How to create a gerund from an array in J? - j

In J, we can use "_ to produce a constant function:
k100 =. 100"_
k200 =. 200"_
These can be used in a gerund with other verbs:
(+:`k100`k200`-:)`:0 [ 256
512 100 200 128
How can I create a gerund directly from an array?
That is, I want to define k so that it produces a gerund of constant verbs, like so:
gk =: k 100 200 NB. (or '100 200 k' if it needs to be an adverb.)
gk#.(0)''
100
gk#.(1)''
200

I agree with #eelvex that this smells like an XY Problem. Using your example, can you give us a use-case for why you'd prefer to write
gk =: k 100 200 300
gk#.0''
100
gk#.1''
200
instead of
GK =: 100 200 300
0 { GK
100
1 { GK
200
or even
100*1+ 0
100
100*1+ 1
200
etc?
In general, using a conjunction (#.) instead of a verb ({) limits your run-time flexibility as well as increases code complexity, so typically you'd prefer the latter to the former, if you can get it.
Conjunctions are really only required if you want to produce non-noun results (i.e. verbs or other conjunctions or adverbs) or if you need their higher binding power, but in your case, since you're taking a noun as input and simply generating its elements as output, I don't see the need for the conjunction, or a reason to pay the complexity tax. Taking a noun (array) and producing a noun result is the raison d'etre of verbs and single most common construction in J code.
With all that said, it's not difficult to write k.
k=:[^:(__-:])L:_ 0" _1 0&({. __"_`'')
Here, we take a sample gerund (noun form of constant verb) as a template, then replace the blank (the __) with the value we want our constant function to produce. Basically, we make one copy of __"_ for each item of our array, and replace the __ with that item. So 100 200 300 becomes (100"_)`(200"_)`(300"_):
gk=:k 100 200 300
gk#.0 ''
100
gk#.1 ''
200
But again, I would not recommend this approach unless either the problem you're facing can't be solved with a simple verb, such as {&100 200 300 or (100 * 1 + ]), or the gains of using the gerund approach more than offset the costs in terms of flexibility, complexity, and clarity.
If you describe your specific problem in more detail, we can help you weigh these choices.

Something like this might work (build the string and ". it):
k =: [: ". [: ([,'`',])/('(' , '"_)' ,~ ":)"0
gk =: k 100 200 300
gk #. (2)''
300
k is actually (". f/g"0 y), where f/g"0 y just builds the string (num1"_)`(num2"_)`...from y =: num1, num2, ....
There will be other ways too.

Related

How to generate distinct solutions in Prolog for '8 out of 10 cats does countdown' numbers game solver?

