Matlab function defintion method that takes string as the definition (MFILE) - string

there is this method I used the other day and I have forgotten the details, which in we used a syntax like this:
f=//command//(x,'sin(x)');
something like this.
im not sure if the syntax is fully correct, or what the right command is. but after this we could simply ask for the f(x) value like this:
x= 0;
y= f(x);
and then the results were y=0;

What you are asking for is usually not recommendable. Please check if a simple anonymous function also fits your requirements:
f=#(x)(sin(x))
In case you really need to evaluate from a string:
f=str2func('#(x)sin(x)')
I would advice against the second option unless absolutely required, it can lead to hard to debug errors.

well I found the answer myself and it was "inline" command; :)
f=inline('sin(x+y+z)','x','y','z');
you can add as much variables as needed too.

Related

make menhir find all alternatives?

I would like to change the behavior of menhir's output in follwoing way:
I want it to look up all grammatical alternatives if it finds any, and put them in a list and get me back this ambigouus interpretation. It shall not reduce conflicts, just store them.
In the source code of menhir, it seems to me, that I have to look in "Engine.ml". The resultant syntactically determined token comes in a variant type item "Accepted v" as a state of a checkpoint of the grammatical automaton. This content is found by a function "accept env prod" before, that is part of a bundle of recursive functions, that change the states.
Do you have a tip, how I could change these functions to put all the possible results in the list here and proceed as if nothing happened? Or do you think, that this wont work anyway?
Thanks.
What you are looking for is a GLR parser generator (G is for generalized). Menhir is not such tool, and I doubt you could modify it easily to do what you want.
However, there is another tool that does exactly what you want: dypgen.

Executing functions stored in a string

Lets say that there is a function in my Delphi app:
MsgBox
and there is a string which has MsgBox in it.
I know what most of you are going to say is that its possible, but I think it is possible because I opened the compiled exe(compiled using delphi XE2) using a Resource Editor, and that resource editor was built for Delphi. In that, I could see most of the code I wrote, as I wrote it. So since the variables names, function names etc aren't changed during compile, there should a way to execute the functions from a string, but how? Any help will be appreciated.
EDIT:
What I want to do is to create a simple interpreter/scripting engine. And this is how its supposed to work:
There are two files, scr.txt and arg.txt
scr.txt contains:
msg_show
0
arg.txt contains:
"Message"
And now let me explain what that 0 is:
First, scr.txt's first line is function name
second line tells that at which line its arguments are in the arg.txt, i.e 0 tells that "Message" is the argument for msg_show.
I hope my question is now clear.
I want to make a simple scripting engine.
In order to execute arbitrary code stored as text, you need a compiler or an interpreter. Either you need to write one yourself, or embed one that already exists. Realistically, the latter option is your best option. There are a number available but in my view it's hard to look past dwscript.
I think I've already solved my problem! The answer is in this question's first answer.
EDIT:
But with that, as for a workaround of the problem mentioned in first comment, I have a very easy solution.
You don't need to pass all the arguments/parameters to it. Just take my example:
You have two files, as mentioned in the question. Now you need to execute the files. It is as simple as that:
read the first line of scr.txt
check if it's a function. If not, skip the line
If yes, read the next line which tells the index where it's arguments are in arg.txt
pass on the index(an integer) to the "Call" function.
Now to the function which has to be executed, it should know how many arguments it needs. i.e 2
Lets say that the function is "Sum(a,b : integer)".It needs 2 arguments
Now let the function read the two arguments from arg.txt.
And its done!
I hope it will help you all.
And I can get some rep :)

Ternary operator should not be used on a single line in Node.js. Why?

