writing nested while loops in racket - racket

I was trying to use the while loop package in racket to write nested loops like so:
(define i 0)
(define j 0)
(while (< i 10)
(while (< j 10) (printf "~a ~a~n" i j) (set! j (+ j 1)))
(set! i (+ i 1)) )
but for some reason the inner loop was only executed once. Can someone tell me what I did wrong?

Consider the value of j at the end of the first series of iterations: it is 10.
Then i is incremented by 1 and the inner loop is started again. But now j is 10 and the loop is exited immediately!
To correct this problem, simply re-initialize the value of j before any execution of the inner loop, for instance:
(define i 0)
(define j 0)
(while (< i 10)
(set! j 0)
(while (< j 10) (printf "~a ~a~n" i j) (set! j (+ j 1)))
(set! i (+ i 1)) )

Related

Questions about replacing while and if statements with lisp

I want to change the code below to Lisp code, but I keep getting errors in grammar. How do I fix the if statement?
int promising(int i)
{
int k = 1;
while (k < i)
{
if (col[i] == col[k] || abs(col[i] - col[k]) == abs(i - k))
return 0;
k++;
}
return 1;
}
Below is the one I changed to the Lisp code.
(setq col (list 0 0 0 0))
(DEFUN promising (i)
(let ((k 1)) ; k =1
(loop while (< k i)
do((if (or ( = (nth i col) (nth k col))
(= ( abs((setq a (- (nth i col) (nth k col)))))
( abs((setq b (- i k ))))))
(return-from promising 0)))
do (setq k (1+ k)))
(return-from promising 1))
)
It is difficult for me to flexibly change the complicated condition of the if statement to the lisp code.
You are doing "C-in-Lisp". Trying to directly translate C (or for that matter, C++/Java/C#/Python ...) programs into Lisp will often lead to poor code, and you should be better off trying to understand how those problems are sovled in Lisp.
That being said:
You should not use (setq col <whatever>) at the toplevel. Global variables are introduced using defvar or defparameter and their name is of the form *variable-name* to distinguish them from other variables. This is because they have different scoping rules, and behave differently (i.e. they are not equivalent to other languages' global variables). In particular, using setq with a variable that has not been declared with defvar or defparameter is undefined behaviour, and most implementations will allow it, but they will then create this global variable. You generally don't want that. To sum up: either use (defvar *col* (list 0 0 ...)) if you need this really is a global variable, or simply use (let ((col (list 0 ...))) <more-code>) where you need it.
loop is a complicated construct. This is, in itself, another mini-language that you have to learn on top of Lisp. In particular, if all you ever want to do is "loop with some variable between some bounds and increment it by some value at each step", use
(loop for k from 1 do ...) ;; this introduces a local variable k, incremented by 1 at each step, with no upper bound
(loop for k from 1 to 10 do ...) ;; same, but only loop until k reaches 10
(loop for k from 1 to 10 by 3 do ...) same, but increments k by 3 at each step
Other constructs are available. Read this section of Practical Common Lisp for a good introduction, and the relevant CLHS section for a technical description and documentation.
Please follow conventions for whitespace this makes it much easier to read. For example, never place a parenthesis alone on its line (e.g. your very last parenthesis), and ( abs((setq b (- i k )))) should really be written (abs ((setq b (- i k)))) (ignoring the fact that this is incorrect, see below ...). As far as style is concerned, you also need to fix the indentation, and don't write DEFUN is uppercase, it is unnecessary and looks weird.
