Suggest a cleaner functional way - scala

Here is some imperative code:
var sum = 0
val spacing = 6
var x = spacing
for(i <- 1 to 10) {
sum += x * x
x += spacing
}
Here are two of my attempts to "functionalize" the above code:
// Attempt 1
(1 to 10).foldLeft((0, 6)) {
case((sum, x), _) => (sum + x * x, x + spacing)
}
// Attempt 2
Stream.iterate ((0, 6)) { case (sum, x) => (sum + x * x, x + spacing) }.take(11).last
I think there might be a cleaner and better functional way to do this. What would be that?
PS: Please note that the above is just an example code intended to illustrate the problem; it is not from the real application code.

Replacing 10 by N, you have spacing * spacing * N * (N + 1) * (2 * N + 1) / 6
This is by noting that you're summing (spacing * i)^2 for the range 1..N. This sum factorizes as spacing^2 * (1^2 + 2^2 + ... + N^2), and the latter sum is well-known to be N * (N + 1) * (2 * N + 1) / 6 (see Square Pyramidal Number)

I actually like idea of lazy sequences in this case. You can split your algorithm in 2 logical steps.
At first you want to work on all natural numbers (ok.. not all, but up to max int), so you define them like this:
val naturals = 0 to Int.MaxValue
Then you need to define knowledge about how numbers, that you want to sum, can be calculated:
val myDoubles = (naturals by 6 tail).view map (x => x * x)
And putting this all together:
val naturals = 0 to Int.MaxValue
val myDoubles = (naturals by 6 tail).view map (x => x * x)
val mySum = myDoubles take 10 sum
I think it's the way mathematician will approach this problem. And because all collections are lazily evaluated - you will not get out of memory.
Edit
If you want to develop idea of mathematical notation further, you can actually define this implicit conversion:
implicit def math[T, R](f: T => R) = new {
def ∀(range: Traversable[T]) = range.view map f
}
and then define myDoubles like this:
val myDoubles = ((x: Int) => x * x) ∀ (naturals by 6 tail)

My personal favourite would have to be:
val x = (6 to 60 by 6) map {x => x*x} sum
Or given spacing as an input variable:
val x = (spacing to 10*spacing by spacing) map {x => x*x} sum
or
val x = (1 to 10) map (spacing*) map {x => x*x} sum

There are two different directions to go. If you want to express yourself, assuming that you can't use the built-in range function (because you actually want something more complicated):
Iterator.iterate(spacing)(x => x+spacing).take(10).map(x => x*x).foldLeft(0)(_ + _)
This is a very general pattern: specify what you start with and how to get the next given the previous; then take the number of items you need; then transform them somehow; then combine them into a single answer. There are shortcuts for almost all of these in simple cases (e.g. the last fold is sum) but this is a way to do it generally.
But I also wonder--what is wrong with the mutable imperative approach for maximal speed? It's really quite clear, and Scala lets you mix the two styles on purpose:
var x = spacing
val last = spacing*10
val sum = 0
while (x <= last) {
sum += x*x
x += spacing
}
(Note that the for is slower than while since the Scala compiler transforms for loops to a construct of maximum generality, not maximum speed.)

Here's a straightforward translation of the loop you wrote to a tail-recursive function, in an SML-like syntax.
val spacing = 6
fun loop (sum: int, x: int, i: int): int =
if i > 0 then loop (sum+x*x, x+spacing, i-1)
else sum
val sum = loop (0, spacing, 10)
Is this what you were looking for? (What do you mean by a "cleaner" and "better" way?)

What about this?
def toSquare(i: Int) = i * i
val spacing = 6
val spaceMultiples = (1 to 10) map (spacing *)
val squares = spaceMultiples map toSquare
println(squares.sum)
You have to split your code in small parts. This can improve readability a lot.

Here is a one-liner:
(0 to 10).reduceLeft((u,v)=>u + spacing*spacing*v*v)
Note that you need to start with 0 in order to get the correct result (else the first value 6 would be added only, but not squared).
Another option is to generate the squares first:
(1 to 2*10 by 2).scanLeft(0)(_+_).sum*spacing*spacing

Related

Adding elements to a list in a for loop

var locations: List[Location] = List[Location]()
for (x <- 0 to 10; y <- 0 to 10) {
println("x: " + x + " y: " + y)
locations ::: List(Location(x, y))
println(locations)
}
The code above is supposed to concatenate some lists. But the result is an empty list. Why?
Your mistake is on the line locations ::: List(Location(x, y)). This is concatenating the lists, but the doing nothing with the result. If you replace it with locations = locations ::: List(Location(x, y)) you would have your desired result.
However there are more idiomatic ways to solve this problem in Scala. In Scala, writing immutable code is the preferred style (i.e. use val rather than var where possible).
Here's a couple of ways to do it:
Using yield:
val location = for (x <- 0 to 10; y <- 0 to 10) yield Location(x, y)
Using tabulate:
val location = List.tabulate(11, 11) { case (x, y) => Location(x, y) }
Even shorter:
val location = List.tabulate(11, 11)(Location)
Edit: just noticed you had 0 to 10 which is inclusive-inclusive. 0 until 10 is inclusive-exclusive. I've changed the args to tabulate to 11.

