I have the following function:
digits :: Int -> [Int]
digits n = go n []
where go num acc
| num < 10 = num : acc
| otherwise = go (div num 10) (mod num 10 : acc)
Is it possible to replace the parentheses in the otherwise expression with $?
The problem
You can't use $ for that. The purpose of $ is to make function application bind as un-tighly as possible, as opposed to normal function application which binds most tightly,
> :i $
($) :: (a -> b) -> a -> b
infixr 0 $
(some irrelevant stuff removed...)
Here, infixr denotes that the operator is right associative, as opposed to infixl which denotes that the operator is left associative. 0 denotes the precedence of the operator. 0 binds least tightly and 9 binds most tightly.
If we write go $ div num 10 $ mod num 10 : acc, this is interpreted as go (div num 10 (mod num 10 : acc)), i.e: passing mod num 10 : acc as the third argument of div, and the result of applying div as the only argument to go.
Solution: the (&) operator
Instead of using the dollar sign, $, for the left hand side, you can instead use &.
> :i &
(&) :: a -> (a -> b) -> b -- Defined in `Data.Function'
infixl 1 &
And now we get:
import Data.Function ((&))
digits :: Int -> [Int]
digits n = go n []
where go num acc
| num < 10 = num : acc
| otherwise = div num 10 & go $ mod num 10 : acc
Solution: apply go infix
You could also use go infix:
digits :: Int -> [Int]
digits n = go n []
where go num acc
| num < 10 = num : acc
| otherwise = div num 10 `go` (mod num 10 : acc)
In this case, the parenthesis on the right hand side is needed due to (:) which is also infix and interferes with go.
Which solution to use
In my opinion, if you can use infix application without parenthesizes, do that. In the case of having a parenthesis on any side such as in: div num 10 `go` (mod num 10 : acc), it may still be warranted to use infix. This is mainly due to readability, as the average reader may not be familiar with &. This notation is (probably) not very commonly used, which is why the average reader is not very familiar with it (and so we have a cycle...).
On the usage of $$
I believe Alexey Romanov's operator, $$ is quite neat as well. Unfortunately, it suffers the same problems as & does: lack of familiarity. Hopefully, his operator can be added to Data.Function in due time and perhaps we can expand our toolbox.
In addition to the answers #Centril mentions, you can replace only the second pair:
go (div num 10) $ mod num 10 : acc
or both, but then you need parentheses in a different place:
(go $ div num 10) $ mod num 10 : acc
or declare another operator like $ but left-associative:
f $$ x = f x
infixl 0 $$
go $$ div num 10 $$ mod num 10 : acc
Related
First day learning haskell, and coming from a python background I'm really having trouble debugging when it comes to type; Currently I'm working on a simple function to see if a number is a prime;
prime p = if p == 1 then False else if p == 2 then True else if maximum ([if p `mod` x == 0 then x else -1 | x<-[2..(floor(p**0.5))]]) > 0 then False else True
It works when I have a specific number instead of the generic P, but no matter what I try (and I've tried a lot, including just moving onto different problems) I always get some kind of error regarding type. For this current iteration, I'm getting the error
<interactive>:149:1: error:
* Ambiguous type variable `a0' arising from a use of `prime'
prevents the constraint `(RealFrac a0)' from being solved.
Probable fix: use a type annotation to specify what `a0' should be.
These potential instances exist:
instance RealFrac Double -- Defined in `GHC.Float'
instance RealFrac Float -- Defined in `GHC.Float'
...plus one instance involving out-of-scope types
(use -fprint-potential-instances to see them all)
* In the expression: prime 2
In an equation for `it': it = prime 2
<interactive>:149:7: error:
* Ambiguous type variable `a0' arising from the literal `2'
prevents the constraint `(Num a0)' from being solved.
Probable fix: use a type annotation to specify what `a0' should be.
