Using a parameter for multiple assignments - omnet++

I'm simulating a network topology on multiple session lengths. I want my experiment's repetitions to increase as the session lengths decrease. So I tried tying $repeat value with *.sendBytes and failed.
Here is my attempt 1
[some config]
repeat = ${1, 10, 100} # fails
...
**.app[0].sendBytes = repeat * 1KiB
Here is my second attemp
[some config]
**.app[0].sendBytes = ${load = 1KiB, 10KiB, 100KiB}
...
repeat = 100KiB / ${load} # fails
I don't want to waste simulation time for repeating long sessions for reliability in measurements.

What you are looking for is called "Parallel Iteration" in the omnet manual:
The body of an iteration may end in an exclamation mark followed by the name of another iteration variable. This syntax denotes a parallel iteration. A parallel iteration does not define a loop of its own, but rather, the sequence is advanced in lockstep with the variable after the “!”. In other words, the “!” syntax chooses the kth value from the iteration, where k is the position (iteration count) of the iteration variable after the “!”.
An example:
**.plan = ${plan= "A", "B", "C", "D"}
**.numHosts = ${hosts= 10, 20, 50, 100 ! plan}
**.load = ${load= 0.2, 0.3, 0.3, 0.4 ! plan}
You could write something like this:
repeat = ${5, 50, 200 ! load}

Related

Execution Timed Out (12000 ms): How can I optimize this simple kata to run faster?

I'm practicing my coding chops after a long break and ran into this kata on CodeWars
With an input of numbers in an array, return the sums of its parts. So for example:
def parts_sums(ls)
sums = []
until ls.size == 0
sums << ls.inject(:+)
ls.shift
end
sums << 0
end
######### INPUT #######
parts_sums([0, 1, 3, 6, 10])
######### EXPECTED OUTPUT ######
[20, 20, 19, 16, 10, 0]
0 + 1 + 3 + 6 + 10 = 20
1 + 6 + 3 + 10 = 20
3 + 6 + 10 = 19
6 + 10 = 16
10 = 10
0 = 0
My solution solves the kata, however once I reach arrays of around 30,000+ my solution takes too long to solve.
So my question is to the community, how would I even attempt to make this go faster. I know that recursion is usually slow, and that for loops and its variants are usually sufficient to get the job done. What happens when that fails? What are some things to try to make my code above faster?
I'm looking for some advice and some examples if anyone has any. Appreciate the input. Thanks.
def parts_sums(ls)
ls.each_with_object([ls.sum]) { |n,arr| arr << arr.last - n }
end
parts_sums([0, 1, 3, 6, 10])
#=> [20, 20, 19, 16, 10, 0]
The issue with the code is that you are performing an inject on every iteration of your loop, which is unnecessarily slow.
You only need to sum the elements of the array once, outside of any loop. Once you have that sum, you can iterate through the elements of the array and perform a constant time subtraction from the current sum and push it into the sums array.
def part_sums(ls)
sum = ls.inject(:+)
sums = [sum]
ls.each do |val|
sum -= val
sums << sum
end
sums
end
There is also no need to shift, if you iterate through the array with the each iterator or keep a counter and use a while loop.
This version of the function runs much faster:
def parts_sums_2(ls)
sums = []
last_sum = 0
(ls.length - 1).downto(0).each do |i|
last_sum += ls[i]
sums.prepend last_sum
end
sums + [0]
end
The key here is going backwards through the array - starting with the smallest sum (only the last element). Each subsequent step moves one index towards the beginning, and adds that value to the previous sum.
Since the problem statement requires you to shift each step, your result must have the largest sums at the beginning, even though these are the last ones to be computed. This is why my code uses prepend rather than push.
This is O(N) time complexity instead of O(N^2), which is an order of magnitude difference.
With 100_000 inputs, your original function took 7.040443 seconds, while mine here took 0.000008 seconds
Also in general you should try to avoid mutating the input to your methods (as you were doing with shift).

About the inject method: How does it work?

