x + y
f x = \y -> x + y
f x y = x + y
f x y = (+) x y
f x = (+) x
f = (+)
lambda3 is a list of unary functions on numbers. Each function has the type (Num a) => a -> a, so the list has type (Num a) => [a -> a]. You could produce a list of values from this with map or a list comprehension:
fs = [\x -> x+1, \x -> 2*x, \x -> x^2]
map (\f -> f 3) fs
map ($ 3) fs
[f 3 | f <- fs]
==
[4, 6, 9]
lambda4 uses pattern-matching syntax. For example, if you have a data type:
data Foo = Foo Int String
Then you can write a lambda that pattern-matches on it:
f = \ (Foo n s) -> concat (replicate n s)
f (Foo 3 "bar") == "barbarbar"
(But unlike case, there is no way to provide alternative patterns if Foo has multiple constructors.)
The _ pattern just says “accept a value and ignore it”, so lambda4 is a function that accepts an argument, ignores it, and returns a pair (2-tuple) of unary functions, the first of type (Num a) => a -> a and the second of type () -> Char, so its type is Num a => r -> (a -> a, () -> Char).
lambda4 = \_ -> (\x -> x+1, \() -> 'a')
lambda4 = \ignored -> (\x -> x+1, \() -> 'a')
(inc, getA) = lambda4 ()
inc 3 == 4
getA () == 'a'
Functions that ignore their arguments can be constructed with the const function, and operator sections ((+ 1)) are typically preferred over lambdas (\x -> x + 1), so you can also write the above as:
lambda4 = const ((+ 1), const 'a')
On your second question, lambda3 is just a bad variable name. this is a list of functions of type Num a => a -> a. You can verify that by typing the following in ghci:
:t [\x -> x+1, \x -> 2*x, \x -> x^2]
First: What is the difference between these two lambdas (-> \y and y)?
There is no difference. Both produce the same output for the same input, and since they're pure functions, you can be sure that they produce no external effects that you wouldn't see.
The difference lies in that the first lambda uses syntactic sugar for currying.
\x y -> x + y is equal to \x -> \y -> x + y. Now, don't you think it looks a lot like type signatures, such as foo :: Int -> Int -> Int ? ;)
It means that the function foo takes 2 Int and produces an Int.
Since I don't have a very precise answer for the 2nd…
Third: What does the \_ exactly mean?
It's a lambda function (\) to which is associated the _ variable. _ is used as a placeholder to say “I don't care about the content of this variable, I'm even going to give it a proper name”.
There is no -> y. The correct way to read this is
(\ x -> (\ y -> (x + y)))
As it happens, Haskell has "curried functions", which means that
\ x y -> (x + y)
just happens to be equivalent to the above.
lambda3 is a list which contains three elements. Each of those elements happens to be a function. Functions are data in Haskell; you can pass them as arguments, return them as results, stuff them into lists, etc.
lambda3 = [ (\x -> x+1) , (\x -> 2*x) , (\x -> x^2) ]
lambda4 = \_ -> (\x -> x+1, \() -> 'a')
The "_" character basically means "I don't care what this is; ignore it". You can use it anywhere you can use a pattern. For example,
foobar x _ z = x + y
is a 3-argument function that completely ignores argument #2. Read about pattern matching and this should become clear. (I.e., it's not to do with lambdas, it's to do with patterns.)
21 --Primitive recursion constructor
22 pr :: ([Int] -> Int) -> ([Int] -> Int) -> ([Int] -> Int)
23 pr f g = \xs 0 -> f xs
24 pr f g = \xs (y+1) -> g xs y ((pr f g) xs y)
I want the function this function creates to act differently on different inputs, so that it can create a recursive function. As expected, the above code doesn't work. How do I do something like pattern matching, but for the function it creates?
pr f g = \xs y' -> case y' of 0 -> f xs
(y+1) -> g xs y ((pr f g) xs y)
or simply
pr f g xs 0 = f xs
pr f g xs (y+1) = g xs y ((pr f g) xs y)
(Remember that f a b = ... is basically a shortcut for f a = \b -> ... which is a shortcut for f = \a -> \b -> ....)
Note that n+1 patterns are deprecated and that the type you specified for pr does not match your (and mine) definition.
Specifically according to your type the function takes an [Int] -> Int (f), then a function that takes another [Int] -> Int (g), then a function that takes an [Int] (xs) and then returning an Int. However you call g with three arguments and the last function that you return takes two arguments, so presumably you want something like ([Int] -> Int) -> ([Int] -> Int -> Int -> Int) -> [Int] -> Int -> Int.
Another solution is to use the lenguaje extension LambdaCase:
{-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase #-}
pr f g = \xs -> \case
0 -> f xs
(y+1) -> g xs y ((pr f g) xs y)
In these case you have two use two \ because in a \case you can have only one argument.