Save repeated computation in conditional expression in Clojure? - clojure

In the following code, I need to compute the maximum of the sum of one element from keyboards and one from drives, subject that the sum should be less or equal to s.
(def s 10)
(def keyboards '(3 1))
(def drives '(5 2 8))
(let [k (sort (fn [x y] (> x y)) keyboards) ; sort into decreasing
d (sort (fn [x y] (> x y)) drives) ; sort into decreasing
]
(loop [k1 (first k) ks (rest k) d1 (first d) ds (rest d)]
(cond
(or (nil? k1) (nil? d1)) -1 ; when one of the list is empty
(< (+ k1 d1) s) (+ k1 d1) ; whether (+ k1 d1) can be saved to compute once?
(and (empty? ks) (empty? ds)) -1
(empty? ks) (if (< (+ k1 (first ds)) s) (+ k1 (first ds)) -1) ; whether (+ k1 (first ds)) can be saved once?
(empty? ds) (if (< (+ d1 (first ks)) s) (+ d1 (first ks)) -1) ; whether (+ d1 (first ks)) can be saved once?
:else (let [bs (take-while #(< % s) [ (+ k1 (first ds)) (+ (first ks) d1) ])]
(if (empty? bs) (recur (first ks) (rest ks) (first ds) (rest ds))
(apply max bs))))))
As indicated in the comments, I wonder if there is any way to further optimize the repeated add operation in the conditional expressions.
It may not be optimal to use let bindings to compute them all before the condition checkings, as only one of the condition would be true, thus the computations for the other conditions would be wasted.
I wonder if Clojure compiler would be smart enough to optimize the repeated computation for me, or there is a clever expression to make the operation to be performed only once in both the checking and return value?
Any suggestion to make the code more idiomatic would be appreciated.

This sounds kind of like the knapsack problem. There are more computationally efficient ways to compute it, but if you are dealing with two or three small lists which are less than a few hundred, and if it is not a critical piece of code that is running in a hot loop, consider the much simpler:
(let [upper-limit 10
keyboards [3 1]
drives [5 2 8]]
(apply max
(for [k keyboards
d drives
:let [sum (+ k d)]
:when (<= sum upper-limit)]
sum)))
You perform your (potentially expensive) computation only once (in the :let binding), which is what you really were asking for. This is O(n^2), but if it meets the criteria above, it is a solution which can be understood easily to the reader; thus, it is maintainable. If it's critical that it be as efficient as possible, consider more algorithmically efficient solutions.
Edited by Yu Shen:
There is a slight problem when there no eligible sum. It may be improved as follows:
(let [upper-limit 10
keyboards [3 1]
drives [5 2 8]
eligbles (for [k keyboards
d drives
:let [sum (+ k d)]
:when (<= sum upper-limit)]
sum)]
(if (empty? eligbles)
nil
(apply max eligbles)))

If you want to keep the structure of your current code, you can use Mark Engelberg's better-cond library:
(require '[better-cond.core :as b])
(def s 10)
(def keyboards '(3 1))
(def drives '(5 2 8))
(let [k (sort (fn [x y] (> x y)) keyboards) ; sort into decreasing
d (sort (fn [x y] (> x y)) drives)] ; sort into decreasing
(loop [k1 (first k) ks (rest k) d1 (first d) ds (rest d)]
(b/cond
(or (nil? k1) (nil? d1)) -1 ; when one of the list is empty
:let [x (+ k1 d1)]
(< x s) x
(and (empty? ks) (empty? ds)) -1
:let [y (+ k1 (first ds))]
(empty? ks) (if (< y s) (dec y))
:let [z (+ d1 (first ks))]
(empty? ds) (if (< z s) (dec z))
:else (let [bs (take-while #(< % s) [(+ k1 (first ds)) (+ (first ks) d1)])]
(if (empty? bs) (recur (first ks) (rest ks) (first ds) (rest ds))
(apply max bs))))))