I wrote a Prolog program to find all solutions to any '8 out of 10 cats does countdown' number sequence. I am happy with the result. However, the solutions are not unique. I tried distincts() and reduced() from the "solution sequences" library. They did not produce unique solutions.
The problem is simple. you have a given list of six numbers [n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6] and a target number (R). Calculate R from any arbitrary combination of n1 to n6 using only +,-,*,/. You do not have to use all numbers but you can only use each number once. If two solutions are identical, only one must be generated and the other discarded. 
Sometimes there are equivalent results with different arrangement. Such as:
(100+3)*6*75/50+25
(100+3)*75*6/50+25  
Does anyone has any suggestions to eliminate such redundancy?
Each solution is a nested operators and integers. For example +(2,*(4,-(10,5))). This solution is an unbalanced binary tree with Arithmetic Operator for root and sibling nodes and numbers for leaf nodes. In order to have unique solutions, no two trees should be equivalent.
The Code:
:- use_module(library(lists)).
:- use_module(library(solution_sequences)).
solve(L,R,OP) :-
findnsols(10,OP,solve_(L,R,OP),S),
print_solutions(S).
solve_(L,R,OP) :-
distinct(find_op(L,OP)),
R =:= OP.
find_op(L,OP) :-
select(N1,L,Ln),
select(N2,Ln,[]),
N1 > N2,
member(OP,[+(N1,N2), -(N1,N2), *(N1,N2), /(N1,N2), N1, N2]).
find_op(L,OP) :-
select(N,L,Ln),
find_op(Ln,OP_),
OP_ > N,
member(OP,[+(OP_,N), -(OP_,N), *(OP_,N), /(OP_,N), OP_]).
print_solutions([]).
print_solutions([A|B]) :-
format('~w~n',A),
print_solutions(B).
Test:
solve([25,50,75,100,6,3],952,X)
Result
(100+3)*6*75/50+25 <- s1
((100+6)*3*75-50)/25 <- s2
(100+3)*75*6/50+25 <- s1
((100+6)*75*3-50)/25 <- s2
(100+3)*75/50*6+25 <- s1
true.
This code uses select/3 from the "lists" library.
UPDATE: Generate solutions useing DCG
The following is an attempt to generate solutions using DCG.  I was able to generate a more exhaustive solution set than in previous code posted. In a way, using DCG resulted in a more correct and elegant code. However, it is much more difficult to 'guess' what the code is doing.
The issue of redundant solutions still persist.
:- use_module(library(lists)).
:- use_module(library(solution_sequences)).
s(L) --> [L].
s(+(L,Ls)) --> [L],s(Ls).
s(*(L,Ls)) --> [L],s(Ls), {L =\= 1, Ls =\= 1, Ls =\= 0}.
s(-(L,Ls)) --> [L],s(Ls), {L =\= Ls, Ls =\= 0}.
s(/(L,Ls)) --> [L],s(Ls), {Ls =\= 1, Ls =\= 0}.
s(-(Ls,L)) --> [L],s(Ls), {L =\= Ls}.
s(/(Ls,L)) --> [L],s(Ls), {L =\= 1, Ls =\=0}.
solution_list([N,H|[]],S) :-
phrase(s(S),[N,H]).
solution_list([N,H|T],S) :-
phrase(s(S),[N,H|T]);
solution_list([H|T],S).
solve(L,R,S) :-
permutation(L,X),
solution_list(X,S),
R =:= S.
Does anyone has any suggestions to eliminate such redundancy?
I suggest to define a sorting weight on each node (inner or leaf). The number resulting from reducing the child node could be used, although ties will appear. These can be broken by additionally looking at topmost operations, sorting * before + for example. Actually one would like to have a sorting operation for which "tie" means "exactly the same subtree of arithmetic operations".
Since the OP is only seeking hints to help solve the problem.
Use DCG as a generator. (SWI-Prolog) (Prolog DCG Primer)
a. For a more refined version of using DCGs as a generator look for examples that use length/2. When you understand why you might see a beam of light shining down on you for a few moments (The light beam is a video gaming thing).
Use a constraint solver (SWI-Prolog) (CLP(FD) and CLP(ℤ): Prolog Integer Arithmetic) (Understanding CLP(FD) Prolog code of N-queens problem)
Since your solutions are constrained to the 6 numbers and the operators are always binary operators (+,-,*,/) then it is possible to enumerate the unique binary trees. If you know about OEIS then you can find related links that can help you solve this problem, but you need to give OEIS a sequence. To get a sequence for use with OEIS draw the trees for N from 2 to 5 and then enter that sequence into OEIS and see what you get. e.g.
N is the number of leaf (*) nodes.
N=2 ( 1 way to draw the tree )
-
/ \
* *
N=3 ( 2 ways to draw the tree )
- -
/ \ / \
- * * -
/ \ / \
* * * *
So the sequence starts with 1,2 ...
Hint - This page (link died) shows the images of the trees to see if you have done it correctly. In the description I use N to count the number of leaves (*), but on this page they use N to count the number of internal nodes (-). If we call my N N1 and the page N N2, then the relation is N2 = N1 - 1
This might be a Hamiltonian Cycle (Wolfram World) (Hamiltonianicity of the Tower of Hanoi Problem) Remember that there is a relation between Binary Trees and the Tower of Hanoi, but in your case there are added constraints. I don't know if the constraints eliminate a solution as a Hamiltonian Cycle.
Also don't think of building the final answer from a combination of any number and operator, but instead build subsets of operators and numbers, and then use those subsets to build the answer. You constrain at the start, not at the end.
Or put another way, don't think combinations at the start, but permutations of combinations (not sure if that is the correct pattern, but in the ball park) and then using that build the tree.

SVG path with a blank command

SVG's path defines several commands (M, m, L, l, z, etc). However I sometime see missing/blank commands, e.g.
m 0,0 20,0 0,20 -20,0 z
It would appear that no command is a line command but I can't find this documented anywhere. Is this the case?
This is documented at several places in the SVG specification
https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/single-page.html#paths-PathData
The command letter can be eliminated on subsequent commands if the same command is used multiple times in a row (e.g., you can drop the second "L" in "M 100 200 L 200 100 L -100 -200" and use "M 100 200 L 200 100 -100 -200" instead).
and also under the explanation of the M command:
If a moveto is followed by multiple pairs of coordinates, the subsequent pairs are treated as implicit lineto commands.

Is it possible to write a J program that uses monadic or dyadic forms of verbs based on execution-time values?

