how to make a function that create a variable? - function

I want to make a function that create a new variable, my goal is:
struct Test
setArg(varName,Float64,10.1,1.2)
end
That should return a struct Test with one argument varName from the Type Float64 with max 10.1 and min 1.2.
My problem is to know how to make the that function return a variable.
Or I'm thinking in another approach like this:
struct Test
varName::setArg(Float64,10.1,1.2)
end
here the function should just define a Type and max and min for the argument and that is okay, but I will prefer the first one if it is possible to do it in Julia.
So the question is how should my function/Type setArg look like?

You could create an incomplete mutable struct:
struct MyTest{T} #to allow different types while maintaining performance
min::T
max::T
val::T
valueset::Bool #to check if the struct is initialized
sym::Symbol #to access
end
to allow the user to access the value with the identifier provided, we overload Base.getproperty for the MyTest struct:
function Base.getproperty(val::MyStruct, sym::Symbol)
#identifier matches and the value was set
if val.sym==sym & val.valueset
return val.val
else
throw(error("oops")
end
end
finally, we make the struct with setArg:
function setArg(sym, type, min, max)
min = convert(type, min)
max = convert(type, max)
dummyval = zero(type) #
return MyTest(min, max, dummyval, false, sym)
end
finally, we make a function that sets the value, by calling the struct:
function (val::MyTest)(value) #a functor
if val.min <= value <= val.max
val.val = value
val.valueset = true
else
throw(error("out of bounds"))
end
return val
end
I imagine that the usecase is something like this :
constructor = setArg(:myname, Float64, 0.2, 0.5)
val1 = constructor(0.4)
val2 = constructor(0.5)
val3 = constructor(0.6) #error
val2.myname == 0.5

Related

What Meaning Of This Function

function [TC]=Translate(T0,Base)
end
I know that Translate is a function and T0 and Base his parameter but what is [TC]?
Octave (and matlab) have a rather unique way of returning variables from functions. Instead of defining explicitly what to return from the function using a return keyword, they define from the outset which variables will be returned when the function exits, and octave simply looks for those variables by name at the time the function exits, and returns their values, whatever they may be by that point.
Your function may return nothing:
function returnsNothing();
disp('hello, I return nothing');
end
or it may return one output:
function Out = returnsOne(x)
Out = x+5
disp('This function will return the value of Out');
end
or it may return more than one outputs:
function [Out1, Out2] = returnsTwo(x)
Out1 = x+5;
Out2 = x+10;
end
You would call the last function from the octave terminal (or script) like this:
[a,b] = returnsTwo(5); % this will make a = 10 and b = 15

How to get the variable a function is assigned to?

I need to get the variable a function's return value is assigned to.
function example()
end
variable = 3 --just for example
variable = example() --I need the value of variable(in this case 3) passed as an argument to example()
Please read the Lua reference on how to call and define functions.
https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#3.4.10
https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#3.4.11
You can simply do this:
function fancyFunction(val)
return val
end
local val = 3
val = fancyFunction(val)
of course this minimum example does not make much sense. You should of course have another return value than your argument. Otherwise you don't have to call the function in the first place.
(Quite hard to understand what you're trying to do.) Could you possibly be referring to object oriented programming? If so, then you need something like this:
--setup
t = {}
function t:set(v) self.value = v end --assign value to 'variable'
function t:get() return self.value end
--use
t:set(3)
print(t:get())

What does this '()' notation mean?