These potential instances exist:
instance Num Integer -- Defined in `GHC.Num'
instance Num Double -- Defined in `GHC.Float'
instance Num Float -- Defined in `GHC.Float'
...plus two others
...plus one instance involving out-of-scope types
(use -fprint-potential-instances to see them all)
* In the first argument of `prime', namely `2'
In the expression: prime 2
In an equation for `it': it = prime 2
If someone could, as well as debugging this particular program, give me a heads up on how to think of haskell types, I'd be incredibly grateful. I've tried looking at learnyouahaskell but so far I've had no luck applying that.
In short: by using mod, floor, and (**) all at the same time, you restrict the type of p a lot, and Haskell fails to find a numerical type to call prime.
The main problem here is in the iterable of your list comprehension:
[2..(floor(p**0.5))]
Here you call p ** 0.5, but since (**) has type (**) :: Floating a => a -> a -> a, that thus means that p has to be an instance of a type that is an instance of the Floating typeclass, for example a Float. I guess you do not want that.
Your floor :: (RealFrac a, Integral b) => a -> b even makes it worse, since now p also has to be of a type that is an instance of the RealFrac typeclass.
On the other hand, you use mod :: Integral a => a -> a -> a, so it means that your p has to be Floating, as well as Integral, which are rather two disjunctive sets: although strictly speaking, we can define such a type, it is rather weird for a number to be both Integral and Floating at the same type. Float is for instance a Floating number, but not Integral, and Int is Integral, but not a Floating type.
We have to find a way to relax the constraints put on p. Since usually non-Integral numbers are no primes at all, we better thus aim to throw out floor and (**). The optimization to iterate up to the square root of p is however a good idea, but we will need to find other means to enforce that.
One way to do this is by using a takeWhile :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a] where we take elements, until the square of the numbers is greater than p, so we can rewrite the [2..(floor(p**0.5))] to:
takeWhile (\x -> x * x <= p) [2..]
We even can work only with odd elements and 2, by writing it as:
takeWhile (\x -> x * x <= p) (2:[3, 5..])
If we test this with a p that is for instance set to 99, we get:
Prelude> takeWhile (\x -> x * x <= 99) (2:[3, 5..])
[2,3,5,7,9]
If we plug that in, we relaxed the type:
prime p = if p == 1 then False else if p == 2 then True else if maximum ([if p `mod` x == 0 then x else -1 | x <- takeWhile (\x -> x * x <= p) (2:[3, 5..])]) > 0 then False else True
we actually relaxed it enough:
Prelude> :t prime
prime :: Integral a => a -> Bool
and we get:
Prelude> prime 23
True
But the code is very ugly and rather un-Haskell. First of all, you here use maximum as a trick to check if all elements satisfy a predicate. But it makes no sense to do that this way: from the moment one of the elements is dividable, we know that the number is not prime. So we can better use the all :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> Bool function. Furthermore conditions are usually checked by using pattern matching and guards, so we can write it like:
prime :: Integral a => a -> Bool
prime n | n < 2 = False
| otherwise = all ((/=) 0 . mod n) divisors
where divisors = takeWhile (\x -> x * x <= n) (2:[3, 5..])
Your code can be simplified as
prime p = if p == 1 then False else
if p == 2 then True else
if maximum ([if p `mod` x == 0 then x else -1 | x<-[2..(floor(p**0.5))]]) > 0
then False else True
=
prime p = if p == 1 then False else
if p == 2 then True else
not (maximum [if p `mod` x == 0 then x else -1 | x<-[2..floor(p**0.5)]] > 0 )
=
prime p = not ( p == 1 ) &&
( p == 2 ||
maximum [if p `mod` x == 0 then x else -1 | x<-[2..floor(p**0.5)]] <= 0 )
=
prime p = p /= 1 &&
( p == 2 ||
maximum [if p `mod` x == 0 then x else -1 | x<-[2..floor(p**0.5)]] == -1 )
=~
prime p = p == 2 || p > 2 && null [x | x <- [2..floor(p**0.5)], p `mod` x == 0]
(convince yourself in the validity of each transformation).