It's cool that 3 * 4 results in 12, and * 4 results in 1, but does using the same primitive for both operations ever provide a benefit? For example, let's say I were to define the following:
SIGNUM =: * : [:
TIMES =: [: : *
If I were to only ever use SIGNUM and TIMES instead of *, would I ever miss out on a clever use of *? That is, x TIMES y seems to be exactly the same as x * y for every x I can imagine (although my imagination is pretty limited in this regard). Is there an x where x * y produces the same result as SIGNUM y?
In case * : [: isn't immediately clear, the following should illustrate:
SIGNUM =: * : [:
TIMES =: [: : *
SIGNUM 4
1
3 TIMES 4
12
* 4
1
3 * 4
12
3 SIGNUM 4
|domain error: SIGNUM
| 3 SIGNUM 4
TIMES 4
|domain error: TIMES
| TIMES 4
Let's write conclusions from the comments down:
There is no direct language-level reason not to use names for primitives
Using names instead of primitives can however harm performance, as special code does not necessarily get triggered. I think this can be remedied by fixing verbs after building them with f..
The reason for having the same name for monadic and dyadic verbs is historical: APL used it before. Most verbs have a related actions in monadic / dyadic versions and inflections (a number of trailing dots and colons).
For instance, ^ can be expressed in traditional notation as pow(x,y) or exp(y) where x and y are left and right arguments, and e is Euler's constant. Here, the monadic version is the same as the dyadic version, with a sensible default left argument. Different inflections of the same root are all power-related verbs:
- ^. does logarithms (base e for the monad)
- ^: does Power conjunction, applying a verb a variable number of times.
Other relations between monadic and dyadic verbs can also exist, for example $ can be said to get or set the Shape of an array, depending on whether it is used as monad or dyad.
That said, I think that once one gets a bit of experience with J, it becomes easier to spot which valence a verb has based on the sentence it is used in. Examples are:
Monad # Ambiv NB. Mv is always used monadically, Av depends on arguments
Ambiv & Monad
(Dyad Monad) NB. A hook, where verb 1 is always dyadic
(Ambiv Dyad Ambiv) NB. A fork, the middle is one always dyadic
It was probably a mistake to use the same symbols for dyadic and monadic built-ins except for those where the monadic case is a default parameter to the dyad.
TIMES =: 1&$: : *
would be a good defnition that doesn't give an error.
As for ambivalent cases,
(3 * TIMES) 4
12
2 (3 * TIMES) 4
24
Another useful ambivalent verb is:
TIMESORSQUARE =: *~
*~ 3
9
2 *~ 3
6

foldList adverb in J

In response to the question of FoldList like primitive in J, I wanted to create an adverb fold so that x u fold y is to fold y with verb u and inital value x:
fold =: 2 : 0
z =.x
for_item. y do. z =. z u item end.
z
)
But I got error when trying it out:
1 (+fold) 1 2 3
|value error: x
| z=. x
what's wrong here? thanks.
Just a couple small things.
First, the numeric code for an adverb is 1. The 2 : 0 you have is defining a conjunction, not an adverb. The way it stands now, J is expecting two direct arguments to fold, and you've only provided one (the +; the two numeric arrays are indirect, not direct, arguments). However, that's not what J is complaining about here, because the other issue is actually tripping it up first. I'll get to that in a second, but nevertheless the first thing you need to do is define fold as an adverb [1].
The more immediate issue that J is complaining about is that it doesn't know what you mean by x. Why? For the same reason that it would if you replaced 2 : 0 (or conjunction define) -- or even, more pertinently, adverb define -- with verb define. Because explicit verbs (direct or derived) are monadic by default and have no x argument (hence mentioning x is a value error). If you want to define a dyadic verb, you must ask for it explicitly.
Now, defining a dyadic verb directly is straightforward: instead of saying verb define, you simply say dyad define. But deriving a dyadic verb from a modifier (adverb or conjunction) is a little less obvious. You must use the special colon syntax which allows you to separate the monadic and dyadic valences of explicit definitions. This syntax applies to all explicit definitions, including verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions, but for adverbs and conjunctions it is the only way to derive an explicit verb.
Bottom line:
fold =: adverb define
NB. Note solitary colon on next line. Everything after that is dyadic.
:
z =.x
for_item. y do. z =. z u item end.
z
)
[1]: You may find using the standard covers for nameclasses easier to remember (and read later), as in adverb define and conjunction define (for one-liners, you can use def in place of define).