You cannot place extra parenthensis just to group things together, parenthesis have semantic meaning. In particular, in most cases, calling a function or using pretty much any special operator is done by (<operator-name> <first-arg> <second-arg> ... ). You almost never have 2 consecutive opening parenthesis.
Why are you using (setq a ...) and (setq b ...) in your loop ? Neither a nor b is ever declared or used anywhere else.
If you want to access specific elements of a list, don't use a list, use a vector. In particular, several calls to the nth function is often the sign that you really should have been using a vector.
A correct version of your code, using a few loop facilities, and still assuming that col is a list (which is should not be) although there would be other loop constructs making this even clearer ...
(defun promising (i)
(loop for k from 1 below i
for col-k = (nth k col)
do (when (or (= (nth i col) (nth k col))
(= (abs (- (nth i col) (nth k col)))
(abs (- i k))))
(return-from promising 0)))
1)
Note that this code is incredibly inefficient and this is why I suggested not to translate directly from C to Lisp. In particular, although you traverse a list (you access the k-th element at the k-th step), your code calls nth at each step instead of traversing the list ! You also compute (nth i col) at each step, which is already useless in C (it is constant so doesn't need to be recomputed at every step), but is catastrophic here. This should really be:
(defun promising (i)
(let ((col-i (nth i col)))
(loop for k from 1 below i
for col-k in (cdr col) ;; you start from the index 1, not 0
do (when (or (= col-i col-k)
(= (abs (- col-i col-k))
(abs (- i k))))
(return-from promising 0))))
1)
There are several mistakes in the code.
Incorrect function calls
(DEFUN promising (i)
(let ((k 1)) ; k =1
(loop while (< k i)
do((if (or ( = (nth i col) (nth k col))
;; ^^
;; Incorrect
)
And also here:
(setq col (list 0 0 0 0))
(DEFUN promising (i)
(let ((k 1)) ; k =1
(loop while (< k i)
do((if (or ( = (nth i col) (nth k col))
(= ( abs((setq a (- (nth i col) (nth k col)))))
;; ^^
;; Incorrect
( abs((setq b (- i k ))))))
;; ^^
;; Incorrect
(return-from promising 0)))
do (setq k (1+ k)))
(return-from promising 1))
)
The loop macro have 2 do keywords
(setq col (list 0 0 0 0))
(DEFUN promising (i)
(let ((k 1)) ; k =1
(loop while (< k i)
do((if (or ( = (nth i col) (nth k col))
;; ^^
;; First do
(= ( abs((setq a (- (nth i col) (nth k col)))))
( abs((setq b (- i k ))))))
(return-from promising 0)))
do (setq k (1+ k)))
;; ^^
;; Second do
(return-from promising 1))
)
return-from is used several times
return-from is usually not present in Common Lisp code, this is pretty much like C goto, something developers try to avoid.
Incoherent setq defining a and b (probably old code)
(setq col (list 0 0 0 0))
(DEFUN promising (i)
(let ((k 1)) ; k =1
(loop while (< k i)
do((if (or ( = (nth i col) (nth k col))
(= ( abs((setq a (- (nth i col) (nth k col)))))\
;; ^^^^^^
;; ??
( abs((setq b (- i k ))))))
;; ^^^^^^
;; ??
Weird incrementation scheme
(setq k (1+ k))
While being correct, Common Lisp programmers will simply use the increment function:
(incf k)
Final code
The code you might looking for should be close to that one:
(defun promising (i)
(let ((k 1))
(loop while (< k i) do
(if (or (= (nth i col) (nth k col))
(= (abs (- (nth i col) (nth k col)))
(abs (- i k ))))
(return-from promising 0))
(incf k))
;; return value
k))
Please note that the code is not equivalent to the C version, because the data structure is completely different. In the C version, the access to the data will be very fast O(1). The Common Lisp version will be slow if you have a large number of elements O(n). You can be fast with Common Lisp if you replace your list by an array/vector.

How to continue to the next iteration using let in Racket?

