Pass abstract/null variables into functions Clojure - clojure

I have a function that i need to take in a word and im trying to make a variable x the sorted version of word variable. Im not sure how i go about doing this... i am trying to pass it in as a parameter for a function but not working.
How do i pass in a "word" and make a variable within the function equal to a sorted version of "word" so i have two copies, the original word and the x version of word. So i can then go on to pass into a map i need to create.
(for [wordset '("one" "two" "three" "FouR" "wot" "Rheet" "nope" "#")]
(transform2 wordset))
(defn transform2 [word x]
(let [x (sort-string (str/lower-case word))]
(prn x)))
(defn sort-string [s]
(apply str (sort s)))
This is the error im getting back
CompilerException java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to resolve symbol: x in this context, compiling:(NO_SOURCE_PATH:108:1)

This expression is doing nothing for you:
(for [wordset '("one" "two" "three" "FouR" "wot" "Rheet" "nope" "#")]
(transform2 wordset))
You are not placing this anywhere where the return value will be used. A for is not like an imperative for loop in other languages. It just creates a sequence and returns it, it is not modifying anything.
Also you should use vectors and prefer keywords, in general:
[:one :two :three :whatever]
Though that would change the semantics of what you're doing, so maybe you have strings coming in from somewhere else and need to use them? Otherwise, don't use strings yourself as identifiers: that's what keywords are for.
As for your other questions, it's not quite clear what you mean. You say you'd like to make a variable, but it's not clear what you mean by this, as the code you have isn't doing anything along those lines.

Your transform2 accepts two arguments but you're passing only one. Try removing the x argument like below. Also, you may want to reverse the order you create the functions because they need to be defined before being used. (You may also use declare.)
(defn sort-string [s]
(apply str (sort s)))
(defn transform2 [word]
(let [x (sort-string (clojure.string/lower-case word))]
(prn x)))
(for [wordset '("one" "two" "three" "FouR" "wot" "Rheet" "nope" "#")]
(transform2 wordset))
Result will be:
"eno"
"otw"
"eehrt"
"foru"
"otw"
"eehrt"
"enop"
"#"

Related

Using split on each element of a vector

Basically, I have used slurp to get the contents of a file that is supposed to be a database. I've split the data already once and have a vector that contains all the information correctly. Now I would like to split each element in the vector again. This would give me a vector of vectors. My problem is I can't seem to find the right way to iterate through the vector and make my changes. The changes either don't work or are not stored in the vector.
Using doseq:
(doseq [x tempVector]
(clojure.string/split x #"|")
)
If I add a print statement in the loop it prints everything spaced out with no changes.
What am I doing wrong?
The str/split function returns a new vector of strings, which you need to save. Right now it is being generated and then discarded. You need something like this:
(ns xyz
(:require
[clojure.string :as str]))
(def x "hello there to you")
(def y (str/split x #" ")) ; save result in `y`
(def z (str/split x #"e")) ; save result in `z`
y => ["hello" "there" "to" "you"]
z => ["h" "llo th" "r" " to you"]
You can read clojure basics online here: https://www.braveclojure.com .
I recommend buying the book as it has more stuff than the online version.
If you have several strings in a vector, you can use the map function to split each of them in turn:
(def my-strings
["hello is there anybody in there?"
"just nod if you can hear me"
"is there anyone at home?"])
(def my-strings-split
(mapv #(str/split % #" ") my-strings))
my-strings-split =>
[["hello" "is" "there" "anybody" "in" "there?"]
["just" "nod" "if" "you" "can" "hear" "me"]
["is" "there" "anyone" "at" "home?"]]
To restructure your slurped lines of text into a collection of vectors of words you could do something like:
(use '[clojure.string :as str :only [split]])
(defn file-as-words [filename re]
(let [lines (line-seq (clojure.java.io/reader filename))
line-words (vec (mapv #(str/split %1 re) lines))]
line-words))
Here we define a function which first uses line-seq to slurp the file in and break it into a collection of lines, then we map an anonymous function which invokes clojure.string/split on each line in the initial collection, breaking each line up into a collection of words delimited by the passed-in regular expression. The collection of vectors-of-words is returned.
For example, let's say we have a file named /usr/data/test.dat which contains
Alice,Eating,001
Kitty,Football,006
May,Football,004
If we invoke file-as-words by using
(file-as-words "/usr/data/test.dat" #",")
you get back
[["Alice" "Eating" "001"] ["Kitty" "Football" "006"] ["May" "Football" "004"]]

How can I evaluate "symbol" and "(symbol 1)" with the same name?

