aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffhomepage
path: root/README.md
blob: 728f6f1091be4950744a6b478cc0cc8a04a09160 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
# GTWIWTG

*Generators The Way I Want Them Generated*

An extensible library for generators. 

The GTWIWTG library is meant to be small, explorable, and understandable.
The source code is meant to be legible and straightforward.

Every symbol exported from the `GTWIWTG` package has a useful
docstring. Many docstrings include examples of use.

## Installation 

    git clone https://github.com/cbeo/gtwiwtg /path/to/quicklisp/local-projects/

``` lisp

(ql:quickload :gtwiwtg)
(use-package :gtwiwtg)

```

## First, Some Action

Here are a few examples to show you what you can do.  A more involved
example apears at the end of the document, following the tutorial.

### All The Primes

``` lisp

> (defun prime-p (n)
    "Naive test for primes."
    (loop
       :for x :from 2 :upto (sqrt n)
       :when (zerop (mod n x)) :do (return nil)
       :finally (return t)))

> (defun all-primes ()
    "Creates a generator that produces an infinite series of primes."
     (filter! #'prime-p (range :from 2)))

> (take 10 (all-primes)) ;; (2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29)

```

### Fun With Fibonacci

``` lisp 

> (defun fibs ()
    "Creates an infinite series of Fibonacci numbers."
    (from-recurrence
     (lambda (n-1 n-2) (+ n-1 n-2))
     1 0))

;; First ten Fibonacci numbers
> (take 10 (fibs)) ;; (1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89) 

;; Just the 40th Fibonacci number, indexed from 0
> (car (pick-out '(40) (fibs))) ;; 267914296

```

### A Kind Of Grep

``` lisp

> (defun grepper (pattern file)
   (filter! (lambda (idx-line) (search pattern (second idx-line)))
            (zip! (range) (file-lines file))))


> (for (idx line) (grepper "defun" "examples.lisp")
     (format t "~4a: ~a~%" idx line))


12  : (defun prime-p (n)
19  : (defun all-primes ()
37  : (defun fibs ()
52  : (defun fill-and-insert (idx elem vec buffer)
69  : (defun thread-through (elem vec)
86  : (defun perms (vec)
104 : ;; (defun perms (vec)
115 : (defun grepper (pattern file)

```

## Tutorial

GTWIWTG is a tiny library for creating and using generators. 

If you have never heard of generators before, let me offer *a*
definition, but not *the* definition.

For the purposes of this library, a generator is an object that can
produce a series of values, one value at a time.  Generators are
sometimes convenient when you want to deal with series that are too
long to fit into memory. They also help when you want to generate
sequential data using recurrence relations, as in the Fibonacci
example above.

### Three Kinds Of Function 

In GTWIWTG, there are three kinds of functions.

1. functions that *construct* generators
2. functions that *combine* generators
3. functions and macros that *consume* generators. 

### The Breadwinning Constructors 

The two most common generator constructors are:

- `(range &key (from 0) to (by 1) inclusive)`
- `(seq sequence)`

Here are some examples using `range` and `seq` to make generators. 

``` lisp

  ;; all positive integers starting at 0
> (range)

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001A7DF63}>

 ;; positive integers from 0 to 9
> (range :to 10)

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001A90CA3}> 

;; positive integers from 0 to 10 
> (range :to 10 :inclusive t) 

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001A90CA3}> 

;; numbers between 4.0 and -15.7 incremented by -0.44
> (range :from 4 :to -15.7 :by -0.44) 

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001B09D63}>

;; the characters in the string "hello"
> (seq "hello")

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001B93E63}>

;; the symbols in the list
> (seq '(h e l l o))

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001BAB273}>

;; the symbols in the vector 
> (seq #('h 'e 'l 'l 'o))

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001BE4883}>

```

As you can see, generators are objects. Nothing is generated until you
consume a generator. As a quick, but greatly impoverished, example,
consider this:

``` lisp 

;; get the first 4 numbers from the range starting at 20
> (take 4 (range :from 20))

(20 21 22 23)

