- Concepts of Programming Languages

Functional Programming with Lists

Instructor:

Learning Objectives

What are common ways of processing collections functionally?

  • Express and interpret collections processing in a functional style
  • Compare state of computation in iteration vs. recursion
  • Express and interpret collections processing with list comprehensions
  • Infer result types of for comprehensions

Exercise: Print Every Element of a List

Express in a functional style with pattern matching

  1. def printList (xs:List[Int]) : Unit = 
  8. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  9. printList (xs)

Exercise: Print Every Element of a List

Visit all elements of a list

  1. def printList (xs:List[Int]) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys => 
  5.     printList (ys)
  8. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  9. printList (xs)

Exercise: Print Every Element of a List

Print an element when visiting

  1. def printList (xs:List[Int]) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys => 
  4.     println (y)
  5.     printList (ys)
  8. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  9. printList (xs)

Exercise: Print Every Element of a List

Format every element before printing

  1. def printList (xs:List[Int]) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys => 
  4.     println ("0x%02x".format(y))
  5.     printList (ys)
  8. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  9. printList (xs)

List Operation: Foreach

Generalize the idea of processing every element

  1. def foreach (xs:List[Int], f:Int=>Unit) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys => 
  4.     f (y)
  5.     foreach (ys, f)
  8. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  9. foreach (xs, println)

List Operation: Foreach

Customize with changed function argument

  1. def foreach (xs:List[Int], f:Int=>Unit) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys => 
  4.     f (y)
  5.     foreach (ys, f)
  7. def printHex (x:Int) = println("0x%02x".format(x))
  8. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  9. foreach (xs, printHex)

List Operation: Foreach

Generalize the type of list with parameters

  1. def foreach [X] (xs:List[X], f:X=>Unit) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys =>  
  4.     f (y)
  5.     foreach (ys, f)
  7. def printLength (xs:List[Int]) = println (xs.length)
  8. val xss = List(List(11,21,31),List(),List(41,51))
  9. foreach (xss, printLength)

List Operation: Foreach

Use a lambda expression (anonymous function)

  1. def foreach [X] (xs:List[X], f:X=>Unit) : Unit = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => ()
  3.   case y::ys => 
  4.     f (y)
  5.     foreach (ys, f)
  8. val xss = List(List(11,21,31),List(),List(41,51))
  9. foreach (xss, (xs:List[Int]) => println (xs.length))

List Operation: Foreach

Using the builtin List class foreach method

  • Named method:
    1. def print (x:Int) = println (x)
    2. xs.foreach (print)
  • Lambda expression
    1. xs.foreach ((x:Int) => println (x))
  • Types unnecessary if Scala can infer
    1. xs.foreach (x => println (x))
  • Anonymous intermediate function unnecessary
    1. xs.foreach (println)

Types and Function Parameters

  1. def foreach [X] (xs:List[X], f:X=>Unit) : Unit = ...
  • X is a type parameter
    • Type parameters in square brackets
    • Value parameters in round brackets
    • Types before values
  • f is a parameter of function type: (X=>Unit)
    • takes an argument of type X
    • returns a result of type Unit

Recursion

  • Imperative programming typically favors
    • mutable data
    • iteration using loops (while, for)
  • Functional programming typically favors
    • immutable data
    • iteration using recursion
  • Recursion requires efficient method calls
  • State of computation
    • Imperative: loop counters to access "global" mutable data
    • Recursion: arguments to recursive call

Exercise: Length of List

  • Imperative implementation
  1. def length (xs:List[Int]) : Int =
  2.   var length: Int = 0
  3.   var current = xs
  4.   while current != Nil do
  5.     length = length + 1
  6.     current = current.tail
  7.   end while
  8.   length
  9. end length
  • Recursive with pattern matching
  1. def length [X] (xs: List[X]) : Int = xs match 
  2.   case Nil     => 0
  3.   case _ :: ys => 1 + length (ys)
  4. end length

Iteration vs. Recursion

Example: length (List (1, 2, 3))

  • Imperative iteration

      1. --> current = 1::(2::(3::Nil)), length = 0

      1. --> current = 2::(3::Nil),      length = 1

      1. --> current = 3::Nil,           length = 2

      1. --> current = Nil,              length = 3

  • The state of the computation is in mutable variables

  • Recursive iteration

      1. --> length (1::(2::(3::Nil)))

      1. --> 1 + length (2::(3::Nil))