I want to get following results when I evaluate edit-url and (edit-url 1).
edit-url --> "/articles/:id/edit"
(edit-url 1) --> "/articles/1/edit"
Is it possible to define such a Var or something?
Now, I use following function, but I don't want to write (edit-url) to get const string.
(defn edit-url
([] "/articles/:id/edit")
([id] (str "/articles/" id "/edit")))
Thanks in advance.
If those behaviors are exactly what you want, print-method and tagged literals may be used to imitate them.
(defrecord Path [path]
clojure.lang.IFn
(invoke [this n]
(clojure.string/replace path ":id" (str n))))
(defmethod print-method Path [o ^java.io.Writer w]
(.write w (str "#path\"" (:path o) "\"")))
(set! *data-readers* (assoc *data-readers* 'path ->Path))
(comment
user=> (def p #path"/articles/:id/edit")
#'user/p
user=> p
#path"/articles/:id/edit"
user=> (p 1)
"/articles/1/edit"
user=>
)
edit-url will either have the value of an immutable string or function. Not both.
The problem will fade when you write a function with better abstraction that takes a string and a map of keywords to replace with words. It should work like this
(generate-url "/articles/:id/edit" {:id 1})
Clojure is a "Lisp 1" which means that is has a single namespace for all symbols, including both data scalars and functions. What you have written shows the functionally of both a string and a function but for a single name, which you can do in Common Lisp but not Clojure (not that a "Lisp 2" has its own inconveniences as well).
In general this type of "problem" is a non issue if you organize your vars better. Why not just make edit-url a function with variable arity? Without arguments it returns something, with arguments it returns something else. Really the possibilities are endless, even more so when you consider making a macro instead of a function (not that I'm advocating that).

How to spit a list without double-quotes

I have the following line in my code:
(spit path (prn-str job-data))
It does it's work well execpt for one thing, every item in the list are put between double-quotes...
( ":a" ":b" ":a" )
the expected result that I'd like to have
( :a :b :a )
How to get the expected result?
Thanks in advance!
What's happening
The issue isn't that the items are being put in double quotes per se but that they're strings (as opposed to the keywords you're expecting).
prn-str, which is ultimately based on pr, prints objects "in a way that objects can be read by the reader". This means strings are printed in double-quotes - otherwise the reader wouldn't be able to tell strings from symbols, or read strings with whitespace in them. See here for more information on Clojure's reader.
println and print, on the other hand, are intended to "produce output for human consumption" and do not put strings in double-quotes. This is why you're seeing the difference in output between prn-str and println.
You can verify this with class. If you try (-> job-data first class) the answer will be either java.lang.String or clojure.lang.Keyword.
Here are some examples demonstrating the different behaviors of the printing functions when used with keywords and strings:
(def str-job-data '(":a" ":b" ":c"))
(def key-job-data '(:a :b :c))
;; `println` prints both keywords and strings without quotes
(with-out-str (println str-job-data)) ;=> "(:a :b :c)\n"
(with-out-str (println key-job-data)) ;=> "(:a :b :c)\n"
;; `prn-str` prints the strings in quotes but the keywords without quotes
(prn-str str-job-data) ;=> "(\":a\" \":b\" \":c\")\n"
(prn-str key-job-data) ;=> "(:a :b :c)\n"
How to change it
Now for possible solutions. If you were expecting job-data to contain keywords then the right fix is most likely to modify job-data. However, I can't offer much guidance here without knowing more about how job-data is produced.
If for some reason you can't modify job-data (for instance, if it's produced by code you don't control) and you want to write keywords wherever it contains keyword-like strings then something like #maxthoursie's suggestion is probably your best bet. (You could hypothetically just switch to print or println but that could have undesirable effects on how other objects are printed).
(defn keyword-string->keyword [s]
(keyword (subs s 1)))
(spit path (prn-str (map keyword-string->keyword job-data)))
If job-data might contain objects other than keyword-like strings you could apply the function only when appropriate.
(defn convert-job-data [obj]
(if (and (string? obj)
(= (.charAt obj 0) \:))
(keyword-string->keyword obj)
obj))
(spit path (prn-str (map convert-job-data job-data)))
Of course, if the file you're writing is for human consumption anyway and all this business about the reader is irrelevant you could trivially make your own println-str:
(defn println-str [& more]
(with-out-str (apply println more)))
(spit path (println-str job-data))
I'm guessing job-data is not what you expect it to be.
user=> (prn-str '(:a :b :c))
"(:a :b :c)\n"
If you do have a list with strings that looks like keywords, and you would like to convert it to keywords, you could use something like
(map (comp keyword #(subs % 1)) '(":a" ":b" ":c"))
Which skips the : of each element, and then converts it to a keyword.
user=> (prn-str (map (comp keyword #(subs % 1)) '(":a" ":b" ":c")))
"(:a :b :c)\n"

