'where' inside other expression - haskell

I can use let inside other expression.
foo n = (let a = True in (\x -> a)) 3
foo' n | n == 1 = let a = True in a
| n /= 1 = False
But I can't do the same with where
foo n = ((\x -> a) where a = True) 3
foo' n | n == 1 = a where a = True
| n /= 1 = False
1:20: parse error on input `where'
Is it really impossible in haskell or just my mistake?

let is an expression while where is a clause. where is bound to syntactic constructs, let can be used anywhere expressions can.
You could of course write it like this:
foo n = ((\x -> a)) 3 where a = True
foo' n | n == 1 = a
| n /= 1 = False
where a = True
or like this:
foo n = (\a -> (\x -> a) 3) True

You need to put the where clause at the end:
foo n = ((\x -> a)) 3
where a = True
foo' n | n == 1 = a
| n /= 1 = False
where a = True
The difference is that let is an expression, whereas where requires some other construct to be bound to. See let vs where

let ... in ... is for introducing name bindings in an expression.
where is convenience syntax for giving local auxiliary definitions along with an equation. You can only use it as part of an equation (at the end), not in the middle of an arbitrary expression.
Their usage is not the same.

The claim that let is an expression is a bit off, it seems to me; in a do block it is a statement, though we say that there it abbreviates let ... in. The thing to say, I think, is
let_in_ :: Statement -> Expression -> Expression
_where_ :: Statement -> Statement -> Statement
Thus the first part of a let is a statement and can be modified by a where. So for example
foo n = (let a = b where b = True in (\x -> a)) 3
bip = do
let a = b where b = let c = d where d = True in c
return a
Similarly we can maybe say something like this:
case_of_ :: Expression -> [Statement] -> Expression
so that e.g.
z x = case even x of
True -> d where d = x + 1
False -> w - 1 where w = let a = x in a + 1

Related

Calculate module of "Just int" in Haskell

I'm trying to calculate the module of an index of a list.
list=[5,6,7,8]
a = elemIndex 7 list
b = mod a 2
Ideally, this would give me b = 0 since a = 2 (technically).
But I'm getting error messages since a is not 2 but Just 2.
You can do this with fmap :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b or its operator variant (<$>) :: Functor f => (a -> b) -> f a -> f b to apply a function to the item wrapped in the Just … data constructor:
b = (`mod` 2) <$> a
this will then return Just 0 when a is Just 2, and Nothing if the elemIndex returned a Nothing. This thus means that if elemIndex fails (because the index is out of range), b will be Nothing.
You can just use pattern matching with let to get to the inner part of the Maybe value when it is guaranteed to be Just _:
list = [5,6,7,8]
a = elemIndex 7 list
b = mod a 2
foo list = [b | n <- [5,6,7,8]
, let a = elemIndex n [5,6,7,8]
, let Just i = a
, let b = mod i 2]
= [b | n <- list
, let Just i = elemIndex n list
, let b = mod i 2]
= [b | (_, i) <- zip list [0..]
, let b = mod a 2]
= ls where ls = [0,1] ++ ls
bar list = [(n,b) | n <- list
, let Just i = elemIndex n list
, let b = mod i 2]
= [(n,b) | (n, i) <- zip list [0..]
, let b = mod i 2]
= zip list ls where ls = cycle [0,1]
Normally this kind of pattern matching is frowned upon since it is partial, i.e. can cause error if the value is actually Nothing, but here it is correct by construction.
But then really, why put it into a Just -- just use it as it is. And we did.