This part of code calculates the value of each arithmetic series up to and including the number that the user put in:
print "enter a number: "
num = gets.to_i
(1..num).inject(0) do |res, e|
res += e
p res
end
I think that (1..num) is the range, with num being the user input. I know that inject combines all elements of enum by applying a binary operation specified by a block or a symbol that names a method or operator.
I don't understand what each element in this line does:
(1..num).inject(0) do |res, e|
What does |res, e| mean? It must be the block that defines what inject does, but what does for instance res and e stand for? (e is probably element?)
What does (0) stand for?
What does the command do do?
what is its connection in regard to (1..num) and inject(0)?
Am I right to assume that p at the end just stands for puts or print?
inject takes an optional start value, and a block taking an intermediate value and element and returning a new intermediate value.
So:
What does (0) stand for?
The start value parameter to inject.
What does the command "do" do?
It is not a command; it marks the start of the block (terminated by end). .inject(0) do ... end is almost (except for some syntactic issues) the same as .inject(0) { ... }. Usually, do ... end is used for multi-line blocks and { ... } for single-line blocks, but it is not a rule.
What does |res, e| mean?
Those are the block parameters (intermediate value and current element), here probably called after "result" and "element", respectively.
Let's see on a simplified example: (1..3).inject(0) do |res, e| res + e end will set the intermediate result to 0. Then it will pass this intermediate result and the first element of the enumerable being injected: res is 0 and e is 1. The value of the block is the value of its last expression, which is 1 (result of 0 + 1). This 1 now becomes the new intermediate value, and 2 becomes the next current element. The value of the block is 3 (result of 1 + 2). In the next iteration, intermediate value is 3, and the current element also 3, resulting in 6 (3 + 3). The range will stop yielding elements now that we reached its upper boundary, and inject returns with the last intermediate result calculated, 6.
Also, the last question am I right to assume that "p" at the end just stands for puts or print?
Almost. p is its own beast. p x is roughly synonymous with puts x.inspect; x - i.e. it prints the value in a bit different format, and unlike puts which always returns nil, p returns the value unchanged. Thus, p res at the end of your block will not destroy the code by making it return nil, but transparently return res.
inject is a method that boils a collection (eg an array or range) down to a single value. It does this by executing the block once for each element in the collection. The block takes two arguments: the current value being worked on, and the single value that will eventually be returned. inject itself takes one argument (aside from the block), which is its initial starting value.
Take this example.
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].inject(0) do |result, current|
result + current
end
We have a list of numbers, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. We're going to boil them down into one single number.
We start with 0, because that's inject's argument. That means that the first time the block runs, result will be 0.
So the block runs for the first time. result is 0, current is 1, the first element. We say result + current (which is 1). It's the last expression inside the block, so it's what that block 'returns'.
At the end of the block, inject says "Okay, do we have more elements in the collection?" Yeah. So the block runs again. This time, result is whatever the last block returned, which was 1, and current is the second element, 2.
The block runs, and finishes with result + current, or 1 + 2, which is 3. There are still elements left, so we run again. This time, result is 3, and current is 3. result + current, 6. Still more values to go, on the next run result is 6 and current is 4. 6 + 4 = 10. Still more values to go, on the next run result is 10 and current is 5. 10 + 5 = 15.
Then the block finishes, and there are no more elements left. So inject itself returns with the final value, 15. So in the end, x = 15. We boiled down our list into one number by adding things up.
res in your example stands for result, and e for element. You can call them anything you want. You might call them sum while adding, or product if multiplying. But they don't have to be numbers. You could use inject to boil an array of strings, a range of characters, an array of arrays, whatever collection you want. The block just tells it how.
Excited to see that you're learning Ruby, welcome!
At your level of expertise best learn from a book.
Get yourself a copy of the "Pickaxe Book" — this is by far the best book.
The first edition fir Ruby 1.9 is available online, http://ruby-doc.com/docs/ProgrammingRuby
And here is a popular online tutorial, http://poignant.guide
Some quick answers
1..num is a range object
.inject(0) do ... end is a method call with TWO parameters, the value 0 and a code block
do |a, b| ... end is a code block with two parameters
res and e are VERY bad variable names, maybe better use sum and each?
p is a global method that prints debug information, similar to puts but not the same
Hope that helps to unblock you.