      1. --> 1 + (1 + length (3::Nil))

      1. --> 1 + (1 + (1 + length (Nil)))

      1. --> 1 + (1 + (1 + 0))

      1. --> 1 + (1 + 1)

      1. --> 1 + 2

      1. --> 3

  • The state of the computation is the expression

Reference and Structural Equality

  • Return a reference to a list
  1. def reference [X] (xs:List[X]) : List[X] = xs
  5. xs eq reference(xs) /* reference equality: true */
  6. xs == reference(xs) /* value equality:     true */

Reference and Structural Equality

  • Return a copy of a list
  1. def copy [X] (xs:List[X]) : List[X] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => Nil
  3.   case y::ys => y::copy(ys)
  5. xs eq copy(xs) /* reference equality: false */
  6. xs == copy(xs) /* value equality:     true */

List Operation: Map

Return a transformed copy of a list

  1. def map [X,Y] (xs:List[X], f:X=>Y) : List[Y] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => Nil
  3.   case y::ys => f(y) :: map (ys)
  5. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  6. map(xs, (y:Int) => "x=" + y) // result: List("x=11","x=21","x=31")
  • every element in input is transformed into a modified element in output
  • copy is just a specialization of map with f:X=>X = x=>x
  • foreach is just a specialization of map with f:X=>Unit
  • Builtin xs.map ("x=" + _)

Examples

  • Map a List[List[Int]] to a List[Int]: length of inner lists
    1. List(List(11,21,31),List(),List(41,51)).map (_.length)
    2. // res1: List[Int] = List(3, 0, 2)
  • Map a List[String] to a List[Int]: length of strings
    1. List("hi", "it's", "me").map (_.length)
    2. // res1: List[Int] = List(2, 4, 2)
  • Map a List[Int] to a List[Int]: increment each value
    1. List(1, 2, 3, 4).map (_ + 1)
    2. // res1: List[Int] = List(2, 3, 4, 5)

List Operation: Filter

Copy only elements that satisfy a predicate f

  1. def filter [X] (xs:List[X], f:X=>Boolean) : List[X] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil            => Nil
  3.   case y::ys if f (y) => y :: filter (ys, f)
  4.   case _::ys          =>      filter (ys, f)
  6. val zs = (0 to 7).toList
  7. filter(zs, ((_:Int) % 3 != 0))

List and Set Comprehensions

Set Comprehensions

  • The set of all tuples such that
    • is in ,
    • is in ,
    • the value of is at most the value of

List Comprehensions

  • In many PLs
  • SETL (1960s)
  • Haskell [ (m,n) | m <- [0..10], n <- [0..10], m <= n ]
  • Scala for m <- 0 to 10; n <- 0 to 10; if m <= n yield (m,n)
  • Python {(m, n) for m in range (0,11) for n in range(0,11) if m <= n}
  • JavaScript 1.7

For Comprehensions

Method map

  1. xs.map (x => "x=" + x)

Method foreach

  1. xs.foreach (x => println ("x=" + x))

For Comprehension yield

  1. for x <- xs yield "x=" + x

For Comprehension do

  1. for x <- xs do println ("x=" + x)

For Comprehensions

Method filter

  1. zs.filter (z => z % 3 != 0) 
  2. // shorter: zs.filter(_ % 3 != 0)

Nested Methods

  1. zs.filter (z => z % 3 != 0).
  2.   map (z => "z=" + z)

For Comprehension

  1. for z <- zs
  2.   if z % 3 != 0 yield z

Combined For Comprehension

  1. for z <- zs 
  2.   if z % 3 != 0 yield "z=" + z

For Comprehensions

  • Multiple iterators

    1. val xss = List( List(11,21,31), List(), List(41,51) )
    2. for xs <- xss
    3.     x <- xs 
    4.     yield (x, xs.length)
    5. // res1: List[(Int, Int)] = List((11,3), (21,3), (31,3), (41,2), (51,2))

  • Cross product of independent iterators

    1. val xs = List(11,21,31)
    2. val ys = List("a","b")
    3. for x <- xs
    4.     y <- ys yield (x, y)
    5. // res1: List[(Int, String)] = List(
    6. //    (11,a), (11,b), 
    7. //    (21,a), (21,b), 
    8. //    (31,a), (31,b))

    1. (for x <- (1 to 7)
    2.      y <- (1 to 9) yield (x, y)
    3. ).length
    4. // res1: Int = 63

