Accessing members of a struct in array Clisp - struct

Imagine I have a function that receive a array of structs like this:
(defun name-of-func (array)
(dotimes (i (array-total-size array))
(print (aref array i))))
and the stuct is something like this
(defstruct sTSP
cidade
x
y)
How can I access the field x on i position of the array?

Please take a look at the definition of defstruct.
It is long, but well worth the read.
If you are lazy, like we all are, search for reader:
(defstruct foo x y z)
(defparameter foo (make-foo :x 2 :y 4))
(foo-x foo)
==> 2
(foo-y foo)
==> 4
(foo-z foo)
==> NIL
PS1. Please note that array-total-size should
not be used with aref but
rather with row-major-aref.
The difference is with multi-dimensional arrays which are implemented
as vectors under the hood.
E.g., your function will fail on (make-array '(2 2) :initial-element (make-sTSP)).
PS2. I re-use foo for both type name and variable name to illustrate that they reside is different name spaces.

Related

Binary Search Tree "not a procedure" issue for In-Order-Traversal in Racket/Scheme/Lisp [duplicate]

During the execution of my code I get the following errors in the different Scheme implementations:
Racket:
application: not a procedure;
expected a procedure that can be applied to arguments
given: '(1 2 3)
arguments...:
Ikarus:
Unhandled exception
Condition components:
1. &assertion
2. &who: apply
3. &message: "not a procedure"
4. &irritants: ((1 2 3))
Chicken:
Error: call of non-procedure: (1 2 3)
Gambit:
*** ERROR IN (console)#2.1 -- Operator is not a PROCEDURE
((1 2 3) 4)
MIT Scheme:
;The object (1 2 3) is not applicable.
;To continue, call RESTART with an option number:
; (RESTART 2) => Specify a procedure to use in its place.
; (RESTART 1) => Return to read-eval-print level 1.
Chez Scheme:
Exception: attempt to apply non-procedure (1 2 3)
Type (debug) to enter the debugger.
Guile:
ERROR: In procedure (1 2 3):
ERROR: Wrong type to apply: (1 2 3)
Chibi:
ERROR in final-resumer: non procedure application: (1 2 3)
Why is it happening
Scheme procedure/function calls look like this:
(operator operand ...)
Both operator and operands can be variables like test, and + that evaluates to different values. For a procedure call to work it has to be a procedure. From the error message it seems likely that test is not a procedure but the list (1 2 3).
All parts of a form can also be expressions so something like ((proc1 4) 5) is valid syntax and it is expected that the call (proc1 4) returns a procedure that is then called with 5 as it's sole argument.
Common mistakes that produces these errors.
Trying to group expressions or create a block
(if (< a b)
((proc1)
(proc2))
#f)
When the predicate/test is true Scheme assumes will try to evaluate both (proc1) and (proc2) then it will call the result of (proc1) because of the parentheses. To create a block in Scheme you use begin:
(if (< a b)
(begin
(proc1)
(proc2))
#f)
In this (proc1) is called just for effect and the result of teh form will be the result of the last expression (proc2).
Shadowing procedures
(define (test list)
(list (cdr list) (car list)))
Here the parameter is called list which makes the procedure list unavailable for the duration of the call. One variable can only be either a procedure or a different value in Scheme and the closest binding is the one that you get in both operator and operand position. This would be a typical mistake made by common-lispers since in CL they can use list as an argument without messing with the function list.
wrapping variables in cond
(define test #t) ; this might be result of a procedure
(cond
((< 5 4) result1)
((test) result2)