I don't understand this method

I'm a beginner in Ruby and I don't understand what this code is doing, could you explain it to me, please?
def a(n)
s = 0
for i in 0..n-1
s += i
end
s
end
def defines a method. Methods can be used to run the same code on different values. For example, lets say you wanted to get the square of a number:
def square(n)
n * n
end
Now I can do that with different values and I don't have to repeat n * n:
square(1) # => 1
square(2) # => 4
square(3) # => 9
= is an assignment.
s = 0 basically says, behind the name s, there is now a zero.
0..n-1 - constructs a range that holds all numbers between 0 and n - 1. For example:
puts (0..3).to_a
# 0
# 1
# 2
# 3
for assigns i each consecutive value of the range. It loops through all values. So first i is 0, then 1, then ... n - 1.
s += i is a shorthand for s = s + i. In other words, increments the existing value of s by i on each iteration.
The s at the end just says that the method (remember the thing we opened with def) will give you back the value of s. In other words - the sum we accumulated so far.
There is your programming lesson in 5 minutes.
This example isn't idiomatic Ruby code even if it is syntactically valid. Ruby hardly ever uses the for construct, iterators are more flexible. This might seem strange if you come from another language background where for is the backbone of many programs.
In any case, the program breaks down to this:
# Define a method called a which takes an argument n
def a(n)
# Assign 0 to the local variable s
s = 0
# For each value i in the range 0 through n minus one...
for i in 0..n-1
# ...add that value to s.
s += i
end
# The result of this method is s, the sum of those values.
s
end
The more Ruby way of expressing this is to use times:
def a(n)
s = 0
# Repeat this block n times, and in each iteration i will represent
# a value in the range 0 to n-1 in order.
n.times do |i|
s += i
end
s
end
That's just addressing the for issue. Already the code is more readable, mind you, where it's n.times do something. The do ... end block represents a chunk of code that's used for each iteration. Ruby blocks might be a little bewildering at first but understanding them is absolutely essential to being effective in Ruby.
Taking this one step further:
def a(n)
# For each element i in the range 0 to n-1...
(0..n-1).reduce |sum, i|
# ...add i to the sum and use that as the sum in the next round.
sum + i
end
end
The reduce method is one of the simple tools in Ruby that's quite potent if used effectively. It allows you to quickly spin through lists of things and compact them down to a single value, hence the name. It's also known as inject which is just an alias for the same thing.
You can also use short-hand for this:
def a(n)
# For each element in the range 0 to n-1, combine them with +
# and return that as the result of this method.
(0..n-1).reduce(&:+)
end
Where here &:+ is shorthand for { |a,b| a + b }, just as &:x would be short for { |a,b| a.x(b) }.
As you are a beginner in Ruby, let's start from the small slices.
0..n-1 => [0, n-1]. E.g. 0..3 => 0, 1, 2, 3 => [0, 3]
for i in 0.. n-1 => this is a for loop. i traverses [0, n-1].
s += i is same as s = s + i
So. Method a(n) initializes s = 0 then in the for loop i traverse [0, n - 1] and s = s + i
At the end of this method there is an s. Ruby omits key words return. so you can see it as return s
def a(n)
s = 0
for i in 0..n-1
s += i
end
s
end
is same as
def a(n)
s = 0
for i in 0..n-1
s = s + i
end
return s
end
a(4) = 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 6
Hope this is helpful.
The method a(n) calculates the sums of the first n natural numbers.
Example:
when n=4, then s = 0+1+2+3 = 6
Let's go symbol by symbol!
def a(n)
This is the start of a function definition, and you're defining the function a that takes a single parameter, n - all typical software stuff. Notably, you can define a function on other things, too:
foo = "foo"
def foo.bar
"bar"
end
foo.bar() # "bar"
"foo".bar # NoMethodError
Next line:
s = 0
In this line, you're both declaring the variable s, and setting it's initial value to 0. Also typical programming stuff.
Notably, the value of the entire expression; s = 0, is the value of s after the assignment:
s = 0
r = t = s += 1 # You can think: r = (t = (s += 1) )
# r and t are now 1
Next line:
for i in 0..n-1
This is starting a loop; specifically a for ... in ... loop. This one a little harder to unpack, but the entire statement is basically: "for each integer between 0 and n-1, assign that number to i and then do something". In fact, in Ruby, another way to write this line is:
(0..n-1).each do |i|
This line and your line are exactly the same.
For single line loops, you can use { and } instead of do and end:
(0..n-1).each{|i| s += i }
This line and your for loop are exactly the same.
(0..n-1) is a range. Ranges are super fun! You can use a lot of things to make up a range, particularly, time:
(Time.now..Time.new(2017, 1, 1)) # Now, until Jan 1st in 2017
You can also change the "step size", so that instead of every integer, it's, say, every 1/10:
(0..5).step(0.1).to_a # [0.0, 0.1, 0.2, ...]
Also, you can make the range exclude the last value:
(0..5).to_a # [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
(0...5).to_a # [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
Next line!
s += i
Usually read aloud a "plus-equals". It's literally the same as: s = s + 1. AFAIK, almost every operator in Ruby can be paired up this way:
s = 5
s -= 2 # 3
s *= 4 # 12
s /= 2 # 6
s %= 4 # 2
# etc
Final lines (we'll take these as a group):
end
s
end
The "blocks" (groups of code) that are started by def and for need to be ended, that's what you're doing here.
But also!
Everything in Ruby has a value. Every expression has a value (including assignment, as you saw with line 2), and every block of code. The default value of a block is the value of the last expression in that block.
For your function, the last expression is simply s, and so the value of the expression is the value of s, after all is said and done. This is literally the same as:
return s
end
For the loop, it's weirder - it ends up being the evaluated range.
This example may make it clearer:
n = 5
s = 0
x = for i in (0..n-1)
s += i
end
# x is (0..4)
To recap, another way to write you function is:
def a(n)
s = 0
(0..n-1).each{ |i| s = s + i }
return s
end
Questions?