I just started to learn F#. The book uses the following notation:
let name() = 3
name()
what that differs from this:
let name = 3
name
?
Before answering what () is lets get some basics defined and some examples done.
In F# a let statement has a name, zero or more arguments, and an expression.
To keep this simple we will go with:
If there are no arguments then the let statement is a value.
If there are arguments then the let statement is a function.
For a value, the result of the expression is evaluated only once and bound to the identifier; it is immutable.
For a function, the expression is evaluated each time the function is called.
So this value
let a = System.DateTime.Now;;
will always have the time when it is first evaluated or later invoked, i.e.
a;;
val it : System.DateTime = 1/10/2017 8:16:16 AM ...
a;;
val it : System.DateTime = 1/10/2017 8:16:16 AM ...
a;;
val it : System.DateTime = 1/10/2017 8:16:16 AM ...
and this function
let b () = System.DateTime.Now;;
will always have a new time each time it is evaluated, i.e.
b ();;
val it : System.DateTime = 1/10/2017 8:18:41 AM ...
b ();;
val it : System.DateTime = 1/10/2017 8:18:49 AM ...
b ();;
val it : System.DateTime = 1/10/2017 8:20:32 AM ...
Now to explain what () means. Notice that System.DateTime.Now needs no arguments to work.
How do we create a function when the expression needs no arguments?
Every argument has to have a type, so F# has the unit type for functions that need no arguments and the only value for the unit type is ().
So this is a function with one argument x of type int
let c x = x + 1;;
and this is a function with one argument () of type unit
let b () = System.DateTime.Now;;
Definitely do NOT think of () as some syntax for a function call or anything like that. It's just a value, like 3, 5, 'q', false, or "blah". It happens to be a value of type Unit, and in fact it's the only value of type unit, but really that's beside the point. () here is just a value. I can't stress that enough.
First consider
let name x = 3
What's this? This just defines a function on x, where x can be any type. In C# that would be:
int Name<T>(T x)
{
return 3;
}
Now if we look at let name () = 3 (and I somewhat recommend putting that extra space there, so it makes () look more a value than some syntactic structure) then in C# you can think of it as something like (pseudocode)
int Name<T>(T x) where T == Unit //since "()" is the only possible value of Unit
{
return 3;
}
or, more simply
int Name(Unit x)
{
return 3;
}
So we see that all let name () = 3 is, the definition of a function that takes a Unit argument, and returns 3, just like the C# version above.
However if we look at let name = 3 then that's just a variable definition, just like var name = 3 in C#.
In
let name() = 3
name()
name is a function, of type unit -> int.
In
let name = 3
name
name is an integer, of type int.
In F#, every function has an input type and an output type. The input type of let name() = 3 is unit, which has only one value (). Its output type is int, which has values from –2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. As another example type bool has only two values, true and false.
So back to you question what's the usage of (). If you don't specify the input value of a function, it cannot get executed. So you have to specify an input value to your function let name()=3 to get it executed and because of its input type is unit, the only value you can use is ().
Here is another way to define the name function:
let name : (unit -> int) = (fun _ -> 3);;
and compare this to:
let name : int = 3
Using () creates a function which takes a paramter of type unit, rather than the second case which is just a simple integer.
This is particularly important when you want to control execution of the function.
The main difference is when you have
let name() =
printfn "hello"
1
vs
let name =
printfn "hello"
1
then
let t = name + name
will print "hello" once. But
let t = (name()) + (name())
will print "hello" twice.
You have to be careful with this when considering the order in which functions are evaluated.
Consider the following program:
let intversion =
printfn "creating integer constant"
1
printfn "integer created"
let funcversion() =
printfn "executing function"
1
printfn "function created"
let a = intversion + intversion
printfn "integer calculation done"
let b = (funcversion()) + (funcveriosn())
printfn "function calculation done"
This will print the following in order
creating integer constant
integer created
function created
integer calculation done
executing function
executing function
function calculation done

Want to use a vector as parameter to a function, without having to separate its elements

If I call a matlab function with:
func(1,2,3,4,5)
it works perfectly.
But if I do:
a=[1,2,3,4,5] %(a[1;2;3;4;5] gives same result)
then:
func(a)
gives me:
??? Error ==> func at 11
Not enough input arguments.
Line 11 in func.m is:
error(nargchk(5, 6, nargin));
I notice that this works perfectly:
func(a(1),a(2),a(3),a(4),a(5))
How can I use the vector 'a' as a parameter to a function? I have another function otherfunc(b) which returns a, and would like to use its output as a paramater like this func(otherfunc(b)).
Comma-seperated lists
(CSL) can be passed to functions as parameter list,
so what you need is a CSL as 1,2,3,4,5 constructed from an array.
It can be generated using cell array like this:
a=[1,2,3,4,5];
c = num2cell(a);
func(c{:});
Maybe you could try with nargin - a variable in a function that has the value of the number of input arguments. Since you have a need for different length input, I believe this can best be handled with varargin, which can be set as the last input variable and will then group together all the extra input arguments..
function result = func(varargin)
if nargin == 5: % this is every element separately
x1 = varargin{1}
x2 = varargin{2}
x3 = varargin{3}
x4 = varargin{4}
x5 = varargin{5}
else if nargin == 1: % and one vectorized input
[x1 x2 x3 x4 x5] = varargin{1}
I've written x1...x5 for your input variables
Another method would be to create a separate inline function. Say you have a function f which takes multiple parameters:
f = f(x1,x2,x3)
You can call this with an array of parameter values by defining a separate function g:
g = #(x) f(x(1),x(2),x(3))
Now, if you have a vector of parameters values v = [1,2,3], you will be able to call f(v(1),v(2),v(3)) using g(v).
Just make the function take a single argument.
function result = func(a)
if ~isvector(a)
error('Input must be a vector')
end
end
Since arguments to functions in Matlab can themselves be vectoes (or even matrices) you cannot replace several arguments with a single vector.
If func expects 5 arguments, you cannot pass a single vector and expect matlab to understand that all five arguments are elements in the vector. How can Matlab tell the difference between this case and a case where the first argument is a 5-vector?
So, I would suggest this solution
s.type = '()';
s.subs = {1:5};
func( subsref( num2cell( otherfunc(b) ), s ) )
I'm not sure if this works (I don't have matlab here), but the rationale is to convert the 5-vector a (the output of otherfunc(b)) into a cell array and then expand it as 5 different arguments to func.
Please not the difference between a{:} and a(:) in this subsref.
You could create a function of the following form:
function [ out ] = funeval( f, x )
string = 'f(';
for I = 1:length(x)
string = strcat( string, 'x(' , num2str(I), '),' );
end
string( end ) = ')';
out = eval( string );
end
In which case, funeval( func, a ) gives the required output.
Use eval:
astr = [];
for i=1:length(a)
astr = [astr,'a(',num2str(i),'),']; % a(1),a(2),...
end
astr = astr(1:end-1);
eval(['func(' astr ');']);