Just Int to Int

This code either returns the first factor of an Integer starting from 2 or returns nothing if it's a prime.
Example: firstFactorOf 24 returns "Just 2"
Example: firstFactorOf 11 returns "Nothing"
My question is, how would I return the value 2 rather than "Just 2" if there is a factor or return the value x if there is no factor.
firstFactorOf x
| m == Nothing = m
| otherwise = m
where m =(find p [2..x-1])
p y = mod x y == 0
//RETURNS:
ghci> firstFactorOf 24
Just 2
ghci> firstFactorOf 11
Nothing
Haskell is statically typed, meaning that you can define a function Maybe a -> a, but the question is what to do with the Nothing case.
Haskell has two functions that can be helpful here: fromMaybe and fromJust:
fromMaybe :: a -> Maybe a -> a
fromJust :: Maybe a -> a
fromJust simply assumes that you will always provide it a Just x, and return x, in the other case, it will throw an exception.
fromMaybe on the other hand expects two parameters, the first - an a is the "default case" the value that should be returned in case of Nothing. Next it is given a Maybe a and in case it is a Just x, x is returned. In the other case (Nothing) as said before the default is returned.
In your comment you say x should be returned in case no such factor exists. So I propose you define a new function:
firstFactorOfJust :: Integral a => a -> a
firstFactorOfJust x = fromMaybe x $ firstFactorOf x
So this function firstFactorOfJust calls your firstFactorOf function and if the result is Nothing, x will be returned. In the other case, the outcome of firstFactorOf will be returned (but only the Integral part, not the Just ... part).
EDIT (simplified)
Based on your own answer that had the intend to simplify things a bit, I had the idea that you can simplify it a bit more:
firstFactorOf x | Just z <- find ((0 ==) . mod x) [2..x-1] = z
| otherwise = x
and since we are all fan of optimization, you can already stop after sqrt(x) iterations (a well known optimization in prime checking):
isqrt :: Int -> Int
isqrt = floor . sqrt . fromIntegral
firstFactorOf x | Just z <- find ((0 ==) . mod x) [2..isqrt x] = z
| otherwise = x
Simplified question
For some reason there was some peculiarly complicated aspect in your question:
firstFactorOf x
| m == Nothing = m
| otherwise = m
where m =(find p [2..x-1])
p y = mod x y == 0
Why do you use guards to make a distinction between two cases that generate the exact same output? You can fold this into:
firstFactorOf x = m
where m = (find p [2..x-1])
p y = mod x y == 0
and even further:
firstFactorOf x = find p [2..x-1]
where p y = mod x y == 0
If you want it to return the first factor of x, or x, then this should work:
firstFactorOf x =
let
p y = mod x y == 0
m = (find p [2..x-1])
in
fromMaybe x m
import Data.List
import Data.Maybe
firstFactorOf x
| m == Nothing = x
| otherwise = fromJust m
where m =(find p [2..x-1])
p y = mod x y == 0
This was what I was after. Not sure why you guys made this so complicated.

Why can't pattern-matching-definition be a closure in Haskell?

Why are these pseudo-Haskell function definitions not accepted?
f n = if n<3 then n else g 2 2 1 0 where
g n a b c = a -- note that 'n' is a value of the enclosing scope
g k a b c = g (k+1) (a+2*b+3*c) a b
which computes this "exercise-function": f(n) = n if n<3 else f(n-1) + 2*f(n-2) + 3*f(n-3)
fib n = let
f n a b = b -- note that 'n' is a value of the enclosing scope
f k a b = f (k+1) b (a+b)
in f 1 0 1
for computing fibonacci numbers. Of course this works:
fib n = let { f k a b = if k==n then b else f (k+1) b (a+b);} in f 1 0 1
But in both the example with where and the one with let, I get
Warning: Pattern match(es) are overlapped
Why can't I define a function-closure using pattern matching with a value that I get from the enclosing scope?
Is that because the value from the enclosing scope is determined (in general) at runtime and for some reason (What reason?) the compiler cannot orchestrate that?
This is a language design choice: pattern matching can't be done on variables. It avoid tricky brain gymnastic to decide whether or not you pattern match against an existing variable or if you declare a local variable. Actually, take a look at this example:
Foo.hs:
module Foo where
foo: Int = 42
Bar.hs:
module Bar where
import Foo
bar :: Int -> Bool
bar foo = True
bar _ = False
You can't easily guess that foo is bound by looking at Bar.hs. Having a syntax where the context is required to decide whether you declare a new variable or use an existing one is misleading.
As a workaround, you can still use guards:
f n = if n<3 then n else g 2 2 1 0 where
g k a _ _ | k == n = a
g k a b c = g (k+1) (a+2*b+3*c) a b
or
f n = if n<3 then n else g 2 2 1 0 where
g k a b c | k == n = a
| otherwise = g (k+1) (a+2*b+3*c) a b