Why do we need to initialize a variable m, and only variable m, in order to produce a diamond quadrant?

Though I certainly admit I may be wrong, as for as I can tell, in order to produce
*
**
***
****
*****
with a #times do loop, you need to initialize a variable, and only that variable, outside of the loop.
For example,
m=0
5.times do
m+=1
puts "*" * m
end
produces the aforementioned image, however both
Variant 1
m=0
m+=1
5.times do
puts "*" * m
end
and
Variant 2
5.times do
m=0
m+=1
puts "*" * m
end
produce
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
=> 10
Why is this the case?
More interestingly,
Variant 3
6.times do
m=0
puts "*" * m
m+=1
end
produces a series of 6 blank lines followed by a return of 6. Clearly, the placement of both the initialization of the variable and the iterator matter (at least with #times do loops), but my question is why? If this is a case of "I know you think you want an answer but you really don't want to go down this rabbit hole" then maybe we could treat this as a fun version of reddit's "explain it to me like i'm five", stackoverflow style. For example, with Variant 3, since m is initialized to 0, I would expect a blank line on the first iteration since I am essentially telling Ruby to multiply the asterisk symbol by the value of m at that moment. However, at the end of the first iteration, I would also expect the value of m to increment by 1. It's almost as if Ruby does not get to that line because if it did then the 2nd iteration should include m with a value of 1 and hence produce a line with one asterisk.
In variant 1, m is initialized, immediately incremented by 1, and then you begin the do loop. Each of the 5 times you run through the loop, m is going to be 1, since it was defined outside the loop.
In variant 2, you are closer but the do loop will reset m and increment by 1 each time through the loop. In both of these examples, m = 1 when you puts "*"
With variant 3, you are correct that the first time through the loop you will have a blank line since m = 0. However, since you are looping through these commands, when m increments the script will repeat, so the second time through the loop m is again reset to 0. You may be confusing yourself by using irb - running that same script from the terminal will yield 6 blank lines. I haven't used irb enough to know why exactly the 6 is returned, but I do know that irb will always return something, even if it's nil.
Obviously the first variant won't work because you don't do anything inside the loop to increase m.
The second variant won't work because you keep resetting it to 0 before incrementing it.

