[m-users.] Question about strings

[Charles Shuller]

Solving problems in languages like mercury is somewhat different than in
C-like langues.

In a C-type language, and especially in Object Oriented Languages, you
address a problem with:

State:  Stuff I'm going to use to compute things with
Functions:  Little (hopefully) chunks of steps I need to do to compute the
answer
Basic Algorithm:
    Fill up the state
    Change the state with the functions until you have the answer

Here is a quick example:

int sum_array(int* array) {
   /** Initialize the state */
   int i = 0;
   int total = 0;
   int array_length = length(array);

   /** Alter the state until we have the answer */
   for(i = 0; i < array_length; i++) {
      total = total + array[i];
   }

  /** Return the answer */
  return total.
}


In functional programming, things are more like this:

State:  Doesn't Exist.  You'll probably try to habitually create some, just
delete it.   Everything is in the parameters and a few intermediate vars
that don't change ever.
Functions:  Relations (i.e. how the parameters are related), NOT a chunk of
steps
Basic Algorithm:  There isn't one, it's all just a relation.

Yep, the explanation above is totally worthless when your starting out, and
the more experianced guys can probably make it a heck of a lot more
accurate, but that's the best way I can explain it concisely.   Here is a
similar example in mercury-ish (it's late and I don't have a compiler on
hand to give you a proper example right now):

**If you want a loop, you can cheat by recursing, but in a functional
language this often means there is a nicer solution to be found by thinking
about things a differently.   Though your assignment was likely given with
the explicit purpose of making you learn how to loop, so don't fret over
this right now.


:- func sum_list(list(int)) = int.
sum_list([]) :- 0.  %% If the list is empty, return zero.
sum_list([ListHead | ListTail]) :-
   ListHead + sum_list(ListTail).   %%Return the first element in the list
added to the sum of the rest of the list.  Here Tail refers to everything
but the Head.





So, for your programming assignment, the easiest way to go about things is
to implement a main loop recursively, as something like:



%%!IO here is a clever device that makes Input and Output look like normal
parameters.  This is a lie, but think of it as already containing all the
values the user will ever input, and messages that will ever be output.
main_event_loop(!IO) :-
   Var  = read_input(!IO),
   handle_input(Var, !IO),
   main_event_loop(!IO).  %%In many languages this will result in
stack-space exhaustion, not in Mercury.


And something similar for outputting to the screen.

On a final note, your assignment is meant to be of a particular difficulty
for imperative languages.   It is actually a bit more complicated to
implement in a functional language because we have to write in a way that
has no side-effects.  You have almost certainly already been taught to
solve problems by loading up state, then modifying it repeatedly.
Learning a different way to solve problems can be very challenging so
please try not to feel too frustrated.


Cheers!

Charles







On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 8:13 PM, Astrid Garcia <mellgarcia0397 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> One part of my project consists on taking as input a number and a string
> from the user. Process the number and mod it with 5 and the result will be
> the times I will duplicate the string that they input. I got the math part
> correct, but I run into problems when I try to read and store the string
> and to duplicate it. I am confused as to what is the equivalent on Mercury
> of the Java  while loop, the "if (x == 1)" expression and the reading from
> user like the "string = input.nextLine();" in Java
>
> Thank you for your help and time,
>
> Astrid Garcia
>
> On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 7:23 PM, Astrid Garcia <mellgarcia0397 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I would appreciate help regarding reading input and using it in
>> functions. I am working on a program in which I need to read input, store
>> it in a variable. How can I do this? and plus how can I declare a function
>> that takes a string, a number as input and outputs another string. I
>> created one for mod operation "pred modnum(int::in, int::out) is det." how
>> would the other function be constructed if it's taking in an int a string
>> and it will output a string?
>>
>> Thank you for your time,
>>
>> Astrid Garcia
>>
>
>
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