Is this a usable scheme function? - scheme

Is this function from my lecture notes written correctly?
(define foo (λ (f) (+ (f 1) (f 2))))
(foo 3) doesnt work and any more arguments says it expects 1 argument. I assume the lecturer meant:
(define foo (λ (f) (+ f f)) )
As far as I know (f 1) isnt a valid way of saying anything in scheme but if the first is actually a correct function can anyone give me an example of a valid input?

(define foo (λ (f) (+ (f 1) (f 2))))
is ok. It takes a function f as an input. You can call it like this:
(define g (lambda (x) (* x 10)))
(foo g)

Update: I found this example so the function is correct as is. I am actually not sure what is happening here though.
(define foo (λ (f) (+ (f 1) (f 2))))
(foo (λ (x) (* x 2)))
Output: 6
Edit: nevermind as I was typing I eventually understood the syntax. If the parameter f is a function, then (f 1) would mean f with an input of one and then the example makes sense. Should I delete the question probably wont be of use to anyone?

Related

Evaluate value just once

How can I change the code without the help of let that (g x) is just evaluated once?
(define f
(lambda (x)
(i (g x) (h (g x)))))
You can write the solution with the let, then transform it using the following equivalence between let and lambda:
(let ((name expression1))
expression2)
==
((lambda (name) expression2) expression1)
If let is not allowed, I would use define inside the define:
(define f
(lambda (x)
(define y (g x))
(i y (h y))))
However, I guess the other answer is the desired one. Because it uses the almighty lambda :) .

temporarily overwrite a globally defined function in Scheme let block?

suppose I have the following functions:
(define (g x) (f x))
(define (f x) (+ 1 x))
I would like to temporarily call g with a different f. For example, something like this:
(let ((f (lambda (x) (+ 2 x))))
(g 5))
I would like the code above to evaluate to 7, but it doesn't. Instead, it evaluates to 6, since g calls the f outside the scope of the let.
Is there a way to do this without redefining g inside the let, and without inlining the entire body of the definition of g in the let? (In practice, g may be a very large, complicated function).
What you are asking for is dynamic rather than lexical binding of 'f'. R6RS and R7RS support this with parameters. This will do what you want:
(define f (make-parameter (lambda (x) (+ 1 x))))
(define (g x) ((f) x))
(display (g 5))(newline)
(parameterize ((f (lambda (x) (+ 2 x))))
(display (g 5))(newline))
I'm not sure that you can, but I'm by no means a Scheme expert.
I realise that you're trying to achieve this without redefining g inside the let, but how about:
(define (h f x) (f x))
(define (g x) (h f x))
(define (f x) (+ 1 x))
(let ((f (lambda (x) (+ 2 x))))
(h f 5))
That way, you preserve the behaviour of g where it's currently being called. But where you want to temporarily have a different behaviour, you can call h instead.
A bit more code for clarification:
(let ((f (lambda (x) (+ 2 x))))
(display (g 5)) ; 6
(newline)
(h f 5)) ; 7
You could use an optional parameter in g to pass the f from the let expression.
(define (g x . args)
(if (null? args)
(f x)
((car args) x)))
and
(let ((f (lambda (x) (+ 2 x))))
(g 5 f))
I found a way to do exactly what I wanted, although I have a feeling many people will not consider this kosher:
(define (g x) (f x))
(define (f x) (+ 1 x))
(let ((old-f f))
(set! f (lambda (x) (+ 2 x)))
(let ((ans (g 5)))
(set! f old-f)
ans))
; -> 7
(g 5) ; -> 6
edit In response to the comment below, I wasn't even aware that fluid-let was a thing. It even already works on MIT-Scheme. That's actually exactly what I needed. If commenter below posts something like this as an answer, it will be made the accepted answer:
(define (g x) (f x))
(define (f x) (+ 1 x))
(fluid-let ((f (lambda (x) (+ x 2))))
(g 5)) ; -> 7
(g 5) ; -> 6