For Comprehensions: Types

  1. val xs = List(11,21,31)
  2. val ys = List("a","b")
  3. for x <- xs
  4.     y <- ys yield (x, y)
  • xs : List[Int]
  • ys : List[String]
  • Scala infers types for iterator variables
    • Inferred types
      1. x : Int
      2. y : String
  • yield provides the type for the result
    1. (x, y) : (Int, String)
    2. for ... yield (x, y) : List[(Int, String)]

Summary

  • Element-wise list processing is a universal, higher-order function
  • Element-processing function is passed to foreach, map, etc. as argument
  • Scala for-comprehensions are a loop-style way of expressing list comprehensions

Recursion

  • What does f do?
  1. def f [X] (xs: List[X]) : List[X] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil     => Nil
  3.   case y :: ys => f (ys) ::: List (y)
  • f (Nil)
    1. f (Nil)
    2. --> Nil
  • f (3::Nil)
    1. f (3::Nil)
    2. --> f (Nil) ::: List (3)
    3. --> Nil ::: List (3)
    4. --> List (3)
  • f (2::3::Nil)
    1. f (2::(3::Nil))
    2. --> f (3::Nil) ::: List (2)
    3. --> List (3) ::: List (2)
    4. --> List (3, 2)
  • f (1::2::3::Nil)
    1. f (1::(2::(3::Nil)))
    2. --> f (2::(3::Nil)) ::: List (1)
    3. --> List (3, 2) ::: List (1)
    4. --> List (3, 2, 1)
  • Conclusion: f is reverse

Appending Lists

  1. def append [X] (xs: List[X], ys: List[X]) : List[X] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil     => ys
  3.   case z :: zs => z :: append (zs, ys)

  1. append (1::(2::Nil), 3::Nil)
  2. --> 1::(append (2::Nil, 3::Nil))    // z = 1, zs = 2::Nil
  3. --> 1::(2::(append (Nil, 3::Nil)))  // z = 2, zs = Nil
  4. --> 1::(2::(3::Nil))                // z = 2, zs = Nil
  • New elements 1 and 2 created
  • List 3::Nil is reused (shared)
  • New list, but second part is shared!

Appending Lists

  • List class has builtin method :::
  1. scala> ((1 to 5).toList) ::: ((10 to 15).toList)
  2. res1: List[Int] = List(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

List Operation: Flatten

Revisit the copy operation

  1. def copy    [X] (xs:List[List[X]]) : List[List[X]] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => Nil
  3.   case y::ys => y ::  copy    (ys)
  5. val xss = List(List(11,21,31),List(),List(41,51))
  6. copy(xss)

  1. res1: List(List(11,21,31),List(),List(41,51))

List Operation: Flatten

Create a copy with a flat structure: replace :: with :::

  1. def flatten [X] (xs:List[List[X]]) : List[X] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => Nil
  3.   case y::ys => y ::: flatten (ys)
  5. val xss = List(List(11,21,31),List(),List(41,51))
  6. flatten(xss)

  1. res1: List(11,21,31,41,51)

List Operation: FlatMap

Revisit method map

  1. def map     [X,Y] (xs:List[X], f:X=>List[Y]) : List[List[Y]] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => Nil
  3.   case y::ys => f(y) ::  map     (ys, f)
  5. val as = List(3,0,2)
  6. map    (as, (x:Int) => (1 to x).toList)

  1. res1: List(List(1,2,3), List(), List(1,2))

List Operation: FlatMap

Create a transformed list with a flat structure: replace :: with :::

  1. def flatMap [X,Y] (xs:List[X], f:X=>List[Y]) : List[Y] = xs match 
  2.   case Nil   => Nil
  3.   case y::ys => f(y) ::: flatMap (ys, f)
  5. val as = List(3,0,2)
  6. flatMap(as, (x:Int) => (1 to x).toList)

  1. res1: List(1,2,3,1,2):::Nil

List Operation: FlatMap

Argument and return types of map and flatMap

  • map: (List[X],X=>List[Y]) => List[List[Y]]
    • Each element of result list is a List[Y]
    • Length of result = length of xs
  • flatMap: (List[X],X=>List[Y]) => List[Y]
    • Each element of result list is a Y
    • Length of result = sum of lengths of each List[Y]

For Comprehensions

Method flatMap

  1. xss.flatMap (x=>x) // same as xss.flatten

For Comprehension

  1. for xs <- xss; x <- xs yield x