```

### Other Constructors

Here is a brief listing of the other generator constructors in GTWIWTG:

- `(times n)` is shorthand for `(range :to n)`
- `(repeater &rest args)` repeats its arguments in order, looping forever.
- `(noise &optional (arg 1.0))` an infinite sequence of random numbers
- `(from-thunk thunk)` an infinite sequence of calls to `(funcall thunk)`
- `(from-thunk-until thunk &optional until clean-up)` like `from-thunk`, but stops when `(funcall until)` is non nil. Runs the thunk `clean-up` when done.
- `(from-thunk-times thunk n)` like `from-thunk` but stops after `n` times.
- `(from-recurrence fn n-1 &rest n-m)` generate using a recurrence relation 
- `(from-input-stream stream reader)` turn a stream into a generator
- `(file-lines file)` a file-backed generator. Produces lines from that file (strings)
- `(file-chars file)` a file-backed generator. Produces characters from that file.
- `(file-bytes file)` a file-backed generator. Produces bytes from that file.

You can see some of these in action in the examples section at the top of this document.

### The Combination and Transformation Functions

You can create more intersting and more specific generators by using a
few higher-order functions to combine and transform simple generators.

These transformations are desirable because they can be performed
before any elements are produced.

That is, if you think of a generator as a computation that produces a
series of values, then transformation functions allow you to
incrementally "build up" a desired computation before it is run.

The three core transformation functions are:

- `(map! fn gen &rest gens)` makes a new generator by mapping `fn` over other generators
- `(filter! pred gen)` makes a new generator by discarding values that dont satisfy `pred`
- `(inflate! fn gen)` The function `fn` should make  new generators using the values produced by the generator `gen`. The `inflate!` function combines all those "intermediate" generators into a single generator.

Admittedly, the behavior of `inflate!` is difficult to grok by reading a description. 
Once you begin to use it, however, it becomes indispensible.

[NB: `inflate!` is really a *kind of* monadic bind operator in disguise.]

Here are some simple examples of their use:

``` lisp

;; map cons over two generators
> (map! #'cons (times 3) 
               (range :from 8))

#<GTWIWTG::GENERATOR! {1001CB28D3}>

;; consuming the above using collect
> (collect (map! #'cons (times 3) (range :from 8)))

((0 . 8) (1 . 9) (2 . 10))

;; Notice that map! stops generating after 3 steps even though 
;; (range :from 8) is an infinite generator. This is because (times 3)
;; only generates 3 values.

;; get just the even values from a generator: 
> (collect (filter! #'evenp (times 10)))

(0 2 4 6 8)

;; generate (times N) for each N in the range 1 to 4
> (collect (inflate! #'times (range :from 1 :to 4 :inclusive t)))
(0 0 1 0 1 2 0 1 2 3)

;; In the above example, you can see that 
;; first 0 is generated     (times 1)
;; then 0 1                 (times 2)
;; then 0 1 2               (times 3)
;; and finally 0 1 2 3      (times 4)

```

### The Other Combinations and Transformations 

- `(zip! gen1 &rest gens)` is shorthand for `(map! #'list gen1 gen2 ...)`
- `(indexed! gen)` is shorthand for `(zip! (range) gen)`
- `(concat! gen &rest gens)` concatenates generators
- `(skip! n gen)` produces a generator by skipping the first `n` values in `gen`
- `(skip-while! pred gen)` produces a generator by skippng elements of `gen` while `pred` is `t`
- `(merge! comp gen1 gen2 &rest gens)` emulates the behavior of `merge` but for generators

And some experimental tools:

- `(nfurcate! n gen)` returns a list of `n` new generators, each
  producing the same elements as of `gen`.
- `(partition! pred gen)` returns a list of two new generators, the
  first generating the memebers of `gen` that pass the predicate
  `pred`, and the second generating those that don't.
  