In Clojure, how to define a variable named by a string?

Given a list of names for variables, I want to set those variables to an expression.
I tried this:
(doall (for [x ["a" "b" "c"]] (def (symbol x) 666)))
...but this yields the error
java.lang.Exception: First argument to def must be a Symbol
Can anyone show me the right way to accomplish this, please?
Clojure's "intern" function is for this purpose:
(doseq [x ["a" "b" "c"]]
(intern *ns* (symbol x) 666))
(doall (for [x ["a" "b" "c"]] (eval `(def ~(symbol x) 666))))
In response to your comment:
There are no macros involved here. eval is a function that takes a list and returns the result of executing that list as code. ` and ~ are shortcuts to create a partially-quoted list.
` means the contents of the following lists shall be quoted unless preceded by a ~
~ the following list is a function call that shall be executed, not quoted.
So ``(def ~(symbol x) 666)is the list containing the symboldef, followed by the result of executingsymbol xfollowed by the number of the beast. I could as well have written(eval (list 'def (symbol x) 666))` to achieve the same effect.
Updated to take Stuart Sierra's comment (mentioning clojure.core/intern) into account.
Using eval here is fine, but it may be interesting to know that it is not necessary, regardless of whether the Vars are known to exist already. In fact, if they are known to exist, then I think the alter-var-root solution below is cleaner; if they might not exist, then I wouldn't insist on my alternative proposition being much cleaner, but it seems to make for the shortest code (if we disregard the overhead of three lines for a function definition), so I'll just post it for your consideration.
If the Var is known to exist:
(alter-var-root (resolve (symbol "foo")) (constantly new-value))
So you could do
(dorun
(map #(-> %1 symbol resolve (alter-var-root %2))
["x" "y" "z"]
[value-for-x value-for-y value-for z]))
(If the same value was to be used for all Vars, you could use (repeat value) for the final argument to map or just put it in the anonymous function.)
If the Vars might need to be created, then you can actually write a function to do this (once again, I wouldn't necessarily claim this to be cleaner than eval, but anyway -- just for the interest of it):
(defn create-var
;; I used clojure.lang.Var/intern in the original answer,
;; but as Stuart Sierra has pointed out in a comment,
;; a Clojure built-in is available to accomplish the same
;; thing
([sym] (intern *ns* sym))
([sym val] (intern *ns* sym val)))
Note that if a Var turns out to have already been interned with the given name in the given namespace, then this changes nothing in the single argument case or just resets the Var to the given new value in the two argument case. With this, you can solve the original problem like so:
(dorun (map #(create-var (symbol %) 666) ["x" "y" "z"]))
Some additional examples:
user> (create-var 'bar (fn [_] :bar))
#'user/bar
user> (bar :foo)
:bar
user> (create-var 'baz)
#'user/baz
user> baz
; Evaluation aborted. ; java.lang.IllegalStateException:
; Var user/baz is unbound.
; It does exist, though!
;; if you really wanted to do things like this, you'd
;; actually use the clojure.contrib.with-ns/with-ns macro
user> (binding [*ns* (the-ns 'quux)]
(create-var 'foobar 5))
#'quux/foobar
user> quux/foobar
5
Evaluation rules for normal function calls are to evaluate all the items of the list, and call the first item in the list as a function with the rest of the items in the list as parameters.
But you can't make any assumptions about the evaluation rules for special forms or macros. A special form or the code produced by a macro call could evaluate all the arguments, or never evaluate them, or evaluate them multiple times, or evaluate some arguments and not others. def is a special form, and it doesn't evaluate its first argument. If it did, it couldn't work. Evaluating the foo in (def foo 123) would result in a "no such var 'foo'" error most of the time (if foo was already defined, you probably wouldn't be defining it yourself).
I'm not sure what you're using this for, but it doesn't seem very idiomatic. Using def anywhere but at the toplevel of your program usually means you're doing something wrong.
(Note: doall + for = doseq.)