I am trying to modify the code from bellow so that when (when (= i 6) (loop (+ 1 i))) appears the loop to move to the next iteration without continuing doing with the "do stuff" part.
(let loop ([i 0])
(cond
[(= i 10) (printf "end\n")]
[else
(when (= i 6) (loop (+ 1 i)))
(define x (+ 1 2)) ; do stuff
(printf "~a\n" i)
(loop (+ 1 i))]))
Basically what I'm trying to obtain is something similar to "continue" from C# (like the code from bellow), but using let in Racket:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
if (i == 6)
{
continue;
}
Console.WriteLine(i);
}
If that's not possible (or recommended) in Racket, what can I use as an alternative?
Rewrite without continue by negating the condition:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
if (i != 6)
{
Console.WriteLine(i);
}
}
then as while instead of for:
int i = 0;
while (i < 10)
{
if (i != 6)
{
Console.WriteLine(i);
}
i += 1;
}
and then this has almost exactly the same form:
(let loop ([i 0])
(when (< i 10)
(unless (= i 6)
(printf "~a\n" i))
(loop (+ 1 i))))
You can get the desired effect by adding one extra case to the cond expression. This is equivalent to your C# example:
(let loop ([i 0])
(cond [(= i 10) (printf "end\n")]
[(= i 6) (loop (add1 i))]
[else
; do some other stuff
(printf "~a\n" i)
(loop (add1 i))]))
You can "do stuff" after each condition, as long as the last expression is either the exit to the recursion or the recursive call - just remember that only the value of the last expression will be returned, and if you need to pass values to the next iteration, you'll need to add parameters to the recursive call.

Common Lisp: Function returns function name

I am currently trying to solve problem 1 from projecteuler.net. Evaluation of this function only returns the name of the function. What am I doing wrong?
(defun nSum (n sum)
(if ( n = 0) ( sum) )
(cond ( (mod n 5) = 0) ( nSum ( - n 1) (+ sum n)) ( (mod n 3) = 0) (nSum(- n 1) (+ sum n)) (nSum (- n 1) (+ sum n))
)
)
(setq sum (nSum 100 0))
(write sum)
Errors
Evaluation of this function only returns the name of the function.
I cannot replicate this, how did you test your code, under which environment?
With SBCL, here is what evaluating the defun form prints:
; in: DEFUN NSUM
; (N = 0)
;
; caught WARNING:
; undefined variable: =
The = symbol is being used in a position where it is evaluated as a variable. If you want to call the function bound to =, that is (function =), which can be written also #'=, then you have to write (= ... ...).
; caught STYLE-WARNING:
; undefined function: N
Since you wrote (N = 0), i.e. with N as the first element of a form under normal evaluation rules, the code tries to call function N. In your case, you have no such function defined.
; (COND ((MOD N 5) = 0) (NSUM (- N 1) (+ SUM N)) ((MOD N 3) = 0)
; (NSUM (- N 1) (+ SUM N)) (NSUM (- N 1) (+ SUM N)))
; --> IF
; ==>
; (IF NSUM
; (PROGN (- N 1) (+ SUM N))
; (IF (MOD N 3)
; (PROGN = 0)
; (IF NSUM
; (PROGN (- N 1) (+ SUM N))
; (IF NSUM
; (PROGN # #)
; NIL))))
;
; caught WARNING:
; undefined variable: NSUM
You are writing cond clauses, and in that context, each clause is supposed to be a list matching (test . body), i.e. a test expression followed by the case body (possibly empty). You wrote:
(cond ( (mod n 5) = 0) ( nSum ( - n 1) (+ sum n)) ...)
In the above, you have two clauses, one which (tries to) tests whether N is divisible by 5, and the other which test if nSum is true.
; (SUM)
;
; caught STYLE-WARNING:
; undefined function: SUM
You added parentheses around SUM, which means you want to call function SUM (currently undefined). Parentheses matter in Lisp.
Fixing errors and formatting
Here is your code after fixing the previous errors and formatting it according to Lisp style rules:
(defun nSum (n sum)
(if (= n 0)
sum
(cond
((= 0 (mod n 5)) (nSum (- n 1) (+ sum n)))
((= 0 (mod n 3)) (nSum (- n 1) (+ sum n)))
(t (nSum (- n 1) (+ sum n))))))
Your code does not compute the desired function. Please read Gwang-Jin Kim's answer to see how to compute it a tail-recursive way, or below for a loop-based one.
Some additional remarks w.r.t. style:
You are not supposed to use snakeCase in Lisp, use instead dashes to separate words, known humbly as lisp-case (and apparently, also as kebab-case).
Your if and cond can be merged together. Also, be careful about negative N.
You can do (or test1 test2) when both tests lead to the same code being executed. This avoids code duplication.
Alternative implementation
Use LOOP:
(defun euler-1 (n)
(loop
for i below n
when (or (zerop (mod i 3))
(zerop (mod i 5)))
sum i))
(defun nsum (n)
(labels ((inner-nsum (m sum) ; using `labels` define local recursive function
(cond ((= m 0) sum)
((= (mod m 3) 0) (inner-nsum (- m 1) (+ m sum)))
((= (mod m 5) 0) (inner-nsum (- m 1) (+ m sum)))
(t (inner-nsum (- m 1) sum)))))
(inner-nsum (- n 1) 0))) ; call it with n decremented by 1
; to implement "below n"
(nsum 10) ;; 23 ; test successful!
(nsum 1000) ;; 233168
You should use eq for equality test (or perhaps equal; for integers it is the same), or = for comparing numbers. And there is no infix operator in Common Lisp. So ( n = 0) should be something like (eq n 0) or (= n 0) etc.