Both of the above are marked as EXPERIMENTAL because they may not be
in line with the the spirit of this library. I wanted the library to
produce constant-memory operations. However, when you consume the
generators that the above forms produce, then new memory will be
consed during consumption. See the docstrings for both forms for more details.

### A Word Of Warning!

(Or, there's a reason those forms all end in `!`.)

You must be cautious when incrementally building up generators. The
reason for caution is that generators cannot be "combined twice". If
you are storing intermediate generators in a `let` binding, for
example, you may be tempted to pass those bound variables into
generator combination functions more than once. If you do, an error
will be signalled.

_The general rule_ is: if you pass a generator to more than one
combining function (those whose names end in `!`), or if you pass the
same generator to one such a function at two argument positions, then
an error will be raised and new the generator will not be built.

Internally, the library keeps track of whether or not generators have
been combined with others. Don't quote me on it, but I *think* that the
library will prevent you from making generators with surprising
(i.e. erroneous) behavior.


Here is an example to show you the illegal behavior:

``` lisp

> (let ((ten-times (times 10)))
    (zip! ten-times ten-times))

; Evaluation aborted on #<SIMPLE-ERROR "~@<The assertion ~S failed~:[.~:; ~
                                           with ~:*~{~S = ~S~^, ~}.~]~:@>" {10046A61D3}>.

```

The gist is that we tried to zip a generator with itself. Such
behavior is not allowed. 

An ongoing goal is to make those errors nicer to look at so that you
can more easily pin-point where you goofed.

[Aside: This was done for efficiency reasons, and I might make a
"purely functional" parallel universe for these generators in the
future.]

### The Fundamental Consumer

Finally! Once you have built up your generators using *constructors*
and *combinations*, you want to actually use them for something. This
is where *consumers* come in.

There is one fundamental consumer, a macro, called `for`.  (*Triumphant Horns Play*)

Every other consumer in `GTWIWTG` uses `for` under the hood.  

Here is how it looks when you use it:

``` lisp

> (for x (times 3)
    (print x))

0 
1 
2 

> (for (x y) (zip! (seq "hello") (range))
    (format t "~a -- ~a~%" x y)
    (when (= 4 y) 
      (princ "world!")
      (terpri))

h -- 0
e -- 1
l -- 2
l -- 3
o -- 4
world!

> (let* ((ten-times (times 10))
         (doubled (map! (lambda (x) (* 2 x)) ten-times))
         (incremented (map! #'1+ doubled))
         (indexed (zip! (range) incremented)))
    (for (index number) indexed
      (princ index) 
      (princ " -- ") 
      (princ number) 
      (terpri)))

0 -- 1
1 -- 3
2 -- 5
3 -- 7
4 -- 9
5 -- 11
6 -- 13
7 -- 15
8 -- 17
9 -- 19

```

As you can see `for` has 3 basic parts: a *binding form*, a *generator
form*, and a *body*. 

The binding form is either a variable, like `x` above, or is a form
suitable for use in the binding form of a `DESTRUCTURING-BIND`, like
`(x y)` above.

On each iteration, the variables in the binding form are bound to
successive values generated by the generator form. Notice that you do
not need to inline your generator form, you can build it up and pass
it in as in the thrid example above.

Finally, the body is evaluated for each iteration.

[Aside: `for` used to be called `iter`, but I didn't want to step on
the toes of `series` and `iterate` users :P].

### Generators are Consumed at Most Once

Even if you don't think you're "using up" the whole generator, a
generator can only be passed to a single consumer. Once that consumer
finishes, the generator is consumed.  Here is an example:

``` lisp

>(let ((foo (seq "foobar")))
   (print (take 2 foo))
   (print (collect foo)))

(#\f #\o) 
NIL 

```

Even though you only *seemed* to use the first two members of the
generator `foo`, the `take` form will mark the generator as having
been consumed in its entirety. 