(else result3))
While besides the predicate expression (< 5 4) (test) looks correct since it is a value that is checked for thurthness it has more in common with the else term and whould be written like this:
(cond
((< 5 4) result1)
(test result2)
(else result3))
A procedure that should return a procedure doesn't always
Since Scheme doesn't enforce return type your procedure can return a procedure in one situation and a non procedure value in another.
(define (test v)
(if (> v 4)
(lambda (g) (* v g))
'(1 2 3)))
((test 5) 10) ; ==> 50
((test 4) 10) ; ERROR! application: not a procedure
Undefined values like #<void>, #!void, #<undef>, and #<unspecified>
These are usually values returned by mutating forms like set!, set-car!, set-cdr!, define.
(define (test x)
((set! f x) 5))
(test (lambda (x) (* x x)))
The result of this code is undetermined since set! can return any value and I know some scheme implementations like MIT Scheme actually return the bound value or the original value and the result would be 25 or 10, but in many implementations you get a constant value like #<void> and since it is not a procedure you get the same error. Relying on one implementations method of using under specification makes gives you non portable code.
Passing arguments in wrong order
Imagine you have a fucntion like this:
(define (double v f)
(f (f v)))
(double 10 (lambda (v) (* v v))) ; ==> 10000
If you by error swapped the arguments:
(double (lambda (v) (* v v)) 10) ; ERROR: 10 is not a procedure
In higher order functions such as fold and map not passing the arguments in the correct order will produce a similar error.
Trying to apply as in Algol derived languages
In algol languages, like JavaScript and C++, when trying to apply fun with argument arg it looks like:
fun(arg)
This gets interpreted as two separate expressions in Scheme:
fun ; ==> valuates to a procedure object
(arg) ; ==> call arg with no arguments
The correct way to apply fun with arg as argument is:
(fun arg)
Superfluous parentheses
This is the general "catch all" other errors. Code like ((+ 4 5)) will not work in Scheme since each set of parentheses in this expression is a procedure call. You simply cannot add as many as you like and thus you need to keep it (+ 4 5).
Why allow these errors to happen?
Expressions in operator position and allow to call variables as library functions gives expressive powers to the language. These are features you will love having when you have become used to it.
Here is an example of abs:
(define (abs x)
((if (< x 0) - values) x))
This switched between doing (- x) and (values x) (identity that returns its argument) and as you can see it calls the result of an expression. Here is an example of copy-list using cps:
(define (copy-list lst)
(define (helper lst k)
(if (null? lst)
(k '())
(helper (cdr lst)
(lambda (res) (k (cons (car lst) res))))))
(helper lst values))
Notice that k is a variable that we pass a function and that it is called as a function. If we passed anything else than a fucntion there you would get the same error.
Is this unique to Scheme?
Not at all. All languages with one namespace that can pass functions as arguments will have similar challenges. Below is some JavaScript code with similar issues:
function double (f, v) {
return f(f(v));
}
double(v => v * v, 10); // ==> 10000
double(10, v => v * v);
; TypeError: f is not a function
; at double (repl:2:10)
// similar to having extra parentheses
function test (v) {
return v;
}
test(5)(6); // == TypeError: test(...) is not a function
// But it works if it's designed to return a function:
function test2 (v) {
return v2 => v2 + v;
}
test2(5)(6); // ==> 11