Working with arbitrary inequalities and checking which, if any, are satisfied

Given a non-negative integer n and an arbitrary set of inequalities that are user-defined (in say an external text file), I want to determine whether n satisfies any inequality, and if so, which one(s).
Here is a points list.
n = 0: 1
n < 5: 5
n = 5: 10
If you draw a number n that's equal to 5, you get 10 points.
If n less than 5, you get 5 points.
If n is 0, you get 1 point.
The stuff left of the colon is the "condition", while the stuff on the right is the "value".
All entries will be of the form:
n1 op n2: val
In this system, equality takes precedence over inequality, so the order that they appear in will not matter in the end. The inputs are non-negative integers, though intermediary and results may not be non-negative. The results may not even be numbers (eg: could be strings). I have designed it so that will only accept the most basic inequalities, to make it easier for writing a parser (and to see whether this idea is feasible)
My program has two components:
a parser that will read structured input and build a data structure to store the conditions and their associated results.
a function that will take an argument (a non-negative integer) and return the result (or, as in the example, the number of points I receive)
If the list was hardcoded, that is an easy task: just use a case-when or if-else block and I'm done. But the problem isn't as easy as that.
Recall the list at the top. It can contain an arbitrary number of (in)equalities. Perhaps there's only 3 like above. Maybe there are none, or maybe there are 10, 20, 50, or even 1000000. Essentially, you can have m inequalities, for m >= 0
Given a number n and a data structure containing an arbitrary number of conditions and results, I want to be able to determine whether it satisfies any of the conditions and return the associated value. So as with the example above, if I pass in 5, the function will return 10.
They condition/value pairs are not unique in their raw form. You may have multiple instances of the same (in)equality but with different values. eg:
n = 0: 10
n = 0: 1000
n > 0: n
Notice the last entry: if n is greater than 0, then it is just whatever you got.
If multiple inequalities are satisfied (eg: n > 5, n > 6, n > 7), all of them should be returned. If that is not possible to do efficiently, I can return just the first one that satisfied it and ignore the rest. But I would like to be able to retrieve the entire list.
I've been thinking about this for a while and I'm thinking I should use two hash tables: the first one will store the equalities, while the second will store the inequalities.
Equality is easy enough to handle: Just grab the condition as a key and have a list of values. Then I can quickly check whether n is in the hash and grab the appropriate value.
However, for inequality, I am not sure how it will work. Does anyone have any ideas how I can solve this problem in as little computational steps as possible? It's clear that I can easily accomplish this in O(n) time: just run it through each (in)equality one by one. But what happens if this checking is done in real-time? (eg: updated constantly)
For example, it is pretty clear that if I have 100 inequalities and 99 of them check for values > 100 while the other one checks for value <= 100, I shouldn't have to bother checking those 99 inequalities when I pass in 47.
You may use any data structure to store the data. The parser itself is not included in the calculation because that will be pre-processed and only needs to be done once, but if it may be problematic if it takes too long to parse the data.
Since I am using Ruby, I likely have more flexible options when it comes to "messing around" with the data and how it will be interpreted.
class RuleSet
Rule = Struct.new(:op1,:op,:op2,:result) do
def <=>(r2)
# Op of "=" sorts before others
[op=="=" ? 0 : 1, op2.to_i] <=> [r2.op=="=" ? 0 : 1, r2.op2.to_i]
end
def matches(n)
#op2i ||= op2.to_i
case op
when "=" then n == #op2i
when "<" then n < #op2i
when ">" then n > #op2i
end
end
end
def initialize(text)
#rules = text.each_line.map do |line|
Rule.new *line.split(/[\s:]+/)
end.sort
end
def value_for( n )
if rule = #rules.find{ |r| r.matches(n) }
rule.result=="n" ? n : rule.result.to_i
end
end
end
set = RuleSet.new( DATA.read )
-1.upto(8) do |n|
puts "%2i => %s" % [ n, set.value_for(n).inspect ]
end
#=> -1 => 5
#=> 0 => 1
#=> 1 => 5
#=> 2 => 5
#=> 3 => 5
#=> 4 => 5
#=> 5 => 10
#=> 6 => nil
#=> 7 => 7
#=> 8 => nil
__END__
n = 0: 1
n < 5: 5
n = 5: 10
n = 7: n
I would parse the input lines and separate them into predicate/result pairs and build a hash of callable procedures (using eval - oh noes!). The "check" function can iterate through each predicate and return the associated result when one is true:
class PointChecker
def initialize(input)
#predicates = Hash[input.split(/\r?\n/).map do |line|
parts = line.split(/\s*:\s*/)
[Proc.new {|n| eval(parts[0].sub(/=/,'=='))}, parts[1].to_i]
end]
end
def check(n)
#predicates.map { |p,r| [p.call(n) ? r : nil] }.compact
end
end
Here is sample usage:
p = PointChecker.new <<__HERE__
n = 0: 1
n = 1: 2
n < 5: 5
n = 5: 10
__HERE__
p.check(0) # => [1, 5]
p.check(1) # => [2, 5]
p.check(2) # => [5]
p.check(5) # => [10]
p.check(6) # => []
Of course, there are many issues with this implementation. I'm just offering a proof-of-concept. Depending on the scope of your application you might want to build a proper parser and runtime (instead of using eval), handle input more generally/gracefully, etc.
I'm not spending a lot of time on your problem, but here's my quick thought:
Since the points list is always in the format n1 op n2: val, I'd just model the points as an array of hashes.
So first step is to parse the input point list into the data structure, an array of hashes.
Each hash would have values n1, op, n2, value
Then, for each data input you run through all of the hashes (all of the points) and handle each (determining if it matches to the input data or not).
Some tricks of the trade
Spend time in your parser handling bad input. Eg
n < = 1000 # no colon
n < : 1000 # missing n2
x < 2 : 10 # n1, n2 and val are either number or "n"
n # too short, missing :, n2, val
n < 1 : 10x # val is not a number and is not "n"
etc
Also politely handle non-numeric input data
Added
Re: n1 doesn't matter. Be careful, this could be a trick. Why wouldn't
5 < n : 30
be a valid points list item?
Re: multiple arrays of hashes, one array per operator, one hash per point list item -- sure that's fine. Since each op is handled in a specific way, handling the operators one by one is fine. But....ordering then becomes an issue:
Since you want multiple results returned from multiple matching point list items, you need to maintain the overall order of them. Thus I think one array of all the point lists would be the easiest way to do this.

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