Related

Writing a lazy-as-possible unfoldr-like function to generate arbitrary factorizations

problem formulation
Informally speaking, I want to write a function which, taking as input a function that generates binary factorizations and an element (usually neutral), creates an arbitrary length factorization generator. To be more specific, let us first define the function nfoldr in Clojure.
(defn nfoldr [f e]
(fn rec [n]
(fn [s]
(if (zero? n)
(if (empty? s) e)
(if (seq s)
(if-some [x ((rec (dec n)) (rest s))]
(f (list (first s) x))))))))
Here nil is used with the meaning "undefined output, input not in function's domain". Additionally, let us view the inverse relation of a function f as a set-valued function defining inv(f)(y) = {x | f(x) = y}.
I want to define a function nunfoldr such that inv(nfoldr(f , e)(n)) = nunfoldr(inv(f) , e)(n) when for every element y inv(f)(y) is finite, for each binary function f, element e and natural number n.
Moreover, I want the factorizations to be generated as lazily as possible, in a 2-dimensional sense of laziness. My goal is that, when getting some part of a factorization for the first time, there does not happen (much) computation needed for next parts or next factorizations. Similarly, when getting one factorization for the first time, there does not happen computation needed for next ones, whereas all the previous ones get in effect fully realized.
In an alternative formulation we can use the following longer version of nfoldr, which is equivalent to the shorter one when e is a neutral element.
(defn nfoldr [f e]
(fn [n]
(fn [s]
(if (zero? n)
(if (empty? s) e)
((fn rec [n]
(fn [s]
(if (= 1 n)
(if (and (seq s) (empty? (rest s))) (first s))
(if (seq s)
(if-some [x ((rec (dec n)) (rest s))]
(f (list (first s) x)))))))
n)))))
a special case
This problem is a generalization of the problem of generating partitions described in that question. Let us see how the old problem can be reduced to the current one. We have for every natural number n:
npt(n) = inv(nconcat(n)) = inv(nfoldr(concat2 , ())(n)) = nunfoldr(inv(concat2) , ())(n) = nunfoldr(pt2 , ())(n)
where:
npt(n) generates n-ary partitions
nconcat(n) computes n-ary concatenation
concat2 computes binary concatenation
pt2 generates binary partitions
So the following definitions give a solution to that problem.
(defn generate [step start]
(fn [x] (take-while some? (iterate step (start x)))))
(defn pt2-step [[x y]]
(if (seq y) (list (concat x (list (first y))) (rest y))))
(def pt2-start (partial list ()))
(def pt2 (generate pt2-step pt2-start))
(def npt (nunfoldr pt2 ()))
I will summarize my story of solving this problem, using the old one to create example runs, and conclude with some observations and proposals for extension.
solution 0
At first, I refined/generalized the approach I took for solving the old problem. Here I write my own versions of concat and map mainly for a better presentation and, in the case of concat, for some added laziness. Of course we can use Clojure's versions or mapcat instead.
(defn fproduct [f]
(fn [s]
(lazy-seq
(if (and (seq f) (seq s))
(cons
((first f) (first s))
((fproduct (rest f)) (rest s)))))))
(defn concat' [s]
(lazy-seq
(if (seq s)
(if-let [x (seq (first s))]
(cons (first x) (concat' (cons (rest x) (rest s))))
(concat' (rest s))))))
(defn map' [f]
(fn rec [s]
(lazy-seq
(if (seq s)
(cons (f (first s)) (rec (rest s)))))))
(defn nunfoldr [f e]
(fn rec [n]
(fn [x]
(if (zero? n)
(if (= e x) (list ()) ())
((comp
concat'
(map' (comp
(partial apply map)
(fproduct (list
(partial partial cons)
(rec (dec n))))))
f)
x)))))
In an attempt to get inner laziness we could replace (partial partial cons) with something like (comp (partial partial concat) list). Although this way we get inner LazySeqs, we do not gain any effective laziness because, before consing, most of the computation required for fully realizing the rest part takes place, something that seems unavoidable within this general approach. Based on the longer version of nfoldr, we can also define the following faster version.
(defn nunfoldr [f e]
(fn [n]
(fn [x]
(if (zero? n)
(if (= e x) (list ()) ())
(((fn rec [n]
(fn [x] (println \< x \>)
(if (= 1 n)
(list (list x))
((comp
concat'
(map' (comp
(partial apply map)
(fproduct (list
(partial partial cons)
(rec (dec n))))))
f)
x))))
n)
x)))))
Here I added a println call inside the main recursive function to get some visualization of eagerness. So let us demonstrate the outer laziness and inner eagerness.
user=> (first ((npt 5) (range 3)))
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
(() () () () (0 1 2))
user=> (ffirst ((npt 5) (range 3)))
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
()
solution 1
Then I thought of a more promising approach, using the function:
(defn transpose [s]
(lazy-seq
(if (every? seq s)
(cons
(map first s)
(transpose (map rest s))))))
To get the new solution we replace the previous argument in the map' call with:
(comp
(partial map (partial apply cons))
transpose
(fproduct (list
repeat
(rec (dec n)))))
Trying to get inner laziness we could replace (partial apply cons) with #(cons (first %) (lazy-seq (second %))) but this is not enough. The problem lies in the (every? seq s) test inside transpose, where checking a lazy sequence of factorizations for emptiness (as a stopping condition) results in realizing it.
solution 2
A first way to tackle the previous problem that came to my mind was to use some additional knowledge about the number of n-ary factorizations of an element. This way we can repeat a certain number of times and use only this sequence for the stopping condition of transpose. So we will replace the test inside transpose with (seq (first s)), add an input count to nunfoldr and replace the argument in the map' call with:
