Correct use of `recur` in Clojure? - clojure

I'm trying to solve the Count a Sequence problem on 4Clojure, but I can't work out what's wrong with my use of recur:
fn [s] (
fn [t n] (
if (empty t)
n
(recur (rest t) (+ n 1))
) s 0
)
It gives the following exception:
java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Can only recur from tail position, compiling:(NO_SOURCE_PATH:0)
But to me it seems that the call to recur is in a tail position for the inner function. What am I missing?

Two problems:
Your parentheses are misplaced.
You are using empty where you want empty?.
Parentheses
The fn special form for defining a function takes the shape
(fn name? [params* ] exprs*) with the parentheses around it.
Another level of parentheses applies the function ((fn [n] (* n n))
3) => 9.
Using defn instead of fn for the moment, we get
(defn l [s]
((fn [t n] (if (empty? t) n (recur (rest t) (+ n 1))))
s 0))
Then, for example,
(l ())
; 0
and
(l [1 2 3])
; 3

#Thumbnail is right -- your code will work just fine if you fix the placement of your parentheses (most importantly, you need to add a ( before (fn [t n] ... and a corresponding ) after s 0, in order to actually return the result of calling that function (the one that takes t and n as arguments) on the values s and 0. Otherwise, you are returning the function itself.), and change empty to empty?.
If you wanted to simplify things a bit, you might consider using a loop/recur structure instead, like this:
(fn [s]
(loop [t s, n 0]
(if (empty? t)
n
(recur (rest t) (+ n 1)))))

Related

clojure function name as argument

I need to make loop method, which takes as argument some method name and how many times it will be looped.
Problem is that, i can't use any mutations (def,let and etc) as well as standart clojure functions, except if, inc, dec, println, +, -, = and etc.
Only with SEQ and Recursion !!!
My example:
;; F = some function name, for example, inc, dec, println and etc.
(defn my-loop [f n]
(if (= n 0)
f
(my-loop f (dec n))))
;; Returns 2, instead of 3, because on next iteration argument F = nil :(
(my-loop (inc 1) 2)
Obviously, when recursion is called, argument F is NIL, so how i can return same argument when recursion was called (without hardcode).
(letfn [(my-loop [f n result]
(if (< n 1) result
(recur f (dec n) (f result))))]
(my-loop inc 2 1))
Thanks for help, my solution is:
(defn my-loop [f n result]
(if (< n 1)
result
(my-loop f (dec n) (f result))))
(my-loop inc 2 1)

Generator pattern code can't return value

I want to create a generator to do, 1 2 3 4.
(defn getNums []
(loop [i 4
r []]
(when (<= i 0)
r ;<--- point A
(recur (dec i)
(conj r i)))))
(getNums) ;Eval to nil.
Nothing get return, why ?
Would the code in point A return result vector r ?
when, is a clojure macro defined as:
(when test & body)
So, in your first example, the body of when would be:
(do
r
(recur (dec i)
(conj r i)))
The when test itself is evaluated to false so the body of the when macro is not executed.
The return value of the function it therefore the return value of when itself is return, which is nil. Ex:
(when (< 2 1)) ; nil
By the way, there is a build in function range that does the same as your method:
(range 1 10)
And, in a more generic way, you could use the lazy function iterate:
(take 10 (iterate inc 1))
(defn getNums []
(loop [i 4
r []]
(if (<= i 0)
r
(recur (dec i)
(cons i r)))))
(getNums)

How to call one defn function in another defn and how to debugging in Clojure

I am having a problem running my program in Clojure. I just start learning Clojure a couple of weeks ago. So I don't know the quick and easy way to debug a Clojure program. My func2 raises an exception at (adj(a b)) as followed:
ClassCastException java.lang.Long cannot be cast to clojure.lang.IFn
user/func2.
I don't know what is wrong with it. Can someone point out the problem with my coding?
And in func3, I call func2 recursively, but it throws:
ArityException Wrong number of args (0) passed to: PersistentVector
clojure.lan g.AFn.throwArity (AFn.java:437)
What is wrong with func3? Thank you.
(defn adj [value1 value2]
(def result (+ (/ value1 2) (/ value2 2)))
(if (= (mod result 2) 1)
(+ result 1)
result
)
)
(defn func2 [list]
(let [[a b c d] list]
(inc d)
([(adj c a) (adj a b) (adj b c) d]))
)
(defn func3 [list]
(loop [v list r []]
(if(= (v 0) (v 1) (v 2))
(conj list r)
(func3(func2(list)))
))
)
What's the intended result of these functions? We probably need to see some sample inputs and expected results to really be able to help you.
Here's my attempt at cleaning them up. I've noted the changes I made as comments. func3 has the most serious problem in that it's an infinite recursion - there's no end condition. What should cause it to stop working and return a result?
(defn adj [value1 value2]
;; don't use def within functions, use let
(let [result (+ (/ value1 2) (/ value2 2))]
(if (= (mod result 2) 1)
(+ result 1)
result)))
(defn func2 [list]
(let [[a b c d] list]
;; The extra parens around this vector were causing it
;; to be called as a function, which I don't think is
;; what you intended:
[(adj c a) (adj a b) (adj b c) d]))
;; This needs an end condition - it's an infinite recursion
(defn func3 [list]
(loop [v list r []]
(if (= (v 0) (v 1) (v 2))
(conj list r)
;; Removed extra parens around list
(func3 (func2 list)))))
The reason I say not to use def within functions is that it always creates a global function. For local bindings you want let.
Regarding the extra parens, the difference between [1 2 3] and ([1 2 3]) is that the former returns a vector containing the numbers 1, 2, and 3, whereas the latter tries to call that vector as a function. You had excess parens around the literal vector in func2 and around list in func3, which was causing exceptions.
As a style note, the name list isn't a good choice. For one thing, it's shadowing clojure.core/list, and for another you're probably using vectors rather than lists anyway. It would be more idiomatic to use coll (for collection) or s (for sequence) as the name.
This would suggest at least one other change. In func3 you use a vector-only feature (using the vector as a function to perform lookup by index), so to be more general (accept other data structures) you can convert to a vector with vec:
(defn func3 [coll]
(loop [v (vec coll) r []]
(if (= (v 0) (v 1) (v 2))
(conj v r)
(func3 (func2 v)))))
Oh, there is no need to debug that. I suggest you have a look at LightTable.
The first two functions are easily fixed:
(defn adj [value1 value2]
;(def result (+ (/ value1 2) (/ value2 2))) def creates a global binding in current namespace !!!
(let [result (+ (/ value1 2) (/ value2 2))]
(if
(= (mod result 2) 1)
(inc result)
result)))
(defn func2 [xx]
(let [[a b c d] xx]
[ (adj c a) (adj a b) (adj b c) (inc d)]
))
The third function is not clear to me. I don't read your intent. What I understand is: "Keep applying func2 to itself until the first three elements of its result are equal." But I'm afraid this condition is never met, so I replaced it with a true in order to see just one result without blowing the stack.
(defn func3 [xx]
(loop [ v (func2 xx) ]
(if
;(= (v 0) (v 1) (v 2))
true
v
(recur (func2 v))
)))
Useful link: http://clojure.org/cheatsheet
Cheers -

