Fortran: how to pass function name in a common block - function

In Fortran, is it possible to put a function in a common block as in:
COMMON /myblock/ func
(where x is some variable and func is a function).
My problem is that I would like to create a function s(x) that calls an external function func(x) but without passing func in s(x). For my project, s(x) has to be a function of only one variable, i.e., I do not want to do:
function s(x,func)
s=func(x)
Instead, I am hoping I could do:
function s(x)
common /myblock/ func
s=func(x)
Or, if someone has some other suggestion using modules or something, this will be great.
Thanks in advance for any help.
o.
and then have the same common (myblock) in the subroutine that calls s(x).

I don't believe that this is possible in any portable way. Some implementations may allow you to use some tricks to do it.

The modern way to do this is with a pointer to a function. The pointer could be passed as an argument or, for the design of this question, placed into a module. See, for example, Function pointer arrays in Fortran

I think you are not supposed to use common blocks for this, but modules. Put your function func in a module called myfunctions and then when needed insert at use myfunctions statement and thats it.

Modern fortran standards prohibit this. From 5.5.2 of Fortran 2003:
A common-block-object shall not be ... a function name, an entry name...
And at any rate, using global variables to pass around non-constant data is just a terrible, terrible idea. As ja72 points out, you could do this with modules, but I refuse to demonstrate it with sample code.

Related

Julia - How to pass kwargs from a function to a macro

You can define a function to pass its keyword arguments to inner functions like this:
function example(data;xcol,ycol,kwargs...)
DoSomething(; spec=:EX, x=xcol, y=ycol, kwargs...)
end
Now, the function DoSomething accepts many arguments, such as color. This works for functions, but I'd like to do this with a macro from VegaLite.jl:
function example(data;xcol,ycol,kwargs...)
#vlplot(data=data,mark=:point, x=xcol, y=ycol,kwargs...)
end
example(df,xcol=:Miles_per_Gallon, ycol=:Horsepower, color=:Origin)
Note that the code above does not work.
So the answer here is... it's tricky. And in fact, in general, this isn't possible unless the macro itself supports it.
See, macros do their transformations at parse time — and often will exploit what you've actually written to mean something different and special. For example, #vlplot will specially handle and support JSON-like {} syntaxes. These aren't valid Julia code and can't be passed to a function you define (like example)!
Now, it's tempting to see this and think, ok, let's make that outer example thing into a macro, too! But it's not that easy. I'm not sure it's possible to have a general answer that will always pass the arguments appropriately and get the hygiene correct. I'm pretty sure you need to know something about how the macro you're calling handles its arguments.
you need to add ; before kwargs to signal they are kwargs not positional arguments e.g.:
DoSomething(;spec=:EX, x=xcol, y=ycol, kwargs...)
(this is the answer for DoSomething being a function as this was the original formulation of the question)

So I've been Googling function arguments and I would like to understand arguments better and the use of ()

So I've been Googling function arguments and I would like to understand arguments better.
I am new to as3, to summarize arguments with my current knowledge, I would say they are like temporary variables? I don't fully get why you add parameters which are names that can be any value? Then you like call these parameters later and their order magically replace these parameters, but why? I'm missing some understanding here to fully grasp their use. Why make parameters in a function and then add the values later? If I'm even saying that right.
function name( applepie, sugar, healthyfood)
name( 1,2,3)
What was the point?
Also I haven't found a syntax book that describes what every symbol does yet that I can just search like () and it describes it, I heard some just use Google, but the results I got weren't very fruitful. Hence why I'm here asking. Personally I don't want to continue on until I fully grasps the use of (). I also tried Adobe website search but that didn't work out well either, was a good amount of searches trust me....
A function is a piece of code that can be reused many times in different contexts. You pass arguments to a function to tell the function something about the context in which it is being called; as a trivial example, when you call the print() function you must specify what you want the function to print. In your example name(applepie, sugar, healthyfood) the function should use the value supplied in place of each argument somewhere in its body, because the function doesn't know what values it will be passed, in the body of the function definition you use the names you chose (which should be descriptive) to refer to the values which will be passed in later and which will presumably be different each time it is called.
The parentheses are used for delimiting different semantic elements, in this case they are telling the interpreter where the argument list starts and stops.