(comp
(partial map #(cons (first %) (lazy-seq (second %))))
transpose
(fproduct (list
(partial apply repeat)
(rec (dec n))))
(fn [[x y]] (list (list ((count (dec n)) y) x) y)))
Let us turn to the problem of partitions and define:
(defn npt-count [n]
(comp
(partial apply *)
#(map % (range 1 n))
(partial comp inc)
(partial partial /)
count))
(def npt (nunfoldr pt2 () npt-count))
Now we can demonstrate outer and inner laziness.
user=> (first ((npt 5) (range 3)))
< (0 1 2) >
(< (0 1 2) >
() < (0 1 2) >
() < (0 1 2) >
() < (0 1 2) >
() (0 1 2))
user=> (ffirst ((npt 5) (range 3)))
< (0 1 2) >
()
However, the dependence on additional knowledge and the extra computational cost make this solution unacceptable.
solution 3
Finally, I thought that in some crucial places I should use a kind of lazy sequences "with a non-lazy end", in order to be able to check for emptiness without realizing. An empty such sequence is just a non-lazy empty list and overall they behave somewhat like the lazy-conss of the early days of Clojure. Using the definitions given below we can reach an acceptable solution, which works under the assumption that always at least one of the concat'ed sequences (when there is one) is non-empty, something that holds in particular when every element has at least one binary factorization and we are using the longer version of nunfoldr.
(def lazy? (partial instance? clojure.lang.IPending))
(defn empty-eager? [x] (and (not (lazy? x)) (empty? x)))
(defn transpose [s]
(lazy-seq
(if-not (some empty-eager? s)
(cons
(map first s)
(transpose (map rest s))))))
(defn concat' [s]
(if-not (empty-eager? s)
(lazy-seq
(if-let [x (seq (first s))]
(cons (first x) (concat' (cons (rest x) (rest s))))
(concat' (rest s))))
()))
(defn map' [f]
(fn rec [s]
(if-not (empty-eager? s)
(lazy-seq (cons (f (first s)) (rec (rest s))))
())))
Note that in this approach the input function f should produce lazy sequences of the new kind and the resulting n-ary factorizer will also produce such sequences. To take care of the new input requirement, for the problem of partitions we define:
(defn pt2 [s]
(lazy-seq
(let [start (list () s)]
(cons
start
((fn rec [[x y]]
(if (seq y)
(lazy-seq
(let [step (list (concat x (list (first y))) (rest y))]
(cons step (rec step))))
()))
start)))))
Once again, let us demonstrate outer and inner laziness.
user=> (first ((npt 5) (range 3)))
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
(< (0 1 2) >
() < (0 1 2) >
() < (0 1 2) >
() () (0 1 2))
user=> (ffirst ((npt 5) (range 3)))
< (0 1 2) >
< (0 1 2) >
()
To make the input and output use standard lazy sequences (sacrificing a bit of laziness), we can add:
(defn lazy-end->eager-end [s]
(if (seq s)
(lazy-seq (cons (first s) (lazy-end->eager-end (rest s))))
()))
(defn eager-end->lazy-end [s]
(lazy-seq
(if-not (empty-eager? s)
(cons (first s) (eager-end->lazy-end (rest s))))))
(def nunfoldr
(comp
(partial comp (partial comp eager-end->lazy-end))
(partial apply nunfoldr)
(fproduct (list
(partial comp lazy-end->eager-end)
identity))
list))
observations and extensions
While creating solution 3, I observed that the old mechanism for lazy sequences in Clojure might not be necessarily inferior to the current one. With the transition, we gained the ability to create lazy sequences without any substantial computation taking place but lost the ability to check for emptiness without doing the computation needed to get one more element. Because both of these abilities can be important in some cases, it would be nice if a new mechanism was introduced, which would combine the advantages of the previous ones. Such a mechanism could use again an outer LazySeq thunk, which when forced would return an empty list or a Cons or another LazySeq or a new LazyCons thunk. This new thunk when forced would return a Cons or perhaps another LazyCons. Now empty? would force only LazySeq thunks while first and rest would also force LazyCons. In this setting map could look like this:
(defn map [f s]
(lazy-seq
(if (empty? s) ()
(lazy-cons
(cons (f (first s)) (map f (rest s)))))))
I have also noticed that the approach taken from solution 1 onwards lends itself to further generalization. If inside the argument in the map' call in the longer nunfoldr we replace cons with concat, transpose with some implementation of Cartesian product and repeat with another recursive call, we can then create versions that "split at different places". For example, using the following as the argument we can define a nunfoldm function that "splits in the middle" and corresponds to an easy-to-imagine nfoldm. Note that all "splitting strategies" are equivalent when f is associative.
(comp
(partial map (partial apply concat))
cproduct
(fproduct (let [n-half (quot n 2)]
(list (rec n-half) (rec (- n n-half))))))
Another natural modification would allow for infinite factorizations. To achieve this, if f generated infinite factorizations, nunfoldr(f , e)(n) should generate the factorizations in an order of type ω, so that each one of them could be produced in finite time.
Other possible extensions include dropping the n parameter, creating relational folds (in correspondence with the relational unfolds we consider here) and generically handling algebraic data structures other than sequences as input/output. This book, which I have just discovered, seems to contain valuable relevant information, given in a categorical/relational language.
Finally, to be able to do this kind of programming more conveniently, we could transfer it into a point-free, algebraic setting. This would require constructing considerable "extra machinery", in fact almost making a new language. This paper demonstrates such a language.