Does SBCL for lisp handle scope differently? It does not seem to pass scope into called functions?

When using emacs or my android app I run
(defun big (num) (setf num2 5)(little num)))
(defun little (num)(+ num2 num))
Little happily accepts num2 but when I run it in my SBCL repl (with sublimetext3) it does not.
Is this correct?
What is a workaround without creating a global variable for num2?
I could just pass a second argument (little num num2)
But this wont work when I am trying to mapcar little over a list. Because I can only have one argument when mapcaring correct?
Please read ยง6. Variables from Practical Common Lisp.
Unlike Emacs Lisp, Common Lisp relies on lexical scope by default (Emacs Lisp is dynamic by default). Dynamic scope (i.e. indefinite scope and dynamic extent) is provided by declaring variables special, and by convention, they are written with asterisks around their names (named "earmuffs"), like *standard-output*. You use defparameter or defvar to declare those variables. Since it has a global effect, you should never use them from inside functions; likewise, your usage of setf is not defined in Common Lisp: no variable named num2 was declared previously in the scope; besides, even if it did, using a global/special variable for local variable is bad style.
Dynamic scope
With special variables, you can for example locally rebind the standard output: the new value is only visible while the code is inside the body of the let binding:
(let ((*standard-output* *error-output*))
(print "Stream redirection"))
By default, print writes to the stream bound to *standard-output*; here, the stream is locally bound to the one given by *error-output*. As soon as you escape the let, *standard-output* reverts to its previous value (imagine there is a stack).
Lexical scope
With lexical scope, your code can only access the bindings that are visible in the text surrounding your code (and the global scope), and the extent is indefinite: it is possible to access a binding (sometimes indirectly) even after the code returns from the let:
(let ((closure
(let ((count 0))
(lambda () (print (incf count))))))
(funcall closure)
(funcall closure))
;; prints:
;; 1
;; 2
The lambda expression creates a closure, which captures the variable named count. Every time you call it, it will increase the count variable and print it. If you evaluate the same code another time, you define another closure and create another variable, with the same name.
Mapcar
Because I can only have one argument when mapcaring correct?
Not exactly; the function called by mapcar should be able to accept at least as many elements as the number of lists that are given to it (and it should also not require more mandatory arguments):
(mapcar (lambda (x y) (* x y))
'(1 2 3)
'(0 3 6))
=> (0 6 18)
(mapcar #'list '(1 2) '(a b) '(+ /))
=> ((1 a +) (2 b /))
The function can also be a closure, and can use special variables.
... with a closure
(defun adder (x)
(lambda (y) (+ x y)))
(mapcar (adder 10) '(0 1 2))
=> (10 11 12)
The adder functions takes a number x and returns a closure which accepts a number y and returns (+ x y).
... with a special variable
If you prefer dynamic scope, use earmuffs and give it a meaningful name:
(defparameter *default-offset* 0)
... and define:
(defun offset (x)
(+ x *default-offset*))
You can then mapcar too:
(let ((*default-offset* 20))
(mapcar #'offset '(1 2 3)))
=> (21 22 23)
As said by jkiiski in comments, you can also declare special variables with (declare (special ...)) where you usually put declarations (when entering a let, a defun, ...). You could also use the special operator progv. This can be useful to have "invisible" variables that are only known by a set of functions to exchange information. You rarely need them.