This still gives us a type error of course, because (**) :: Floating a => a -> a -> a and mod :: Integral a => a -> a -> a are conflicting. To counter that, just throw a fromIntegral in there:
isPrime :: Integral a => a -> Bool
isPrime p = p == 2 ||
p > 2 && null [x | x <- [2..floor(fromIntegral p**0.5)], p `mod` x == 0]
and it's working:
~> filter isPrime [1..100]
[2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37,41,43,47,53,59,61,67,71,73,79,83,89,97]
I'm writing a function that generates a Collatz chain based on a starting number, but I've run into an unexpected problem
here's the code:
-- original, works
collatzA :: Integer -> [Integer]
collatzA 1 = [1]
collatzA n
| even n = n:collatzA (n `div` 2)
| odd n = n:collatzA (n * 3 + 1)
-- what I'm trying to do, won't compile, gives nasty errors
collatzB :: Integer -> [Integer]
collatzB 1 = [1]
collatzB n
| even n = n:collatzB $ n `div` 2
| odd n = n:collatzB $ n * 3 + 1
-- attempted solution, works but re-adds the parentheses I tried to get rid of
collatzC :: Integer -> [Integer]
collatzC 1 = [1]
collatzC n
| even n = n: (collatzC $ n `div` 2)
| odd n = n: (collatzC $ n * 3 + 1)
so why is it that collatzA and collatzC work, but collatzB doesn't?
This problem is due to operator precedence or fixity.
For example (taken from RWH, which I highly recommend) (+) is declared as left-associative with fixity 6 and (*) is declared as left-associative with fixity 7. This means the expression
8 + 7 + 6 * 5 * 4
is parsed as
(8 + 7) + ((6 * 5) * 4)
Similarly in your example, the cons operator (:) is right-associative and has fixity 5, while the application operator ($) is right-associative and has fixity 0.
Since ($) has a lower fixity than (:), the recursive call to collatzB is "grabbed" by (:)
n = (n:collatzB) $ (n `div` 2)
This link contains the fixity information for the Prelude functions, and you can also see this post for more information.
The problem is that f $ g gets viewed as (f) $ (g) by the compiler. If you have f $ g $ h, the compiler sees it as (f) $ ((g) $ (h)), and you can extend this pattern in general. So when you have
n : collatzB $ n `div` 2`
the compiler sees this as
(n : collatzB) $ (n `div` 2)
And (n : collatzB) doesn't type check.
This is due to the fixity of $ and that its right associative (infixr).
If the parens bother you that much (which they shouldn't), you could define a new operator as
infixr 1 $:
($:) :: a -> (b -> [a]) -> b -> [a]
a $: f = \x -> a : f x
collatzB :: Integer -> [Integer]
collatzB 1 = [1]
collatzB n
| even n = n $: collatzB $ n `div` 2
| odd n = n $: collatzB $ n * 3 + 1
But this honestly would cause more confusion than it's worth. I would just stick with parens personally.
for a homework assignment, a subtask is to make the arithmetic functions (+), (-), (*) and div showable.
We're solved the rest of the assignment, but we're stuck here. Right now we're using the solution to this question here to distinguish between the operations:
showOp op = case op 3 3 of
6 -> "plus"
0 -> "minus"
9 -> "times"
1 -> "divide"
_ -> "undefined"
However, this strikes me as kind of ugly as things like showOp (\a b -> a * 3 - y) yield "plus".
Is there any way to better distinguish between the operators?
We are using winhugs atm with the appropriate switches -98 +o in order to be able to use the needed extensions.
Edit:
As requested, the actual assignment has to do with Arrays (specifically Array Int (Int -> Int -> Int)). It has to do with generating arrays of operators that fulfill certain conditions.
The assignment states:
Make the data type Array Int (Int->Int-Int) an Instance of Show. The arithmetic operations from the previous exercises should be represented as "plus", "minus", "times" and "div".
thx for any help in advance
Use induction :)
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances #-}
instance Eq (Int-> Int -> Int) where
f == g = induce f g where
base = 1
n = 2
induce f g = and [f 1 n' == g 1 n' | n' <- [base, n, n+1]]
instance Show (Int-> Int -> Int) where
show a = showOp a where
showOp op = case lookup op ops of
Just a -> a
otherwise -> "undefined"
ops = [((+),"plus")
,((-),"minus")
,((*),"times")
,(div,"divide")]
Output:
*Main> (\a b -> a * 3 - b) :: (Int->Int->Int)
undefined
So I'm writing a program which returns a procedure for some given arithmetic problem, so I wanted to instance a couple of functions to Show so that I can print the same expression I evaluate when I test. The trouble is that the given code matches (-) to the first line when it should fall to the second.