clojure performance on badly performing code

I have completed this problem on hackerrank and my solution passes most test cases but it is not fast enough for 4 out of the 11 test cases.
My solution looks like this:
(ns scratch.core
(require [clojure.string :as str :only (split-lines join split)]))
(defn ascii [char]
(int (.charAt (str char) 0)))
(defn process [text]
(let [parts (split-at (int (Math/floor (/ (count text) 2))) text)
left (first parts)
right (if (> (count (last parts)) (count (first parts)))
(rest (last parts))
(last parts))]
(reduce (fn [acc i]
(let [a (ascii (nth left i))
b (ascii (nth (reverse right) i))]
(if (> a b)
(+ acc (- a b))
(+ acc (- b a))))
) 0 (range (count left)))))
(defn print-result [[x & xs]]
(prn x)
(if (seq xs)
(recur xs)))
(let [input (slurp "/Users/paulcowan/Downloads/input10.txt")
inputs (str/split-lines input)
length (read-string (first inputs))
texts (rest inputs)]
(time (print-result (map process texts))))
Can anyone give me any advice about what I should look at to make this faster?
Would using recursion instead of reduce be faster or maybe this line is expensive:
right (if (> (count (last parts)) (count (first parts)))
(rest (last parts))
(last parts))
Because I am getting a count twice.
You are redundantly calling reverse on every iteration of the reduce:
user=> (let [c [1 2 3]
noisey-reverse #(doto (reverse %) println)]
(reduce (fn [acc e] (conj acc (noisey-reverse c) e))
[]
[:a :b :c]))
(3 2 1)
(3 2 1)
(3 2 1)
[(3 2 1) :a (3 2 1) :b (3 2 1) :c]
The reversed value could be calculated inside the containing let, and would then only need to be calculated once.
Also, due to the way your parts is defined, you are doing linear time lookups with each call to nth. It would be better to put parts in a vector and do indexed lookup. In fact you wouldn't need a reversed parts, and could do arithmetic based on the count of the vector to find the item to look up.