When to use a Var instead of a function?

I am going through the book Web Development with Clojure and it tells me to pass the handler (defined bellow) as a Var object instead of as the function itself, since the function can then change dynamically (this is what wrap-reload does).
The book says:
"Note that we have to create a var from the handler in order for this middleware
to work. This is necessary to ensure that the Var object containing the current
handler function is returned. If we used the handler instead then the app would
only see the original value of the function and changes would not be reflected."
I don't really understand what this means, are vars similar to c pointers?
(ns ring-app.core
(:require [ring.adapter.jetty :as jetty]
[ring.util.response :as response]
[ring.middleware.reload :refer [wrap-reload]]))
(defn handler [request]
(response/response
(str "<html>/<body> your IP is: " (:remote-addr request)
"</body></html>")))
(defn wrap-nocache [handler]
(fn [request]
(-> request
handler
(assoc-in [:headers "Pragma"] "no-cache"))))
Here is the handler call:
(defn -main []
(jetty/run-jetty
(wrap-reload (wrap-nocache (var handler)))
{:port 3001
:join? false}))
Yes, a Var in Clojure is similar to a C pointer. This is poorly documented.
Suppose you create a function fred as follows:
(defn fred [x] (+ x 1))
There are actually 3 things here. Firstly, fred is a symbol. There is a difference between a symbol fred (no quotes) and the keyword :fred (marked by the leading : char) and the string "fred" (marked by a double-quote at both ends). To Clojure, each of them is composed of 4 characters; i.e. neither the colon of the keyword nor the double-quotes of the string are included in their length or composition:
> (name 'fred)
"fred"
> (name :fred)
"fred"
> (name "fred")
"fred"
The only difference is how they are interpreted. A string is meant to represent user data of any sort. A keyword is meant to represent control information for the program, in a readable form (as opposed to "magic numbers" like 1=left, 2=right, we just use keywords :left and :right.
A symbol is meant to point to things, just like in Java or C. If we say
(let [x 1
y (+ x 1) ]
(println y))
;=> 2
then x points to the value 1, y points to the value 2, and we see the result printed.
the (def ...) form introduces an invisible third element, the Var. So if we say
(def wilma 3)
we now have 3 objects to consider. wilma is a symbol, which points to a Var, which in turn points to the value 3. When our program encounters the symbol wilma, it is evaluated to find the Var. Likewise, the Var is evaluated to yield the value 3. So it is like a 2-level indirection of pointers in C. Since both the symbol and the Var are "auto-evaluated", this happens automatically and invisibly and you don't have to think about the Var (indeed, most people aren't really aware the invisible middle step even exists).
For our function fred above, a similar situation exists, except the Var points to the anonymous function (fn [x] (+ x 1)) instead of the value 3 like with wilma.
We can "short-circuit" the auto-evaluation of the Var like:
> (var wilma)
#'clj.core/wilma
or
> #'wilma
#'clj.core/wilma
where the reader macro #' (pound-quote) is a shorthand way of calling the (var ...) special form. Keep in mind that a special form like var is a compiler built-in like if or def, and is not the same as a regular function. The var special form returns the Var object attached to the symbol wilma. The clojure REPL prints the Var object using the same shorthand, so both results look the same.
Once we have the Var object, auto-evaluation is disabled:
> (println (var wilma))
#'clj.core/wilma
If we want to get to the value that wilma points to, we need to use var-get:
> (var-get (var wilma))
3
> (var-get #'wilma)
3
The same thing works for fred:
> (var-get #'fred)
#object[clj.core$fred 0x599adf07 "clj.core$fred#599adf07"]
> (var-get (var fred))
#object[clj.core$fred 0x599adf07 "clj.core$fred#599adf07"]
where the #object[clj.core$fred ...] stuff is Clojure's way of representing a function object as a string.
With regard to the web server, it can tell via the var? function or otherwise if the supplied value is the handler function or the var which points to the handler function.
If you type something like:
(jetty/run-jetty handler)
the double auto-evaluation will yield the handler function object, which is passed to run-jetty. If, instead, you type:
(jetty/run-jetty (var handler))
then the Var which points to the handler function object will be passed to run-jetty. Then, run-jetty will have to use an if statement or equivalent to determine what it has received, and call (var-get ...) if it has received a Var instead of a function. Thus, each time through (var-get ...) will return the object to which the Var currently points. So, the Var acts like a global pointer in C, or a global "reference" variable in Java.
If you pass a function object to run-jetty, it saves a "local pointer" to the function object and there is no way for the outside world to change what the local pointer refers to.
You can find more details here:
http://clojure.org/reference/evaluation
http://clojure.org/reference/vars
Update
As OlegTheCat has pointed out, Clojure has yet another trick up its sleeve regarding Var objects that point to Clojure functions. Consider a simple function:
(defn add-3 [x] (+ x 3))
; `add-3` is a global symbol that points to
; a Var object, that points to
; a function object.
(dotest
(let [add-3-fn add-3 ; a local pointer to the fn object
add-3-var (var add-3)] ; a local pointer to the Var object