Implementing recursion in Haskell without input variable

So im still very new to programming and I'm struggling a lot with the Syntax of Haskell. I kind of know what I want to implement but im not really sure how to do it so I came here to ask.
So what I have is a "pile" of Numbers in no particular order that are defined by 3 different functions. An example for this would be:
lowestnumber = 4
highestnumber 5 = True
highestnumber _ = False
above 4 = 11
above 11 = 18
above 18 = 2
above 2 = 3
above 3 = 5
above 5 = error "highest Number"
above _ = error "Not part of the pile"
Now for one I want to write a function that checks if a certain number is part of this pile and a different function "sum' = " that sums up all the elements of the list without an input variable. First I solved these problems by defining a list and using listcommands in order to sum up and see if something is "elem" of that list but I am supposed to solve it without using lists.
So I have ideas of how to solve this but I have no idea of how to actually write it without receiving countless errors.
Some examples of what I've tried for the check function:
check x = if above x /= error "Not part of the stack" || lowestnumber == x then True else False
I also tried the checks with "_" like this but it wouldn't work either:
check x if above x == _ || lowestnumber == x then True else False
My idea for the sum function was this:
sum' = lowestnumber + above lowestnumber + above (above lowestnumber) + above (above (above lowestnumber))
or also something like
sum' = lowestnumber + (above sum')
Which I understand woul
and so on but I did not figure out how I could implement this using recursion which is apparently the way to go.
Well hopefully this question isnt too stupid! I hope you can help me :)
Edit: Ok, so these are the solutions to my 3 function-problems
sumup' a b
|highestNumber a == True = a+b
|otherwise = sumup' (above a) (a+b)
sumup = sumup' lowestNumber 0
check' a b
|a == b = True
|True == highestNumber a && a==b = True
|True == highestNumber a && a/=b = False
|check' (above a) (b) == True = True
|otherwise = False
check b = check' (lowestNumber) (b)
above' :: Integer -> Integer -> Bool
above' x y
| check x == False = False
| check y == False = False
| highestNumber y == True = False
| highestNumber x == True = True
| x==y = True
| above' x (above y) == True = True
| otherwise = False
If you want to do this without lists, keep a running total, and use recursion.
If you're at the highestnumber, just add that to your current total and stop,
otherwise, add the number to your total total + n and move on to the next one above n:
add n total |highestnumber n = total + n
|otherwise = add (above n) (total + n)
Then you can do
answer = add lowestnumber 0
You're supposed to do this without lists, well that's sad because it would be very much the idiomatic solution.
The nextmost idiomatic one would be something generic that is able to traverse your pile there. You basically want a fold over the numbers:
foldlMyPile :: (a -> Int -> a) -> a -> {- Pile -> -} a
foldlMyPile f = go lowestNumber
where go n accum
| highestNumber n = result
| otherwise = go (above n) result
where result = f accum n
Once you've got this, you can use it to define sum, element etc. much like they are defined on lists:
sumPile :: Int
sumPile = foldlMyPile (+) 0
elemPile :: Int -> Bool
elemPile n = foldlMyPile $ \alreadyFound n' -> alreadyFound || n==n'
Various higher order functions in Haskell capture various recursion (and corecursion†) patterns, like iterate, foldr, unfoldr, etc.
Here we can use until :: (a -> Bool) -> (a -> a) -> a -> a, where until p f x yields the result of iteratively applying f until p holds, starting with x:
sumPile = snd $
until (highestnumber . fst)
(\(a,b)->(above a, b + above a))
(lowestnumber, lowestnumber)
also,
inThePile p = p==until (\n-> highestnumber n || n==p) above lowestnumber
† basically, recursion with accumulator, building its result on the way forward from the starting case, whereas regular recursion builds its result on the way back from the base case.
About your three new functions.
sumup' a b
| highestNumber a == True = a+b
| otherwise = sumup' (above a) (a+b)
sumup = sumup' lowestNumber 0 -- sum up all numbers in the pile
this is almost exactly as in AndrewC'c answer. it is good, except == Temp is totally superfluous, not needed. sumup' also would usually be made an internal function, moved into a where clause. As such, it doesn't have to have a descriptive name. Some use (Scheme-inspired?) loop, some go (since do is a reserved syntax keyword). I personally started to use just g recently:
sumup = g lowestNumber 0 -- sum up all numbers in the pile
where
g n tot -- short, descriptive/suggestive var names
| highestNumber n = n + tot
| otherwise = g (above n) (n + tot)
check b = check' lowestNumber b -- don't need any parens here
check' a b
|a == b = True
|True == highestNumber a && a==b = True -- `True ==` not needed
|True == highestNumber a && a/=b = False -- `True ==` not needed
|check' (above a) (b) == True = True -- `== True` not needed
|otherwise = False
This usually would be written as
check' a b = (a == b) ||
(highestNumber a && a==b) ||
( not (highestNumber a && a/=b)
&& check' (above a) b )
in the 2nd test, if a==b were true, it'd already worked in the 1st rule, so we can assume that a/=b henceforth. so 2nd test is always false; and we get
check' a b = (a == b) ||
(not (highestNumber a) && check' (above a) b)
which is rather OK looking. It can be also written with guards again, as
check' a b | (a == b) = True
| highestNumber a = False
| otherwise = check' (above a) b
or, using short suggestive variable names, and with swapped order of arguments, for consistency,
check' n i | highestNumber i = i == n
| otherwise = i == n || check' n (above i)
which is rather similar to how the first, sumup code is structured.
Now, the third function. First of all, it can easily be defined in terms of check' too, just starting with the given low number instead of the lowest one:
higher top low = check low && not (highestNumber low)
&& check' top (above low)
("higher" is a more distinctive name, yes?). Your version:
higher :: Integer -> Integer -> Bool
higher x y
| check x == False = False -- not(check x == False) -- ==
| check y == False = False -- check x == True -- ==
| highestNumber y == True = False -- check x
| highestNumber x == True = True
| x==y = True
| higher x (above y) == True = True
| otherwise = False
again, simplifying,
higher x y = check x && check y
&& not (highestNumber y)
&& ( highestNumber x
|| x==y -- really?
|| higher x (above y) ) -- too strong
so this one seems buggy.
First I solved these problems by defining a list and using
listcommands in order to sum up and see if something is "elem" of that
list but I am supposed to solve it without using lists.
You can solve this by expanding elem, like so:
x `elem` [1,2,3]
is the same as
x == 1 || x == 2 || x == 3
And while your at it
sum' = 4 + 11 + 18 + 2 + 4 + 5
You could also construct a list of all your elements with something like
elements = takeUntil highestnumber (iterate above lowestnumber)
takeUntil p xs = foldr (\x r -> if p x then [x] else x:r) [] xs
This is the only way I see you can write your check and sum' functions without using constants.
we can't use takeWhile (not . highestnumber) because we'll miss the highest number. So, takeUntil must be defined this way to include the breaking element in its output.