{-# OPTIONS_GHC -XFlexibleInstances #-}
instance Show (t -> t-> t) where
show (+) = "plus"
show (-) = "minus"
main = print [(+),(-)]
returns
[plus,plus]
Am I just committing a mortal sin printing functions in the first place or is there some way I can get it to match properly?
edit:I realise I am getting the following warning:
Warning: Pattern match(es) are overlapped
In the definition of `show': show - = ...
I still don't know why it overlaps, or how to stop it.
As sepp2k and MtnViewMark said, you can't pattern match on the value of identifiers, only on constructors and, in some cases, implicit equality checks. So, your instance is binding any argument to the identifier, in the process shadowing the external definition of (+). Unfortunately, this means that what you're trying to do won't and can't ever work.
A typical solution to what you want to accomplish is to define an "arithmetic expression" algebraic data type, with an appropriate show instance. Note that you can make your expression type itself an instance of Num, with numeric literals wrapped in a "Literal" constructor, and operations like (+) returning their arguments combined with a constructor for the operation. Here's a quick, incomplete example:
data Expression a = Literal a
| Sum (Expression a) (Expression a)
| Product (Expression a) (Expression a)
deriving (Eq, Ord, Show)
instance (Num a) => Num (Expression a) where
x + y = Sum x y
x * y = Product x y
fromInteger x = Literal (fromInteger x)
evaluate (Literal x) = x
evaluate (Sum x y) = evaluate x + evaluate y
evaluate (Product x y) = evaluate x * evaluate y
integer :: Integer
integer = (1 + 2) * 3 + 4
expr :: Expression Integer
expr = (1 + 2) * 3 + 4
Trying it out in GHCi:
> integer
13
> evaluate expr
13
> expr
Sum (Product (Sum (Literal 1) (Literal 2)) (Literal 3)) (Literal 4)
Here's a way to think about this. Consider:
answer = 42
magic = 3
specialName :: Int -> String
specialName answer = "the answer to the ultimate question"
specialName magic = "the magic number"
specialName x = "just plain ol' " ++ show x
Can you see why this won't work? answer in the pattern match is a variable, distinct from answer at the outer scope. So instead, you'd have to write this like:
answer = 42
magic = 3
specialName :: Int -> String
specialName x | x == answer = "the answer to the ultimate question"
specialName x | x == magic = "the magic number"
specialName x = "just plain ol' " ++ show x
In fact, this is just what is going on when you write constants in a pattern. That is:
digitName :: Bool -> String
digitName 0 = "zero"
digitName 1 = "one"
digitName _ = "math is hard"
gets converted by the compiler to something equivalent to:
digitName :: Bool -> String
digitName x | x == 0 = "zero"
digitName x | x == 1 = "one"
digitName _ = "math is hard"
Since you want to match against the function bound to (+) rather than just bind anything to the symbol (+), you'd need to write your code as:
instance Show (t -> t-> t) where
show f | f == (+) = "plus"
show f | f == (-) = "minus"
But, this would require that functions were comparable for equality. And that is an undecidable problem in general.
You might counter that you are just asking the run-time system to compare function pointers, but at the language level, the Haskell programmer doesn't have access to pointers. In other words, you can't manipulate references to values in Haskell(*), only values themselves. This is the purity of Haskell, and gains referential transparency.
(*) MVars and other such objects in the IO monad are another matter, but their existence doesn't invalidate the point.
It overlaps because it treats (+) simply as a variable, meaning on the RHS the identifier + will be bound to the function you called show on.
There is no way to pattern match on functions the way you want.
Solved it myself with a mega hack.
instance (Num t) => Show (t -> t-> t) where
show op =
case (op 6 2) of
8 -> "plus"
4 -> "minus"
12 -> "times"
3 -> "divided"
Here is my first Haskell program. What parts would you write in a better way?