Calculating the sum of integers from x to y with a while loop

I'm trying to write a code in Scala to calculate the sum of elements from x to y using a while loop.
I initialize x and y to for instance :
val x = 1
val y = 10
then I write a while loop to increment x :
while (x<y) x = x + 1
But println(x) gives the result 10 so I'm assuming the code basically does 1 + 1 + ... + 1 10 times, but that's not what I want.
One option would be to find the sum via a range, converted to a list:
val x = 1
val y = 10
val sum = (x to y).toList.sum
println("sum = " + sum)
Output:
sum = 55
Demo here:
Rextester
Here's how you would do it using a (yak!) while loop with vars:
var x = 1 // Note that is a "var" not a "val"
val y = 10
var sum = 0 // Must be a "var"
while(x <= y) { // Note less than or equal to
sum += x
x += 1
}
println(s"Sum is $sum") // Sum = 55 (= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10)
Here's another, more functional, approach using a recursive function. Note the complete lack of var types.
val y = 10
#scala.annotation.tailrec // Signifies add must be tail recursive
def add(x: Int, sum: Int): Int = {
// If x exceeds y, then return the current sum value.
if(x > y) sum
// Otherwise, perform another iteration adding 1 to x and x to sum.
else add(x + 1, sum + x)
}
// Start things off and get the result (55).
val result = add(1, 0)
println(s"Sum is $result") // Sum is 55
Here's a common functional approach that can be used with collections. Firstly, (x to y) becomes a Range of values between 1 and 10 inclusive. We then use the foldLeft higher-order function to sum the members:
val x = 1
val y = 10
val result = (x to y).foldLeft(0)(_ + _)
println(s"Sum is $result") // Sum is 55
The (0) is the initial sum value, and the (_ + _) adds the current sum to the current value. (This is Scala shorthand for ((sum: Int, i: Int) => sum + i)).
Finally, here's a simplified version of the elegant functional version that #TimBiegeleisen posted above. However, since a Range already implements a .sum member, there is no need to convert to a List first:
val x = 1
val y = 10
val result = (x to y).sum
println(s"Sum is $result") // Sum is 55
(sum can be thought of as being equivalent to the foldLeft example above, and is typically implemented in similar fashion.)
BTW, if you just want to sum values from 1 to 10, the following code does this very succinctly:
(1 to 10).sum
Although you can use Scala to write imperative code (which uses vars, while loops, etc. and which inherently leads to shared mutable state), I strongly recommend that you consider functional alternatives. Functional programming avoids the side-effects and complexities of shared mutable state and often results in simpler, more elegant code. Note that all but the first examples are all functional.
var x = 1
var y = 10
var temp = 0
while (x < y) {
temp = temp+x
x = x + 1
}
println(temp)
This gives required result

Calculating the mean of elements in a list in Scala

I'm trying to write a method that calculates the mean of the elements in a given List in Scala. Here's my code:
def meanElements(list: List[Float]): Float = {
list match {
case x :: tail => (x + meanElements(tail))/(list.length)
case Nil => 0
}
}
When I call meanElements(List(10,12,14))), the result I get is different than 12. Can someone help?
You can simply do it using inbuilt functions:
scala> def mean(list:List[Int]):Int =
| if(list.isEmpty) 0 else list.sum/list.size
mean: (list: List[Int])Int
scala> mean(List(10,12,14))
res1: Int = 12
scala>
The formula is not correct, it should be:
case x :: tail => (x + meanElements(tail) * tail.length) / list.length
But this implementation is performing a lot of divisions and multiplications.
It would be better to split the computation of the mean to two steps,
calculating the sum first,
and then dividing by list.length.
That is, something more like this:
def meanElements(list: List[Float]): Float = sum(list) / list.length
Where sum is a helper function you have to implement.
If you don't want to expose its implementation,
then you can define it in the body of meanElements.
(Or as #ph88 pointed out,
it could be as simple as list.reduce(_ + _).)