Consider the following sample codes:
1.Sample
var IsAdminUser = (User.Privileges == AdminPrivileges)
? 'yes'
: 'no';
console.log(IsAdminUser);
2.Sample
var IsAdminUser = (User.Privileges == AdminPrivileges)?'yes': 'no';
console.log(IsAdminUser);
The 2nd sample I am very comfortable with & I code in that style, but it was told that its wrong way of doing without any supportive reasons.
Why is it recommended not to use a single line ternary operator in Node.js?
Can anyone put some light on the reason why it is so?
Advance Thanks for great help.
With all coding standards, they are generally for readability and maintainability. My guess is the author finds it more readable on separate lines. The compiler / interpreter for your language will handle it all the same. As long as you / your project have a set standard and stick to it, you'll be fine. I recommend that the standards be worked on or at least reviewed by everyone on the project before casting them in stone. I think that if you're breaking it up on separate lines like that, you may as well define an if/else conditional block and use that.
Be wary of coding standards rules that do not have a justification.
Personally, I do not like the ternary operator as it feels unnatural to me and I always have to read the line a few times to understand what it's doing. I find separate if/else blocks easier for me to read. Personal preference of course.
It is in fact wrong to put the ? on a new line; even though it doesn’t hurt in practice.
The reason is a JS feature called “Automatic Semicolon Insertion”. When a var statement ends with a newline (without a trailing comma, which would indicate that more declarations are to follow), your JS interpreter should automatically insert a semicolon.
This semicolon would have the effect that IsAdminUser is assigned a boolean value (namely the result of User.Privileges == AdminPrivileges). After that, a new (invalid) expression would start with the question mark of what you think is a ternary operator.
As mentioned, most JS interpreters are smart enough to recognize that you have a newline where you shouldn’t have one, and implicitely fix your ternary operator. And, when minifying your script, the newline is removed anyway.
So, no problem in practice, but you’re relying on an implicit fix of common JS engines. It’s better to write the ternary operator like this:
var foo = bar ? "yes" : "no";
Or, for larger expressions:
var foo = bar ?
"The operation was successful" : "The operation has failed.";
Or even:
var foo = bar ?
"Congratulations, the operation was a total success!" :
"Oh, no! The operation has horribly failed!";
I completely disagree with the person who made this recommendation. The ternary operator is a standard feature of all 'C' style languages (C,C++,Java,C#,Javascript etc.), and most developers who code in these languages are completely comfortable with the single line version.
The first version just looks weird to me. If I was maintaining code and saw this, I would correct it back to a single line.
If you want verbose, use if-else. If you want neat and compact use a ternary.
My guess is the person who made this recommendation simply wasn't very familiar with the operator, so found it confusing.
Because it's easier on the eye and easier to read. It's much easier to see what your first snippet is doing at a glance - I don't even have to read to the end of a line. I can simply look at one spot and immediately know what values IsAdminUser will have for what conditions. Much the same reason as why you wouldn't write an entire if/else block on one line.
Remember that these are style conventions and are not necessarily backed up by objective (or technical) reasoning.
The reason for having ? and : on separate lines is so that it's easier to figure out what changed if your source control has a line-by-line comparison.
If you've just changed the stuff between the ? and : and everything is on a single line, the entire line can be marked as changed (based on your comparison tool).

How to define a function without arguments in gnuplot?

I want to define a function which returns a random number:
gnuplot> rnd() = int(rand(0)*2**24)
^
invalid command
I need add a parameter x to stop the error message:
gnuplot> rnd(x) = int(rand(0)*2**24)
Is it possible to define a function without parameters?
I don't think that is possible (look at the syntax for functions in help user-defined). As far as I can tell -- using rand is the only time when this is useful -- In all other cases your "function" would just evaluate to a constant. I'm guessing the gnuplot devs just haven't thought of this (interesting) corner case, or they didn't think it useful enough to implement.
I hope that I'm wrong about this and somebody else comes along and proves it, but I don't think I am. I think the easiest workaround it to just pass a parameter as you've already mentioned. If you really don't like that, you could use a macro:
set macro
rnd="(int(rand(0)*2**24))"
print 5+#rnd

Can IDL evaluate strings as code?

Is there any functionality in IDL that will allow it to evaluate a a string as code?
Or, failing that, is there a nice, dynamic way of including /KEYWORD in functions? For example, if I wanted to ask them for what type of map projection the user wants, is there a way to do it nicely, without large if/case statements for the /Projection_Type keyword it needs?
With even a small number of user options, the combinations would cause if/case statements to get out of hand very quickly to handle all the possible options.
The best bet is to use a case statement because you can't trust that your user is going to type in the same string for Projection_Type that you're expecting as in the keyword.
Though if you are set on doing something like this, there is the EXECUTE function that treats a string as an IDL statement:
Result = EXECUTE(String [, QuietCompile] [, QuietExecution])
Edited to add, there's also CALL_FUNCTION and CALL_PROCEDURE that are faster but maybe less flexible. Look them all up in the IDL help and see what works for you.

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