Haskell syntax for 'or' in case expressions

In F#, I can use | to group cases when pattern matching. For example,
let rec factorial n =
match n with
| 0 | 1 -> 1 // like in this line
| _ -> n * factorial (n - 1)
What's the Haskell syntax for the same?
There is no way of sharing the same right hand side for different patterns. However, you can usually get around this by using guards instead of patterns, for example with elem.
foo x | x `elem` [A, C, G] = ...
| x `elem` [B, D, E] = ...
| otherwise = ...
with guards:
factorial n
| n < 2 = 1
| otherwise = n * (factorial (n - 1))
with pattern matching:
factorial 0 = 1
factorial 1 = 1
factorial n = n * (factorial (n - 1))
I'm not entirely familiar with F#, but in Haskell, case statements allow you to pattern match, binding variables to parts of an expression.
case listExpr of
(x:y:_) -> x+y
[x] -> x
_ -> 0
In the theoretical case that Haskell allowed the same:
It would therefore be problematic to allow multiple bindings
case listExpr of
(x:y:_) | [z] -> erm...which variables are bound? x and y? or z?
There are rare circumstances where it could work, by using the same binding:
unEither :: Either a a -> a
unEither val = case val of
Left v | Right v -> v
And as in the example you gave, it could work alright if you only match literals and do not bind anything:
case expr of
1 | 0 -> foo
_ -> bar
However:
As far as I know, Haskell does not have syntax like that. It does have guards, though, as mentioned by others.
Also note:
Using | in the case statement serves a different function in Haskell. The statement after the | acts as a guard.
case expr of
[x] | x < 2 -> 2
[x] -> 3
_ -> 4
So if this sort of syntax were to be introduced into Haskell, it would have to use something other than |. I would suggest using , (to whomever might feel like adding this to the Haskell spec.)
unEither val = case val of
Left v, Right v -> v
This currently produces "parse error on input ,"
Building on some of the above answers, you can (at least now) use guards to do multiple cases on a single line:
case name of
x | elem x ["Bob","John","Joe"] -> putStrLn "ok!"
"Frank" -> putStrLn "not ok!"
_ -> putStrLn "bad input!"
So, an input of "Bob", "John", or "Joe" would give you an "ok!", whereas "Frank" would be "not ok!", and everything else would be "bad input!"
Here's a fairly literal translation:
factorial n = case n of
0 -> sharedImpl
1 -> sharedImpl
n -> n * factorial (n - 1)
where
sharedImpl = 1
View patterns could also give you a literal translation.
isZeroOrOne n = case n of
0 -> True
1 -> True
_ -> False
factorial1 n = case n of
(isZeroOrOne -> True) -> 1
n -> n * factorial (n - 1)
factorial2 n = case n of
(\n -> case n of { 0 -> True; 1 -> True; _ -> False }) -> 1
n -> n * factorial (n - 1)
Not saying that these are better than the alternatives. Just pointing them out.

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