That is, even when the whole sequence was not actually generated, a
consuming form leaves its generator in an unusable state.  This
approach has been taken in order to automatically close streams for
stream-backed generators - i.e. it has been done in the spirit of
letting you not have to think about how generators work.

You need only remember the rule: Generators Are Consumed At Most Once.



### The Accumulating Consumer

The next most common consuming form is `fold`, which lets you consume
values produced by a generator while accumulating some data along the
way.

Here is how you would do a classic summing operation:

``` lisp
> (fold (sum 0) (x (times 10)) 
        (+ sum x))
45
```

The syntax is `(fold (acc init) (iter-var gen) update)`.

First, you declare and initialize an accumulator variable. In the
above that is the form `(sum 0)`, which declares a variable called
`sum` initialized to `0`. 

Next comes your iteration variable and generator form. These have the
same syntax as `for`. So in the above we bind a variable `x` to each
successive value generated by `(times 10)`.

Finally, you write a *single update form* whose value becomes bound to your
accumulator variable. In the above example `sum` is set to `(+ sum x)`.

The `fold` form returns the final value of the accumulator.

Here are some more folds:

``` lisp

;; some funky calculation 

> (fold (acc 0)
        ((x y) (zip! (times 10) (range :by -1)))
        (sqrt (+ acc (* x y))))
#C(0.444279 8.986663)

;; Example: building a data structure

> (fold (plist nil) 
        ((key val)
         (zip! (seq '(:name :occupation :hobbies))
               (seq '("buckaroo banzai" 
                      "rocker" 
                      ("neuroscience" "particle physics" "piloting fighter jets")))))
         (cons key (cons val plist)))

 (:HOBBIES ("neuroscience" "particle physics" "piloting fighter jets")
  :OCCUPATION "rocker" :NAME "buckaroo banzai")

```



### The Remaining Consumers

All of the remaining consumers are regular functions that have been
built using `for` and `fold`. They are:

- `(collect gen)` collects the values of `gen` into a list
- `(take n gen)` collects the first `n` values of `gen` into a list
- `(pick-out indices gen)` see example below
- `(size gen)` consumes a generator, returning the number of values it produced
- `(maximum gen)` returns the maximum among the values in gen (subject to change)
- `(minimum gen)` see maximum 
- `(average gen)` returns the average of the values produced by gen
- `(argmax fn gen)` returns a pair `(val . x)` where `val` is the value of `gen` for which `(funcal fn val)` is maximal. `x` is `(funcall fn val)`
- `(argmin fn gen)` see argmax 

The `pick-out` consumer is interesting enough to see a quick example of:

``` lisp
;; pick out characters and index 1 and index 4
> (pick-out '(1 4) (seq "generators"))
(#\e #\r)

;; you can do this in any order
> (pick-out '(4 1) (seq "generators"))
(#\r #\e)

;; you can even repeat indices
> (pick-out '(4 1 1 4 2) (seq "generators"))
(#\r #\e #\e #\r #\n)
```

### Making New Generators 

Generators are subclasses of `gtwiwtg::generator!` that have at least
two methods specialized on them:

- `(gtwiwtg::next gen)` : advances the generator and gets its next value
- `(gtwiwtg::nas-next-p gen)` : checks whether or not the generator has a next value 

Additionally, if your generator needs to perform cleanup after it is
consumed, you can implement the `:after` method combination for the method 

- `(gtwiwtg::stop gen)` : is called by consumers to mark the generator
  as stopped.
  
None of the above are meant to be called by users of the library,
which is why they are not exported symbols. But if you want to make
your own generators you can.

A silly example:

``` lisp

> (defclass countdown (gtwiwtg::generator!)
    ((value :accessor countdown-value 
            :initarg :value 
            :initform 0)))

> (defmethod gtwiwtg::next ((g countdown))
    (decf (countdown-value g)))
  
> (defmethod gtwiwtg::has-next-p ((g countdown))
    (plusp (countdown-value g)))
  
;; you might also want a constructor 

> (defun countdown (n) (make-instance 'countdown :value n))

;; now you can use it:

> (for x (countdown 4) (print x))
  
3 
2 
1 
0 
```

You can see that `next` ASSUMES that there is a next value. This is
one of the reasons you are not ment to call `next` manually.  The
`for` consumer automatcially checks that there is a next value before
trying to get it.