Append to a vector in a function

I have two columns (vectors) of different length and want to create a new vector of rows (if the column has enough elements). I'm trying to create a new vector (see failed attempt below). In Java this would involve the steps: iterate vector, check condition, append to vector, return vector. Do I need recursion here? I'm sure this is not difficult to solve, but it's very different than procedural code.
(defn rowmaker [colA colB]
"create a row of two columns of possibly different length"
(let [mia (map-indexed vector colA)
rows []]
(doseq [[i elA] mia]
;append if col has enough elements
(if (< i (count colA)) (vec (concat rows elA))) ; ! can't append to rows
(if (< i (count colB)) (vec (concat rows (nth colB i)))
;return rows
rows)))
Expected example input/output
(rowMaker ["A1"] ["B1" "B2"])
; => [["A1" "B1“] [“" "B2"]]
(defn rowMaker [colA colB]
"create a row from two columns"
(let [ca (count colA) cb (count colB)
c (max ca cb)
colA (concat colA (repeat (- c ca) ""))
colB (concat colB (repeat (- c cb) ""))]
(map vector colA colB)))
(defn rowmaker
[cols]
(->> cols
(map #(concat % (repeat "")))
(apply map vector)
(take (->> cols
(map count)
(apply max)))))
I prefer recursion to counting the number of items in collections. Here is my solution.
(defn row-maker
[col-a col-b]
(loop [acc []
as (seq col-a)
bs (seq col-b)]
(if (or as bs)
(recur (conj acc [(or (first as) "") (or (first bs) "")])
(next as)
(next bs))
acc)))
The following does the trick with the given example:
(defn rowMaker [v1 v2]
(mapv vector (concat v1 (repeat "")) v2))
(rowMaker ["A1"] ["B1" "B2"])
;[["A1" "B1"] ["" "B2"]]
However, it doesn't work the other way round:
(rowMaker ["B1" "B2"] ["A1"])
;[["B1" "A1"]]
To make it work both ways, we are going to have to write a version of mapv that fills in for sterile sequences so long as any sequence is fertile. Here is a corresponding lazy version for map, which will work for infinite sequences too:
(defn map-filler [filler f & colls]
(let [filler (vec filler)
colls (vec colls)
live-coll-map (->> colls
(map-indexed vector)
(filter (comp seq second))
(into {}))
split (fn [lcm] (reduce
(fn [[x xm] [i coll]]
(let [[c & cs] coll]
[(assoc x i c) (if cs (assoc xm i cs) xm)]))
[filler {}]
lcm))]
((fn expostulate [lcm]
(lazy-seq
(when (seq lcm)
(let [[this thoses] (split lcm)]
(cons (apply f this) (expostulate thoses))))))
live-coll-map)))
The idea is that you supply a filler sequence with one entry for each of the collections that follow. So we can now define your required rowmaker function thus:
(defn rowmaker [& colls]
(apply map-filler (repeat (count colls) "") vector colls))
This will take any number of collections, and will fill in blank strings for exhausted collections.
(rowmaker ["A1"] ["B1" "B2"])
;(["A1" "B1"] ["" "B2"])
(rowmaker ["B1" "B2"] ["A1"])
;(["B1" "A1"] ["B2" ""])
It works!
(defn make-row
[cola colb r]
(let [pad ""]
(cond
(and (not (empty? cola))
(not (empty? colb))) (recur (rest cola)
(rest colb)
(conj r [(first cola) (first colb)]))
(and (not (empty? cola))
(empty? colb)) (recur (rest cola)
(rest colb)
(conj r [(first cola) pad]))
(and (empty? cola)
(not (empty? colb))) (recur (rest cola)
(rest colb)
(conj r [pad (first colb)]))
:else r)))