Unbound identifier racket operators

This is my first time working with racket, and I am getting an error message (*: unbound identifier;) when trying to evaluate a list in Dr. Racket.
#lang racket
(define (randop)
(define x(random 3))
(cond
((= x 0) '+)
((= x 1) '-)
((= x 2) '*)
)
)
(define (randexp ht)
(define x(random 10))
(define y(random 10))
(define z(randop))
(eval (list z y x))
)
(randexp 1)
When executing racket in the console, (eval lst) works fine, though when I execute this code, it comes up with an unbound identifier. Any help is appreciated.
You don't need eval here. Instead of returning the symbols return the procedures instead:
#lang racket
(define (randop)
(define x (random 3))
(cond ((= x 0) +) ; + not quoted means if will return what + evaluates to
((= x 1) -) ; which is the procedures they represent
((= x 2) *)))
(define (randexp)
(define x (random 10))
(define y (random 10))
(define z (randop))
(z y x))) ; call z (the procedure returned by randop) with arguments x and y.
(randexp)
There's a problem with the way you're calling eval, in Racket you have to do this in a file:
(define-namespace-anchor a)
(define ns (namespace-anchor->namespace a))
(define (randop)
(define x (random 3))
(cond
((= x 0) '+)
((= x 1) '-)
((= x 2) '*)))
(define (randexp ht)
(define x (random 10))
(define y (random 10))
(define z (randop))
(eval (list z y x) ns))
(randexp 1)
Also, you're not actually using the ht parameter, consider deleting it.

code throws me an error: Space is an illegal character after a colon.

sort code, which is basically a translation i made from this one:
insertion(A)
for i from 2 to n
j=i-1
while (j>=1) AND (A[j]>A[j+1])do
t=A[j+1]
A[j+1]=A[j]
A[j]=t
j=j-1
and my translation to lisp is
(defun insertion (unsorted-vector)
(let ((vector (copy-seq unsorted-vector))
(n (length unsorted-vector)))
(loop :for i : from 2: below (n)
:do ((j (- i 1))
(loop :do (AND (>= (j 1))
(> (aref vector j) (aref vector (+ j 1))))
(rotatef (aref vector j) (aref vector (+ j 1)))
(j (- j 1))))
vector)))
(insertion #(5 1 3 2))
but it is throwing me a message that says: Error while reading: #\Space is an illegal character after a colon. and i don´t understand what does it mean, and don´t know if there are any other mistakes in the code.
Because there is space. Look at your code, you should write :from or just from, not : from, and the same thing with below.
(defun insertion (unsorted-vector)
(let ((vector (copy-seq unsorted-vector))
(n (length unsorted-vector)))
(loop :for i : from 2: below (n) ;; your problem
;;; ^^^ ^^^ ;; <= is here
;;; Change to :from and :below
:do ((j (- i 1))
(loop :do (AND (>= (j 1))
(> (aref vector j) (aref vector (+ j 1))))
(rotatef (aref vector j) (aref vector (+ j 1)))
(j (- j 1))))
vector)))