-- Multiplication table
-- Returns n*n multiplication table in base b
import Text.Printf
import Data.List
import Data.Char
-- Returns n*n multiplication table in base b
mulTable :: Int -> Int -> String
mulTable n b = foldl (++) (verticalHeader n b w) (map (line n b w) [0..n])
where
lo = 2* (logBase (fromIntegral b) (fromIntegral n))
w = 1+fromInteger (floor lo)
verticalHeader :: Int -> Int -> Int -> String
verticalHeader n b w = (foldl (++) tableHeader columnHeaders)
++ "\n"
++ minusSignLine
++ "\n"
where
tableHeader = replicate (w+2) ' '
columnHeaders = map (horizontalHeader b w) [0..n]
minusSignLine = concat ( replicate ((w+1)* (n+2)) "-" )
horizontalHeader :: Int -> Int -> Int -> String
horizontalHeader b w i = format i b w
line :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> String
line n b w y = (foldl (++) ((format y b w) ++ "|" )
(map (element b w y) [0..n])) ++ "\n"
element :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> String
element b w y x = format (y * x) b w
toBase :: Int -> Int -> [Int]
toBase b v = toBase' [] v where
toBase' a 0 = a
toBase' a v = toBase' (r:a) q where (q,r) = v `divMod` b
toAlphaDigits :: [Int] -> String
toAlphaDigits = map convert where
convert n | n < 10 = chr (n + ord '0')
| otherwise = chr (n + ord 'a' - 10)
format :: Int -> Int -> Int -> String
format v b w = concat spaces ++ digits ++ " "
where
digits = if v == 0
then "0"
else toAlphaDigits ( toBase b v )
l = length digits
spaceCount = if (l > w) then 0 else (w-l)
spaces = replicate spaceCount " "
Here are some suggestions:
To make the tabularity of the computation more obvious, I would pass the list [0..n] to the line function rather than passing n.
I would further split out the computation of the horizontal and vertical axes so that they are passed as arguments to mulTable rather than computed there.
Haskell is higher-order, and almost none of the computation has to do with multiplication. So I would change the name of mulTable to binopTable and pass the actual multiplication in as a parameter.
Finally, the formatting of individual numbers is repetitious. Why not pass \x -> format x b w as a parameter, eliminating the need for b and w?
The net effect of the changes I am suggesting is that you build a general higher-order function for creating tables for binary operators. Its type becomes something like
binopTable :: (i -> String) -> (i -> i -> i) -> [i] -> [i] -> String
and you wind up with a much more reusable function—for example, Boolean truth tables should be a piece of cake.
Higher-order and reusable is the Haskell Way.
You don't use anything from import Text.Printf.
Stylistically, you use more parentheses than necessary. Haskellers tend to find code more readable when it's cleaned of extraneous stuff like that. Instead of something like h x = f (g x), write h = f . g.
Nothing here really requires Int; (Integral a) => a ought to do.
foldl (++) x xs == concat $ x : xs: I trust the built-in concat to work better than your implementation.
Also, you should prefer foldr when the function is lazy in its second argument, as (++) is – because Haskell is lazy, this reduces stack space (and also works on infinite lists).
Also, unwords and unlines are shortcuts for intercalate " " and concat . map (++ "\n") respectively, i.e. "join with spaces" and "join with newlines (plus trailing newline)"; you can replace a couple things by those.
Unless you use big numbers, w = length $ takeWhile (<= n) $ iterate (* b) 1 is probably faster. Or, in the case of a lazy programmer, let w = length $ toBase b n.
concat ( (replicate ((w+1)* (n+2)) "-" ) == replicate ((w+1) * (n+2)) '-' – not sure how you missed this one, you got it right just a couple lines up.
You do the same thing with concat spaces, too. However, wouldn't it be easier to actually use the Text.Printf import and write printf "%*s " w digits?
Norman Ramsey gave excellent high-level (design) suggestions; Below are some low-level ones:
First, consult with HLint. HLint is a friendly program that gives you rudimentary advice on how to improve your Haskell code!
In your case HLint gives 7 suggestions. (mostly about redundant brackets)
Modify your code according to HLint's suggestions until it likes what you feed it.