Why is let not a valid recur target?

In clojure, this is valid:
(loop [a 5]
(if (= a 0)
"done"
(recur (dec a))))
However, this is not:
(let [a 5]
(if (= a 0)
"done"
(recur (dec a))))
So I'm wondering: why are loop and let separated, given the fact they both (at least conceptually) introduce lexical bindings? That is, why is loop a recur target while let is not?
EDIT: originally wrote "loop target" which I noticed is incorrect.
Consider the following example:
(defn pascal-step [v n]
(if (pos? n)
(let [l (concat v [0])
r (cons 0 v)]
(recur (map + l r) (dec n)))
v))
This function calculates n+mth line of pascal triangle by given mth line.
Now, imagine, that let is a recur target. In this case I won't be able to recursively call the pascal-step function itself from let binding using recur operator.
Now let's make this example a little bit more complex:
(defn pascal-line [n]
(loop [v [1]
i n]
(if (pos? i)
(let [l (concat v [0])
r (cons 0 v)]
(recur (map + l r) (dec i)))
v)))
Now we're calculating nth line of a pascal triangle. As you can see, I need both loop and let here.
This example is quite simple, so you may suggest removing let binding by using (concat v [0]) and (cons 0 v) directly, but I'm just showing you the concept. There may be a more complex examples where let inside a loop is unavoidable.

factorial function for Church numerals

I'm trying to implement the factorial lambda expression as described in the book Lambda-calculus, Combinators and Functional Programming
The way it's described there is :
fact = (Y)λf.λn.(((is-zero)n)one)((multiply)n)(f)(predecessor)n
Y = λy.(λx.(y)(x)x)λx.(y)(x)x
where
(x)y is equivalent to (x y) and
(x)(y)z is equivalent to (x (y x)) and
λx.x is equivalent to (fn [x] x)
and is-zero, one, multiply and predecessor are defined for the standard church numerals. Actual definitions here.
I translated that to the following
(defn Y-mine [y] ; (defn Y-rosetta [y]
((fn [x] (y (x x))) ; ((fn [f] (f f))
(fn [x] ; (fn [f]
(y ; (y (fn [& args]
(x x))))) ; (apply (f f) args))))))
and
(def fac-mine ; (def fac-rosetta
(fn [f] ; (fn [f]
(fn [n] ; (fn [n]
(is-zero n ; (if (zero? n)
one ; 1
(multiply n (f (predecessor n))))))) ; (* n (f (dec n)))))))
The commented out versions are the equivalent fac and Y functions from Rosetta code.
Question 1:
I understand from reading up elsewhere that the Y-rosetta β-reduces to Y-mine. In which case why is it preferable to use that one over the other?
Question 2:
Even if I use Y-rosetta. I get a StackOverflowError when I try
((Y-rosetta fac-mine) two)
while
((Y-rosetta fac-rosetta) 2)
works fine.
Where is the unguarded recursion happening?
I suspect it's something to do with how the if form works in clojure that's not completely equivalent to my is-zero implementation. But I haven't been able to find the error myself.
Thanks.
Update:
Taking into consideration #amalloy's answer, I changed fac-mine slightly to take lazy arguments. I'm not very familiar with clojure so, this is probably not the right way to do it. But, basically, I made is-zero take anonymous zero argument functions and evaluate whatever it returns.
(def lazy-one (fn [] one))
(defn lazy-next-term [n f]
(fn []
(multiply n (f (predecessor n)))))
(def fac-mine
(fn [f]
(fn [n]
((is-zero n
lazy-one
(lazy-next-term n f))))))
I now get an error saying:
=> ((Y-rosetta fac-mine) two)
ArityException Wrong number of args (1) passed to: core$lazy-next-term$fn clojure.lang.AFn.throwArity (AFn.java:437)
Which seems really strange considering that lazy-next-term is always called with n and f
The body of fac-mine looks wrong: it's calling (is-zero n one) for side effects, and then unconditionally calling (multiply n (f (predecessor n))). Presumably you wanted a conditional choice here (though I don't see why this doesn't throw an arity exception, given your definition of is-zero).