(is= 42 (add-3 39)) ; double deref from global symbol to fn object
(is= 42 (add-3-fn 39)) ; single deref from local symbol to fn object
(is= 42 (add-3-var 39))) ; use the Var object as a function
; => SILENT deref to fn object
If we treat a Var object as a function, Clojure will SILENTLY deref it into the function object, then invoke that function object with the supplied args. So we see that all three of add-3, add-3-fn and add-3-var will work. This is what is occurring in Jetty. It never realizes that you have given it a Var object instead of a function, but Clojure magically patches up that mismatch without telling you.
Sidebar: Please note this only works since our "jetty" is actually
the Clojure wrapper code ring.adapter.jetty, and not the actual Java
webserver Jetty. If you tried to depend on this trick with an
actual Java function instead of a Clojure wrapper, it would fail. Indeed, you must use a Clojure wrapper like proxy in order to pass a Clojure function to Java code.
You have no such guardian angel to save you if you use the Var object as anything other than a function:
(let [wilma-long wilma ; a local pointer to the long object
wilma-var (var wilma)] ; a local pointer to the Var object
(is (int? wilma-long)) ; it is a Long integer object
(is (var? wilma-var)) ; it is a Var object
(is= 4 (inc wilma)) ; double deref from global symbol to Long object
(is= 4 (inc wilma-long)) ; single deref from local symbol to Long object
(throws? (inc wilma-var)))) ; Var object used as arg => WILL NOT deref to Long object
So, if you are expecting a function and someone gives you a Var object that points to a function, then you are OK since Clojure silently fixes the problem. If you are expecting anything other than a function and someone gives you a Var object that points to that thing, then you are on your own.
Consider this helper function:
(defn unvar
"When passed a clojure var-object, returns the referenced value (via deref/var-get);
else returns arg unchanged. Idempotent to multiple calls."
[value-or-var]
(if (var? value-or-var)
(deref value-or-var) ; or var-get
value-or-var))
Now you can safely use the thing you were given:
(is= 42 (+ 39 (unvar wilma))
(+ 39 (unvar wilma-long))
(+ 39 (unvar wilma-var)))
Appendix
Notice that there are three dualities that can confuse the issue:
Both var-get and deref do the same thing with a Clojure Var
The reader macro #'xxx is translated into (var xxx)
The reader macro #xxx is translated into (deref xxx)
So we have (confusingly!) many ways of doing the same thing:
(ns tst.demo.core
(:use tupelo.core tupelo.test))
(def wilma 3)
; `wilma` is a global symbol that points to
; a Var object, that points to
; a java.lang.Long object of value `3`
(dotest
(is= java.lang.Long (type wilma))
(is= 3 (var-get (var wilma)))
(is= 3 (var-get #'wilma))
; `deref` and `var-get` are interchangable
(is= 3 (deref (var wilma)))
(is= 3 (deref #'wilma))
; the reader macro `#xxx` is a shortcut that translates to `(deref xxx)`
(is= 3 #(var wilma))
(is= 3 ##'wilma)) ; Don't do this - it's an abuse of reader macros.
Another note
The (def ...) special form returns the clojure.lang.Var object it creates. Normally, a (def ...) form is used only at the top level in a Clojure source file (or at the REPL), so the return value is silently discarded. However, a reference to the created Var object can also be captured:
(let [p (def five 5)
q (var five)]
(is= clojure.lang.Var
(type p)
(type q))
(is= 6
(inc five)
(inc (var-get p))
(inc (deref q)))
(is (identical? p q)))
Here we create a global Var five pointing to the number 5. The return value of the def form is captured in the local value p. We use the (var ...) special form to get a reference q pointing to the same Var object.
The first test shows that p and q are both of type clojure.lang.Var. The middle test shows three ways of accessing the value 5. As expected, all retrieve the value 5 which is incremented to yield 6. The last test verifies that p and q both point to the same Java object (i.e. there is only one clojure.lang.Var object that points to the integer 5).
It is even possible for a Var to point to another Var instead of a data value:
(def p (def five 5)) ; please don't ever do this
While it works, I cannot think of a legitimate reason for ever doing this.
There are a couple of good answers already. Just wanted to add this caveat:
(defn f [] 10)
(defn g [] (f))
(g) ;;=> 10
(defn f [] 11)
;; -Dclojure.compiler.direct-linking=true
(g) ;;=> 10
;; -Dclojure.compiler.direct-linking=false
(g) ;;=> 11
So, when direct linking is on, the indirection via a var is replaced with a direct static invocation. Similar to the situation with the handler, but then with every var invocation, unless you explicitly refer to a var, like:
(defn g [] (#'f))
Hopefully this small example will get you on track:
> (defn your-handler [x] x)
#'your-handler
> (defn wrap-inc [f]
(fn [x]
(inc (f x))))
> #'wrap-inc
> (def your-app-with-var (wrap-inc #'your-handler))
#'your-app-with-var
> (def your-app-without-var (wrap-inc your-handler))
#'your-app-without-var
> (your-app-with-var 1)
2
> (your-app-without-var 1)
2
> (defn your-handler [x] 10)
#'your-handler
> (your-app-with-var 1)
11
> (your-app-without-var 1)
2
The intuition for this is when you use a var when creating your handler you are actually passing a "container" with some value, content of which can be changed in future by defining var with the same name. When you don't use var (like in your-app-without-var) you are passing a current value of this "container", which cannot be redefined in any way.