Clojure apply vs map

I have a sequence (foundApps) returned from a function and I want to map a function to all it's elements. For some reason, apply and count work for the sequnece but map doesn't:
(apply println foundApps)
(map println rest foundApps)
(map (fn [app] (println app)) foundApps)
(println (str "Found " (count foundApps) " apps to delete"))))
Prints:
{:description another descr, :title apptwo, :owner jim, :appstoreid 1235, :kind App, :key #<Key App(2)>} {:description another descr, :title apptwo, :owner jim, :appstoreid 1235, :kind App, :key #<Key App(4)>}
Found 2 apps to delete for id 1235
So apply seems to happily work for the sequence, but map doesn't. Where am I being stupid?
I have a simple explanation which this post is lacking. Let's imagine an abstract function F and a vector. So,
(apply F [1 2 3 4 5])
translates to
(F 1 2 3 4 5)
which means that F has to be at best case variadic.
While
(map F [1 2 3 4 5])
translates to
[(F 1) (F 2) (F 3) (F 4) (F 5)]
which means that F has to be single-variable, or at least behave this way.
There are some nuances about types, since map actually returns a lazy sequence instead of vector. But for the sake of simplicity, I hope it's pardonable.
Most likely you're being hit by map's laziness. (map produces a lazy sequence which is only realised when some code actually uses its elements. And even then the realisation happens in chunks, so that you have to walk the whole sequence to make sure it all got realised.) Try wrapping the map expression in a dorun:
(dorun (map println foundApps))
Also, since you're doing it just for the side effects, it might be cleaner to use doseq instead:
(doseq [fa foundApps]
(println fa))
Note that (map println foundApps) should work just fine at the REPL; I'm assuming you've extracted it from somewhere in your code where it's not being forced. There's no such difference with doseq which is strict (i.e. not lazy) and will walk its argument sequences for you under any circumstances. Also note that doseq returns nil as its value; it's only good for side-effects. Finally I've skipped the rest from your code; you might have meant (rest foundApps) (unless it's just a typo).
Also note that (apply println foundApps) will print all the foundApps on one line, whereas (dorun (map println foundApps)) will print each member of foundApps on its own line.
A little explanation might help. In general you use apply to splat a sequence of elements into a set of arguments to a function. So applying a function to some arguments just means passing them in as arguments to the function, in a single function call.
The map function will do what you want, create a new seq by plugging each element of the input into a function and then storing the output. It does it lazily though, so the values will only be computed when you actually iterate over the list. To force this you can use the (doall my-seq) function, but most of the time you won't need to do that.
If you need to perform an operation immediately because it has side effects, like printing or saving to a database or something, then you typically use doseq.
So to append "foo" to all of your apps (assuming they are strings):
(map (fn [app] (str app "foo")) found-apps)
or using the shorhand for an anonymous function:
(map #(str % "foo") found-apps)
Doing the same but printing immediately can be done with either of these:
(doall (map #(println %) found-apps))
(doseq [app found-apps] (println app))