Why is my Scala function returning type Unit and not whatever is the last line?

I am trying to figure out the issue, and tried different styles that I have read on Scala, but none of them work. My code is:
....
val str = "(and x y)";
def stringParse ( exp: String, pos: Int, expreshHolder: ArrayBuffer[String], follow: Int )
var b = pos; //position of where in the expression String I am currently in
val temp = expreshHolder; //holder of expressions without parens
var arrayCounter = follow; //just counts to make sure an empty spot in the array is there to put in the strings
if(exp(b) == '(') {
b = b + 1;
while(exp(b) == ' '){b = b + 1} //point of this is to just skip any spaces between paren and start of expression type
if(exp(b) == 'a') {
temp(arrayCounter) = exp(b).toString;
b = b+1;
temp(arrayCounter)+exp(b).toString; b = b+1;
temp(arrayCounter) + exp(b).toString; arrayCounter+=1}
temp;
}
}
val hold: ArrayBuffer[String] = stringParse(str, 0, new ArrayBuffer[String], 0);
for(test <- hold) println(test);
My error is:
Driver.scala:35: error: type mismatch;
found : Unit
required: scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer[String]
ho = stringParse(str, 0, ho, 0);
^one error found
When I add an equals sign after the arguments in the method declaration, like so:
def stringParse ( exp: String, pos: Int, expreshHolder: ArrayBuffer[String], follow: Int ) ={....}
It changes it to "Any". I am confused on how this works. Any ideas? Much appreciated.
Here's a more general answer on how one may approach such problems:
It happens sometimes that you write a function and in your head assume it returns type X, but somewhere down the road the compiler disagrees. This almost always happens when the function has just been written, so while the compiler doesn't give you the actual source (it points to the line where your function is called instead) you normally know that your function's return type is the problem.
If you do not see the type problem straight away, there is the simple trick to explicitly type your function. For example, if you thought your function should have returned Int, but somehow the compiler says it found a Unit, it helps to add : Int to your function. This way, you help the compiler to help you, as it will spot the exact place, where a path in your function returns a non-Int value, which is the actual problem you were looking for in the first place.
You have to add the equals sign if you want to return a value. Now, the reason that your function's return value is Any is that you have 2 control paths, each returning a value of a different type - 1 is when the if's condition is met (and the return value will be temp) and the other is when if's condition isn't (and the return value will be b=b+1, or b after it's incremented).
class Test(condition: Boolean) {
def mixed = condition match {
case true => "Hi"
case false => 100
}
def same = condition match {
case true => List(1,2,3)
case false => List(4,5,6)
}
case class Foo(x: Int)
case class Bar(x: Int)
def parent = condition match {
case true => Foo(1)
case false => Bar(1)
}
}
val test = new Test(true)
test.mixed // type: Any
test.same // type List[Int]
test.parent // type is Product, the case class super type
The compiler will do its best to apply the most specific type it can based on the possible set of result types returned from the conditional (match, if/else, fold, etc.).