Is there a specific name for a function that takes its output as input and does that parameter have a name?

I work with a BASIC programming language and have found it useful to write functions that rely on their output as a parameter. Such as
inOut = someFunction(inOut)
I'd like to call this a recursive function. but it doesn't seem right because it is not calling itself. Can someone tell me what the name of this type of function is and if the parameter/return has a special name?
Thanks!!
This is an ordinary function as any other. The thing you show is called reassingment. You can rename inOut on the left with newinOut and it will not change anything... there is absolutely nothing special about the function, it's a naming pattern, that's all.
In many languages (including VB, but not sure about classic BASIC) there's something called passing parameter by reference. It's not exactly what you posted, but rather simple
someFunction(inOut)
parameter is passed into the function, changed there and the change persists outside the function

Recursive Functions - Two Functions or Last Optional Parameter

When writing recursive functions, it sometimes happens that something should happen only on the first pass of the recursive algorithm. When this is true, I have two options,
Have an optional parameter called "first run" which is set to true by default but when called recursively, the argument is false
Have two functions
Which option is preferable? If it is the latter, what should I name these functions? (e.g. if its a flood fill algorithm would I choose FloodFill and FloodFillRecursive?)
Thanks in advance, ell.
I might use two functions, and I would say that the function that will be called should be named FloodFill : the user doesn't need to know how that function is implemented, so it should not be named FloodFillRecursive.
Actually, FloodFillRecursive could be the name of the inner function : the one that contains the implementation, the on that is called by the one called by the user -- as it is that second function that is recursive.
Ideally, that function should not be visible from the users : it should be kind of hidden in your library (be it trully hidden, or using some naming-convention that informs users they should not call it directly).
And, this way, if you change implementation, you will not have your users call a FloodFillRecursive function that might no be recursive anymore.
It would depend really if the function is intended to be usable by 3rd party developers. If it is it might be preferable to use the two functions approach for neatness's sake, with the second function (FloodFillRecursive) private/internal to your library.
If it's not then the optional parameter approach is fine.
Option 2 is better in every case I can think of. This depends on the language you're using, but you're probably going to see significantly more (entirely avoidable) overhead by passing an additional argument every time.
For the naming convention, use a normal name for the outer function (eg FloodFill). For the inner function I'd say FloodFillRecursive or FloodFillInner are good choices.
If the language allows it then in my opinion the best is to have one function with the official "clean" interface, and the using a local function (not visible outside) for the recursion.
For example in Common Lisp
(defun n-queens (n)
(let ((result (list)))
(labels ((place-queen (row free-cols free-diagonals free-counter-diagonals)
...))
(place-queen 0 ...)
result)))
or Python
def n_queens(n):
result = []
def place_queen(row, free_cols, free_diags, free_counter_diags):
...
place_queen(0, ...)
return result
in the above example the recursive functions requires many parameters (e.g. the still free columns, diagonals and counter-diagonals) but the official public function only accepts a parameter and the recursion is handled internally.

lua-function as parameter for exported function

Is it possible to send lua-function to a main C++ program like this?
function a()
... -- do something
end
cpp_exported_function(a);
Or better, like this?
cpp_exported_function(function () .... end);
And how do I call it from the main program?
If it is possible - use lua table the same way. I mean exported_function(table);?
Yes - you'd have a C++ function that accepts a luabind::object as a parameter in both those cases. Luabind defines operator[] (for indexing a table) and operator() (for calling a function) for luabind::object for exactly that reason. See the documentation here: http://www.hci.iastate.edu/~rpavlik/doxygen/luabind/docs.html#object