More HLint-like stuff:
concat (replicate i "-"). Why not replicate i '-'?
Consult with Hoogle whenever there is reason to believe that a function you need is already available in Haskell's libraries. Haskell comes with tons of useful functions so Hoogle should come in handy quite often.
Need to concatenate strings? Search for [String] -> String, and voila you found concat. Now go replace all those folds.
The previous search also suggested unlines. Actually, this even better suits your needs. It's magic!
Optional: pause and thank in your heart to Neil M for making Hoogle and HLint, and thank others for making other good stuff like Haskell, bridges, tennis balls, and sanitation.
Now, for every function that takes several arguments of the same type, make it clear which means what, by giving them descriptive names. This is better than comments, but you can still use both.
So
-- Returns n*n multiplication table in base b
mulTable :: Int -> Int -> String
mulTable n b =
becomes
mulTable :: Int -> Int -> String
mulTable size base =
To soften the extra characters blow of the previous suggestion: When a function is only used once, and is not very useful by itself, put it inside its caller's scope in its where clause, where it could use the callers' variables, saving you the need to pass everything to it.
So
line :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> String
line n b w y =
concat
$ format y b w
: "|"
: map (element b w y) [0 .. n]
element :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> String
element b w y x = format (y * x) b w
becomes
line :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> String
line n b w y =
concat
$ format y b w
: "|"
: map element [0 .. n]
where
element x = format (y * x) b w
You can even move line into mulTable's where clause; imho, you should.
If you find a where clause nested inside another where clause troubling, then I suggest to change your indentation habits. My recommendation is to use consistent indentation of always 2 or always 4 spaces. Then you can easily see, everywhere, where the where in the other where is at. ok
Below's what it looks like (with a few other changes in style):
import Data.List
import Data.Char
mulTable :: Int -> Int -> String
mulTable size base =
unlines $
[ vertHeaders
, minusSignsLine
] ++ map line [0 .. size]
where
vertHeaders =
concat
$ replicate (cellWidth + 2) ' '
: map horizontalHeader [0 .. size]
horizontalHeader i = format i base cellWidth
minusSignsLine = replicate ((cellWidth + 1) * (size + 2)) '-'
cellWidth = length $ toBase base (size * size)
line y =
concat
$ format y base cellWidth
: "|"
: map element [0 .. size]
where
element x = format (y * x) base cellWidth
toBase :: Integral i => i -> i -> [i]
toBase base
= reverse
. map (`mod` base)
. takeWhile (> 0)
. iterate (`div` base)
toAlphaDigit :: Int -> Char
toAlphaDigit n
| n < 10 = chr (n + ord '0')
| otherwise = chr (n + ord 'a' - 10)
format :: Int -> Int -> Int -> String
format v b w =
spaces ++ digits ++ " "
where
digits
| v == 0 = "0"
| otherwise = map toAlphaDigit (toBase b v)
spaces = replicate (w - length digits) ' '
0) add a main function :-) at least rudimentary
import System.Environment (getArgs)
import Control.Monad (liftM)
main :: IO ()
main = do
args <- liftM (map read) $ getArgs
case args of
(n:b:_) -> putStrLn $ mulTable n b
_ -> putStrLn "usage: nntable n base"
1) run ghc or runhaskell with -Wall; run through hlint.
While hlint doesn't suggest anything special here (only some redundant brackets), ghc will tell you that you don't actually need Text.Printf here...
2) try running it with base = 1 or base = 0 or base = -1
If you want multiline comments use:
{- A multiline
comment -}
Also, never use foldl, use foldl' instead, in cases where you are dealing with large lists which must be folded. It is more memory efficient.
A brief comments saying what each function does, its arguments and return value, is always good. I had to read the code pretty carefully to fully make sense of it.
Some would say if you do that, explicit type signatures may not be required. That's an aesthetic question, I don't have a strong opinion on it.
One minor caveat: if you do remove the type signatures, you'll automatically get the polymorphic Integral support ephemient mentioned, but you will still need one around toAlphaDigits because of the infamous "monomorphism restriction."