Scala - Convert Seq[Int] to a single number consisting numbers in the Seq

In Scala, how can I convert a Seq[Int] to a single number consisting of the numbers in the Seq.
e.g.
Seq(2,3,45,10) to 234510 as a number
A straightforward method is
Seq(2,3,45,10).mkString.toLong
Is there a better and perhaps more performant/functional way?
Seq(2,3,45,10).reduce((x,y) => x * math.pow(10,math.floor(math.log10(y)) + 1).toInt + y)
or
Seq(2,3,45,10).map(BigDecimal(_)).reduce((x,y) => x * BigDecimal(10).pow(y.precision) + y)
But actually i think _.mkString.toLong is the most performant, only problem it will work only for decimal representaion. For arbitrary radix you could do
BigInt(Seq(0x2,0x3,0x45,0x10).map(BigInt(_).toString(16)).mkString, 16)
def toNumber(seq:Seq[Int]):Int = {
def append(scale:Int)(n:Int, m:Int):Int = if(m>=scale) append(scale*10)(n, m) else n*scale + m
seq.foldLeft(0)(append(1))
}

Scala: Best way to filter & map in one iteration

I'm new to Scala and trying to figure out the best way to filter & map a collection. Here's a toy example to explain my problem.
Approach 1: This is pretty bad since I'm iterating through the list twice and calculating the same value in each iteration.
val N = 5
val nums = 0 until 10
val sqNumsLargerThanN = nums filter { x: Int => (x * x) > N } map { x: Int => (x * x).toString }
Approach 2: This is slightly better but I still need to calculate (x * x) twice.
val N = 5
val nums = 0 until 10
val sqNumsLargerThanN = nums collect { case x: Int if (x * x) > N => (x * x).toString }
So, is it possible to calculate this without iterating through the collection twice and avoid repeating the same calculations?
Could use a foldRight
nums.foldRight(List.empty[Int]) {
case (i, is) =>
val s = i * i
if (s > N) s :: is else is
}
A foldLeft would also achieve a similar goal, but the resulting list would be in reverse order (due to the associativity of foldLeft.
Alternatively if you'd like to play with Scalaz
import scalaz.std.list._
import scalaz.syntax.foldable._
nums.foldMap { i =>
val s = i * i
if (s > N) List(s) else List()
}
The typical approach is to use an iterator (if possible) or view (if iterator won't work). This doesn't exactly avoid two traversals, but it does avoid creation of a full-sized intermediate collection. You then map first and filter afterwards and then map again if needed:
xs.iterator.map(x => x*x).filter(_ > N).map(_.toString)
The advantage of this approach is that it's really easy to read and, since there are no intermediate collections, it's reasonably efficient.
If you are asking because this is a performance bottleneck, then the answer is usually to write a tail-recursive function or use the old-style while loop method. For instance, in your case
def sumSqBigN(xs: Array[Int], N: Int): Array[String] = {
val ysb = Array.newBuilder[String]
def inner(start: Int): Array[String] = {
if (start >= xs.length) ysb.result
else {
val sq = xs(start) * xs(start)
if (sq > N) ysb += sq.toString
inner(start + 1)
}
}
inner(0)
}
You can also pass a parameter forward in inner instead of using an external builder (especially useful for sums).
I have yet to confirm that this is truly a single pass, but:
val sqNumsLargerThanN = nums flatMap { x =>
val square = x * x
if (square > N) Some(x) else None
}
You can use collect which applies a partial function to every value of the collection that it's defined at. Your example could be rewritten as follows:
val sqNumsLargerThanN = nums collect {
case (x: Int) if (x * x) > N => (x * x).toString
}
A very simple approach that only does the multiplication operation once. It's also lazy, so it will be executing code only when needed.
nums.view.map(x=>x*x).withFilter(x => x> N).map(_.toString)
Take a look here for differences between filter and withFilter.
Consider this for comprehension,
for (x <- 0 until 10; v = x*x if v > N) yield v.toString
which unfolds to a flatMap over the range and a (lazy) withFilter onto the once only calculated square, and yields a collection with filtered results. To note one iteration and one calculation of square is required (in addition to creating the range).
You can use flatMap.
val sqNumsLargerThanN = nums flatMap { x =>
val square = x * x
if (square > N) Some(square.toString) else None
}
Or with Scalaz,
import scalaz.Scalaz._
val sqNumsLargerThanN = nums flatMap { x =>
val square = x * x
(square > N).option(square.toString)
}
The solves the asked question of how to do this with one iteration. This can be useful when streaming data, like with an Iterator.
However...if you are instead wanting the absolute fastest implementation, this is not it. In fact, I suspect you would use a mutable ArrayList and a while loop. But only after profiling would you know for sure. In any case, that's for another question.
Using a for comprehension would work:
val sqNumsLargerThanN = for {x <- nums if x*x > N } yield (x*x).toString
Also, I'm not sure but I think the scala compiler is smart about a filter before a map and will only do 1 pass if possible.
I am also beginner did it as follows
for(y<-(num.map(x=>x*x)) if y>5 ) { println(y)}