Finding the minimum number of swaps to convert one string to another, where the strings may have repeated characters

I was looking through a programming question, when the following question suddenly seemed related.
How do you convert a string to another string using as few swaps as follows. The strings are guaranteed to be interconvertible (they have the same set of characters, this is given), but the characters can be repeated. I saw web results on the same question, without the characters being repeated though.
Any two characters in the string can be swapped.
For instance : "aabbccdd" can be converted to "ddbbccaa" in two swaps, and "abcc" can be converted to "accb" in one swap.
Thanks!
This is an expanded and corrected version of Subhasis's answer.
Formally, the problem is, given a n-letter alphabet V and two m-letter words, x and y, for which there exists a permutation p such that p(x) = y, determine the least number of swaps (permutations that fix all but two elements) whose composition q satisfies q(x) = y. Assuming that n-letter words are maps from the set {1, ..., m} to V and that p and q are permutations on {1, ..., m}, the action p(x) is defined as the composition p followed by x.
The least number of swaps whose composition is p can be expressed in terms of the cycle decomposition of p. When j1, ..., jk are pairwise distinct in {1, ..., m}, the cycle (j1 ... jk) is a permutation that maps ji to ji + 1 for i in {1, ..., k - 1}, maps jk to j1, and maps every other element to itself. The permutation p is the composition of every distinct cycle (j p(j) p(p(j)) ... j'), where j is arbitrary and p(j') = j. The order of composition does not matter, since each element appears in exactly one of the composed cycles. A k-element cycle (j1 ... jk) can be written as the product (j1 jk) (j1 jk - 1) ... (j1 j2) of k - 1 cycles. In general, every permutation can be written as a composition of m swaps minus the number of cycles comprising its cycle decomposition. A straightforward induction proof shows that this is optimal.
Now we get to the heart of Subhasis's answer. Instances of the asker's problem correspond one-to-one with Eulerian (for every vertex, in-degree equals out-degree) digraphs G with vertices V and m arcs labeled 1, ..., m. For j in {1, ..., n}, the arc labeled j goes from y(j) to x(j). The problem in terms of G is to determine how many parts a partition of the arcs of G into directed cycles can have. (Since G is Eulerian, such a partition always exists.) This is because the permutations q such that q(x) = y are in one-to-one correspondence with the partitions, as follows. For each cycle (j1 ... jk) of q, there is a part whose directed cycle is comprised of the arcs labeled j1, ..., jk.
The problem with Subhasis's NP-hardness reduction is that arc-disjoint cycle packing on Eulerian digraphs is a special case of arc-disjoint cycle packing on general digraphs, so an NP-hardness result for the latter has no direct implications for the complexity status of the former. In very recent work (see the citation below), however, it has been shown that, indeed, even the Eulerian special case is NP-hard. Thus, by the correspondence above, the asker's problem is as well.
As Subhasis hints, this problem can be solved in polynomial time when n, the size of the alphabet, is fixed (fixed-parameter tractable). Since there are O(n!) distinguishable cycles when the arcs are unlabeled, we can use dynamic programming on a state space of size O(mn), the number of distinguishable subgraphs. In practice, that might be sufficient for (let's say) a binary alphabet, but if I were to try to try to solve this problem exactly on instances with large alphabets, then I likely would try branch and bound, obtaining bounds by using linear programming with column generation to pack cycles fractionally.
#article{DBLP:journals/corr/GutinJSW14,
author = {Gregory Gutin and
Mark Jones and
Bin Sheng and
Magnus Wahlstr{\"o}m},
title = {Parameterized Directed \$k\$-Chinese Postman Problem and \$k\$
Arc-Disjoint Cycles Problem on Euler Digraphs},
journal = {CoRR},
volume = {abs/1402.2137},
year = {2014},
ee = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.2137},
bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}
You can construct the "difference" strings S and S', i.e. a string which contains the characters at the differing positions of the two strings, e.g. for acbacb and abcabc it will be cbcb and bcbc. Let us say this contains n characters.
You can now construct a "permutation graph" G which will have n nodes and an edge from i to j if S[i] == S'[j]. In the case of all unique characters, it is easy to see that the required number of swaps will be (n - number of cycles in G), which can be found out in O(n) time.
However, in the case where there are any number of duplicate characters, this reduces to the problem of finding out the largest number of cycles in a directed graph, which, I think, is NP-hard, (e.g. check out: http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~jverstra/dcig.pdf ).
In that paper a few greedy algorithms are pointed out, one of which is particularly simple:
At each step, find the minimum length cycle in the graph (e.g. Find cycle of shortest length in a directed graph with positive weights )
Delete it
Repeat until all vertexes have not been covered.
However, there may be efficient algorithms utilizing the properties of your case (the only one I can think of is that your graphs will be K-partite, where K is the number of unique characters in S). Good luck!
Edit:
Please refer to David's answer for a fuller and correct explanation of the problem.
Do an A* search (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-star_search_algorithm for an explanation) for the shortest path through the graph of equivalent strings from one string to the other. Use the Levenshtein distance / 2 as your cost heuristic.

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