insert-sort with reduce clojure

I have function
(defn goneSeq [inseq uptil]
(loop [counter 0 newSeq [] orginSeq inseq]
(if (== counter uptil)
newSeq
(recur (inc counter) (conj newSeq (first orginSeq)) (rest orginSeq)))))
(defn insert [sorted-seq n]
(loop [currentSeq sorted-seq counter 0]
(cond (empty? currentSeq) (concat sorted-seq (vector n))
(<= n (first currentSeq)) (concat (goneSeq sorted-seq counter) (vector n) currentSeq)
:else (recur (rest currentSeq) (inc counter)))))
that takes in a sorted-sequence and insert the number n at its appropriate position for example: (insert [1 3 4] 2) returns [1 2 3 4].
Now I want to use this function with reduce to sort a given sequence so something like:
(reduce (insert seq n) givenSeq)
What is thr correct way to achieve this?
If the function works for inserting a single value, then this would work:
(reduce insert [] givenSeq)
for example:
user> (reduce insert [] [0 1 2 30.5 0.88 2.2])
(0 0.88 1 2 2.2 30.5)
Also, it should be noted that sort and sort-by are built in and are better than most hand-rolled solutions.
May I suggest some simpler ways to do insert:
A slowish lazy way is
(defn insert [s x]
(let [[fore aft] (split-with #(> x %) s)]
(concat fore (cons x aft))))
A faster eager way is
(defn insert [coll x]
(loop [fore [], coll coll]
(if (and (seq coll) (> x (first coll)))
(recur (conj fore x) (rest coll))
(concat fore (cons x coll)))))
By the way, you had better put your defns in bottom-up order, if possible. Use declare if there is mutual recursion. You had me thinking your solution did not compile.

Project Euler #14 and memoization in Clojure

As a neophyte clojurian, it was recommended to me that I go through the Project Euler problems as a way to learn the language. Its definitely a great way to improve your skills and gain confidence. I just finished up my answer to problem #14. It works fine, but to get it running efficiently I had to implement some memoization. I couldn't use the prepackaged memoize function because of the way my code was structured, and I think it was a good experience to roll my own anyways. My question is if there is a good way to encapsulate my cache within the function itself, or if I have to define an external cache like I have done. Also, any tips to make my code more idiomatic would be appreciated.
(use 'clojure.test)
(def mem (atom {}))
(with-test
(defn chain-length
([x] (chain-length x x 0))
([start-val x c]
(if-let [e (last(find #mem x))]
(let [ret (+ c e)]
(swap! mem assoc start-val ret)
ret)
(if (<= x 1)
(let [ret (+ c 1)]
(swap! mem assoc start-val ret)
ret)
(if (even? x)
(recur start-val (/ x 2) (+ c 1))
(recur start-val (+ 1 (* x 3)) (+ c 1)))))))
(is (= 10 (chain-length 13))))
(with-test
(defn longest-chain
([] (longest-chain 2 0 0))
([c max start-num]
(if (>= c 1000000)
start-num
(let [l (chain-length c)]
(if (> l max)
(recur (+ 1 c) l c)
(recur (+ 1 c) max start-num))))))
(is (= 837799 (longest-chain))))
Since you want the cache to be shared between all invocations of chain-length, you would write chain-length as (let [mem (atom {})] (defn chain-length ...)) so that it would only be visible to chain-length.
In this case, since the longest chain is sufficiently small, you could define chain-length using the naive recursive method and use Clojure's builtin memoize function on that.
Here's an idiomatic(?) version using plain old memoize.
(def chain-length
(memoize
(fn [n]
(cond
(== n 1) 1
(even? n) (inc (chain-length (/ n 2)))
:else (inc (chain-length (inc (* 3 n))))))))
(defn longest-chain [start end]
(reduce (fn [x y]
(if (> (second x) (second y)) x y))
(for [n (range start (inc end))]
[n (chain-length n)])))
If you have an urge to use recur, consider map or reduce first. They often do what you want, and sometimes do it better/faster, since they take advantage of chunked seqs.
(inc x) is like (+ 1 x), but inc is about twice as fast.
You can capture the surrounding environment in a clojure :
(defn my-memoize [f]
(let [cache (atom {})]
(fn [x]
(let [cy (get #cache x)]
(if (nil? cy)
(let [fx (f x)]
(reset! cache (assoc #cache x fx)) fx) cy)))))
(defn mul2 [x] (do (print "Hello") (* 2 x)))
(def mmul2 (my-memoize mul2))
user=> (mmul2 2)
Hello4
user=> (mmul2 2)
4
You see the mul2 funciton is only called once.
So the 'cache' is captured by the clojure and can be used to store the values.