Split a string even if the last character is a delimiter

I want to delete some characters at the end of a string.
I made this function :
(defun del-delimiter-at-end (string)
(cond
((eq (delimiterp (char string (- (length string) 1))) nil)
string )
(t
(del-delimiterp-at-end (subseq string 0 (- (length string) 1))) ) ) )
with this :
(defun delimiterp (c) (position c " ,.;!?/"))
But I don't understand why it doesn't work. I have the following error :
Index must be positive and not -1
Note that I want to split a string in list of strings, I already looked here :
Lisp - Splitting Input into Separate Strings
but it doesn't work if the end of the string is a delimiter, that's why I'm trying to do that.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.
The Easy Way
Just use string-right-trim:
(string-right-trim " ,.;!?/" s)
Your Error
If you pass an empty string to you del-delimiter-at-end, you will be passing -1 as the second argument to char.
Your Code
There is no reason to do (eq (delimiterp ...) nil); just use (delimiterp ...) instead (and switch the clauses!)
It is mode idiomatic to use if and not cond when you have just two clauses and each has just one form.
You call subseq recursively, which means that you not only allocate memory for no reason, your algorithm is also quadratic in string length.
There are really two questions here. One is more specific, and is described in the body of the question. The other is more general, and is what the title asks about (how to split a sequence). I'll handle the immediate question that's in the body, of how to trim some elements from the end of a sequence. Then I'll handle the more general question of how to split a sequence in general, and how to split a list in the special case, since people who find this question based on its title may be interested in that.
Right-trimming a sequence
sds answered this perfectly if you're only concerned with strings. The language already includes string-right-trim, so that's probably the best way to solve this problem, if you're only concerned with strings.
A solution for sequences
That said, if you want a subseq based approach that works with arbitrary sequences, it makes sense to use the other sequence manipulation functions that the language provides. Many functions take a :from-end argument and have -if-not variants that can help. In this case, you can use position-if-not to find the rightmost non-delimiter in your sequence, and then use subseq:
(defun delimiterp (c)
(position c " ,.;!?/"))
(defun right-trim-if (sequence test)
(let ((pos (position-if-not test sequence :from-end t)))
(subseq sequence 0 (if (null pos) 0 (1+ pos)))))
(right-trim-if "hello!" 'delimiterp) ; some delimiters to trim
;=> "hello"
(right-trim-if "hi_there" 'delimiterp) ; nothing to trim, with other stuff
;=> "hi_there"
(right-trim-if "?" 'delimiterp) ; only delimiters
;=> ""
(right-trim-if "" 'delimiterp) ; nothing at all
;=> ""
Using complement and position
Some people may point out that position-if-not is deprecated. If you don't want to use it, you can use complement and position-if to achieve the same effect. (I haven't noticed an actual aversion to the -if-not functions though.) The HyperSpec entry on complement says:
In Common Lisp, functions with names like xxx-if-not are related
to functions with names like xxx-if in that
(xxx-if-not f . arguments) == (xxx-if (complement f) . arguments)
For example,
(find-if-not #'zerop '(0 0 3)) ==
(find-if (complement #'zerop) '(0 0 3)) => 3
Note that since the xxx-if-not functions and the :test-not
arguments have been deprecated, uses of xxx-if functions or :test
arguments with complement are preferred.
That said, position and position-if-not take function designators, which means that you can pass the symbol delimiterp to them, as we did in
(right-trim-if "hello!" 'delimiterp) ; some delimiters to trim
;=> "hello"
complement, though, doesn't want a function designator (i.e., a symbol or function), it actually wants a function object. So you can define right-trim-if as
(defun right-trim-if (sequence test)
(let ((pos (position-if (complement test) sequence :from-end t)))
(subseq sequence 0 (if (null pos) 0 (1+ pos)))))
but you'll have to call it with the function object, not the symbol:
(right-trim-if "hello!" #'delimiterp)
;=> "hello"
(right-trim-if "hello!" 'delimiterp)
; Error
Splitting a sequence
If you're not just trying to right-trim the sequence, then you can implement a split function without too much trouble. The idea is to increment a "start" pointer into the sequence. It first points to the beginning of the sequence. Then you find the first delimiter and grab the subsequence between them. Then find the the next non-delimiter after that, and treat that as the new start point.
(defun split (sequence test)
(do ((start 0)
(results '()))
((null start) (nreverse results))
(let ((p (position-if test sequence :start start)))
(push (subseq sequence start p) results)
(setf start (if (null p)
nil
(position-if-not test sequence :start p))))))
This works on multiple kinds of sequences, and you don't end up with non delimiters in your subsequences:
CL-USER> (split '(1 2 4 5 7) 'evenp)
((1) (5 7))
CL-USER> (split '(1 2 4 5 7) 'oddp)
(NIL (2 4))
CL-USER> (split "abc123def456" 'alpha-char-p)
("" "123" "456")
CL-USER> (split #(1 2 3 foo 4 5 6 let 7 8 list) 'symbolp)
(#(1 2 3) #(4 5 6) #(7 8))
Although this works for sequences of all types, it's not very efficient for lists, since subseq, position, etc., all have to traverse the list up to the start position. For lists, it's better to use a list specific implementation:
(defun split-list (list test)
(do ((results '()))
((endp list)
(nreverse results))
(let* ((tail (member-if test list))
(head (ldiff list tail)))
(push head results)
(setf list (member-if-not test tail)))))
CL-USER> (split-list '(1 2 4 5 7) 'oddp)
(NIL (2 4))
CL-USER> (split-list '(1 2 4 5 7) 'evenp)
((1) (5 7))
Instead of member-if and ldiff, you could also us cut from this answer to Idiomatic way to group a sorted list of integers?.