## The Permutations Example

One final example to show you what you can do. Here is a function that
generates all of the permutations of a sequence passed to it, one at a
time. It is a good example of the usefulness of `inflate!`.

``` lisp

(defun perms (vec)
  "Creates a generator that produces all of the permutations of the
   vector VEC, one at a time."
  (if (= 1 (length vec)) (seq (list vec))
      (let ((elem (elt vec 0))
            (subperms (perms (make-array (1- (length vec))
                                         :displaced-to vec         ; share vec's memory
                                         :displaced-index-offset 1
                                         :element-type (array-element-type vec)))))
        (inflate! (lambda (subperm) (thread-through elem subperm)) 
                  subperms))))
```
The basic flow is:

1. single out the first element of the vector
2. make a generator for permutations of the remainder of the vector
3. return a generator that "adds back" the singled out element at
   each possible spot in each permutation.

The interesting bit about this is that we recursively compute
permutation generators for the subvectors of `vec` in a classic
divide-and-conquer way, and then use `inflate!` to combine those
"generated sub-generators" into a single generator, which we return.

The above code is made signifiantly noisier by the use of displaced
arrays. Displaced arrays let us share memory with the original vector.

For each "sub permutation", we create a new generator using a
generator constructor called `thread-through`. This is the part where
we "add back" the singled out element.

``` lisp
(defun thread-through (elem vec)
  "Creates a generator that produces a series of N vectors of length
   N, where N is one greater than the length of VEC.  The vectors
   produced by this generator have the same contents as VEC but have ELEM
   inserted at each possible spot, N spots in all. 

   Note: The generator reuses the memory that it returns on each step. If
   you intend to collect the values of the generator, you should copy
   them on each iteration."
   
  (let ((buffer (concatenate 'vector vec (list elem)))) ;; reusable buffer
    (map! (lambda (idx)
            (fill-and-insert idx elem vec buffer)
            buffer)
          (range :from 0 :to (length vec) :inclusive t))))

```

And this function uses a utility function called `fill-and-insert`
that just fills a buffer, which I pulled out into its own function for
clarity:

``` lisp

(defun fill-and-insert (idx elem vec buffer)
  "A utilty function that modifies BUFFER. 

The length of BUFFER is assumed to be one greater than the length of
VEC.

This function fills the first IDX fields of BUFFER with the first IDX
fields of VEC. It fills the field of BUFFER at IDX with ELEM. And it fills
the remaining fields of BUFFER with the remaining fields of VEC.
"

  (loop :for i :below (length buffer)
     :when (= i idx) :do (setf (aref buffer idx) elem)
     :when (< i idx) :do (setf (aref buffer i)
                               (aref vec i))
     :when (> i idx) :do (setf (aref buffer i)
                               (aref vec (1- i))))  )

```


And here's a quick demo of its use:

``` lisp

;; the map! is to turn vectors back into strings for ease of viewing
(for perm (map! (lambda (x) (concatenate 'string x)) 
                (perms "abcd"))
  (print perm))

"abcd" 
"bacd" 
"bcad" 
"bcda" 
"acbd" 
"cabd" 
"cbad" 
"cbda" 
"acdb" 
"cadb" 
"cdab" 
"cdba" 
"abdc" 
"badc" 
"bdac" 
"bdca" 
"adbc" 
"dabc" 
"dbac" 
"dbca" 
"adcb" 
"dacb" 
"dcab" 
"dcba" 

```

We could have generated all 121645100408832000 permutations of
"generators are cool", and, though it would have taken us an eternity
(a little more than 1000 years on a single core of my machine), the
memory consumption would stay at an even keel.