Is there a generic method for cloning CLOS objects?

I'm looking for a way to clone CLOS objects in a shallow manner, so the created object would be of the same type with the same values in each slot, but a new instance. The closest thing I found is a standard function copy-structure which does this for structures.
There is no standard predefined way to copy CLOS objects in general. It is not trivial, if possible at all, to provide a reasonable default copy operation that does the right thing (at least) most of the time for arbitrary objects, since the correct semantics change from class to class and from application to application. The extended possibilities the MOP provides make it even harder to provide such a default. Also, in CL, being a garbage collected language, copying of objects is not really needed very often, e.g. when passed as parameters or being returned. So, implementing your copy operations as needed would probably be the cleanest solution.
That being said, here is what I found in one of my snippet files, which might do what you want:
(defun shallow-copy-object (original)
(let* ((class (class-of original))
(copy (allocate-instance class)))
(dolist (slot (mapcar #'slot-definition-name (class-slots class)))
(when (slot-boundp original slot)
(setf (slot-value copy slot)
(slot-value original slot))))
copy))
You will need some MOP support for class-slots and slot-definition-name.
(I probably adopted this from an old c.l.l thread, but I can't remember. I never really needed something like this, so it's utterly untested.)
You can use it like this (tested with CCL):
CL-USER> (defclass foo ()
((x :accessor x :initarg :x)
(y :accessor y :initarg :y)))
#<STANDARD-CLASS FOO>
CL-USER> (defmethod print-object ((obj foo) stream)
(print-unreadable-object (obj stream :identity t :type t)
(format stream ":x ~a :y ~a" (x obj) (y obj))))
#<STANDARD-METHOD PRINT-OBJECT (FOO T)>
CL-USER> (defparameter *f* (make-instance 'foo :x 1 :y 2))
*F*
CL-USER> *f*
#<FOO :x 1 :y 2 #xC7E5156>
CL-USER> (shallow-copy-object *f*)
#<FOO :x 1 :y 2 #xC850306>
Here's a slightly different version of the function submitted by danlei. I wrote this a while ago and just stumbled across this post. For reasons that I don't entirely recall, this calls REINITIALIZE-INSTANCE after copying. I think it's so you could make some changes to the new object by passing additional initargs to this function
e.g.
(copy-instance *my-account* :balance 100.23)
This is also defined as generic function over objects that are 'standard-object's. Which might or might not be the right thing to do.
(defgeneric copy-instance (object &rest initargs &key &allow-other-keys)
(:documentation "Makes and returns a shallow copy of OBJECT.
An uninitialized object of the same class as OBJECT is allocated by
calling ALLOCATE-INSTANCE. For all slots returned by
CLASS-SLOTS, the returned object has the
same slot values and slot-unbound status as OBJECT.
REINITIALIZE-INSTANCE is called to update the copy with INITARGS.")
(:method ((object standard-object) &rest initargs &key &allow-other-keys)
(let* ((class (class-of object))
(copy (allocate-instance class)))
(dolist (slot-name (mapcar #'sb-mop:slot-definition-name (sb-mop:class-slots class)))
(when (slot-boundp object slot-name)
(setf (slot-value copy slot-name)
(slot-value object slot-name))))
(apply #'reinitialize-instance copy initargs))))
This solution does not require sl-mob:
(defun copy-slot (s d slot)
`(setf (,slot ,d) (,slot ,s)))
(defun copy-by-slots (s d slots)
(assert (eql (class-of s) (class-of d)))
(let ((f (lambda (s$) (eval (copy-slot s d s$)))))
(mapcar f slots)))
(copy-by-slots src dest quoted-list-of-slots)
I mention a dirty trick producing a clone of a CLOS instance.
(defclass cl () ((sl1 :initarg :sl1) (sl2 :initarg :sl2)))
(defmethod update-instance-for-different-class ((copy cl) (original cl) &key)
(setf clone copy))
(setf a (make-instance 'cl :sl1 111 :sl2 222))
(change-class a 'cl)
(eq clone a) -> NIL
(eql (slot-value a 'sl1) (slot-value clone 'sl1)) -> T
Implies CLOS itself needs a notion of clone.

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