Y Combinator implementation Scheme

I am really new to scheme functional programming. I recently came across Y-combinator function in lambda calculus, something like this Y ≡ (λy.(λx.y(xx))(λx.y(xx))). I wanted to implement it in scheme, i searched alot but i didn't find any implementation which exactly matches the above given structure. Some of them i found are given below:
(define Y
(lambda (X)
((lambda (procedure)
(X (lambda (arg) ((procedure procedure) arg))))
(lambda (procedure)
(X (lambda (arg) ((procedure procedure) arg)))))))
and
(define Y
(lambda (r)
((lambda (f) (f f))
(lambda (y)
(r (lambda (x) ((y y) x)))))))
As you can see, they dont match with the structure of this Y ≡ (λy.(λx.y(xx))(λx.y(xx))) combinator function. How can I implement it in scheme in exactly same way?
In a lazy language like Lazy Racket you can use the normal order version, but not in any of the applicative order programming languages like Scheme. They will just go into an infinite loop.
The applicative version of Y is often called a Z combinator:
(define Z
(lambda (f)
((lambda (g) (g g))
(lambda (g)
(f (lambda args (apply (g g) args)))))))
Now the first thing that happens when this is applied is (g g) and since you can always substitute a whole application with the expansion of it's body the body of the function can get rewritten to:
(define Z
(lambda (f)
((lambda (g)
(f (lambda args (apply (g g) args))))
(lambda (g)
(f (lambda args (apply (g g) args)))))))
I haven't really changed anything. It's just a little more code that does exactly the same. Notice this version uses apply to support multiple argument functions. Imagine the Ackermann function:
(define ackermann
(lambda (m n)
(cond
((= m 0) (+ n 1))
((= n 0) (ackermann (- m 1) 1))
(else (ackermann (- m 1) (ackermann m (- n 1)))))))
(ackermann 3 6) ; ==> 509
This can be done with Z like this:
((Z (lambda (ackermann)
(lambda (m n)
(cond
((= m 0) (+ n 1))
((= n 0) (ackermann (- m 1) 1))
(else (ackermann (- m 1) (ackermann m (- n 1))))))))
3
6) ; ==> 509
Notice the implementations is exactly the same and the difference is how the reference to itself is handled.
EDIT
So you are asking how the evaluation gets delayed. Well the normal order version looks like this:
(define Y
(lambda (f)
((lambda (g) (g g))
(lambda (g) (f (g g))))))
If you look at how this would be applied with an argument you'll notice that Y never returns since before it can apply f in (f (g g)) it needs to evaluate (g g) which in turn evaluates (f (g g)) etc. To salvage that we don't apply (g g) right away. We know (g g) becomes a function so we just give f a function that when applied will generate the actual function and apply it. If you have a function add1 you can make a wrapper (lambda (x) (add1 x)) that you can use instead and it will work. In the same manner (lambda args (apply (g g) args)) is the same as (g g) and you can see that by just applying substitution rules. The clue here is that this effectively stops the computation at each step until it's actually put into use.

Why Scheme requires apply in Y-combinator implementation, but Racket doesn't?

Here is the Y-combinator in Racket:
#lang lazy
(define Y (λ(f)((λ(x)(f (x x)))(λ(x)(f (x x))))))
(define Fact
(Y (λ(fact) (λ(n) (if (zero? n) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1))))))))
(define Fib
(Y (λ(fib) (λ(n) (if (<= n 1) n (+ (fib (- n 1)) (fib (- n 2))))))))
Here is the Y-combinator in Scheme:
(define Y
(lambda (f)
((lambda (x) (x x))
(lambda (g)
(f (lambda args (apply (g g) args)))))))
(define fac
(Y
(lambda (f)
(lambda (x)
(if (< x 2)
1
(* x (f (- x 1))))))))
(define fib
(Y
(lambda (f)
(lambda (x)
(if (< x 2)
x
(+ (f (- x 1)) (f (- x 2))))))))
(display (fac 6))
(newline)
(display (fib 6))
(newline)
My question is: Why does Scheme require the apply function but Racket does not?
Racket is very close to plain Scheme for most purposes, and for this example, they're the same. But the real difference between the two versions is the need for a delaying wrapper which is needed in a strict language (Scheme and Racket), but not in a lazy one (Lazy Racket, a different language).
That wrapper is put around the (x x) or (g g) -- what we know about this thing is that evaluating it will get you into an infinite loop, and we also know that it's going to be the resulting (recursive) function. Because it's a function, we can delay its evaluation with a lambda: instead of (x x) use (lambda (a) ((x x) a)). This works fine, but it has another assumption -- that the wrapped function takes a single argument. We could just as well wrap it with a function of two arguments: (lambda (a b) ((x x) a b)) but that won't work in other cases too. The solution is to use a rest argument (args) and use apply, therefore making the wrapper accept any number of arguments and pass them along to the recursive function. Strictly speaking, it's not required always, it's "only" required if you want to be able to produce recursive functions of any arity.
On the other hand, you have the Lazy Racket code, which is, as I said above, a different language -- one with call-by-need semantics. Since this language is lazy, there is no need to wrap the infinitely-looping (x x) expression, it's used as-is. And since no wrapper is required, there is no need to deal with the number of arguments, therefore no need for apply. In fact, the lazy version doesn't even need the assumption that you're generating a function value -- it can generate any value. For example, this:
(Y (lambda (ones) (cons 1 ones)))
works fine and returns an infinite list of 1s. To see this, try
(!! (take 20 (Y (lambda (ones) (cons 1 ones)))))
(Note that the !! is needed to "force" the resulting value recursively, since Lazy Racket doesn't evaluate recursively by default. Also, note the use of take -- without it, Racket will try to create that infinite list, which will not get anywhere.)
Scheme does not require apply function. you use apply to accept more than one argument.
in the factorial case, here is my implementation which does not require apply
;;2013/11/29
(define (Fact-maker f)
(lambda (n)
(cond ((= n 0) 1)
(else (* n (f (- n 1)))))))
(define (fib-maker f)
(lambda (n)
(cond ((or (= n 0) (= n 1)) 1)
(else
(+ (f (- n 1))
(f (- n 2)))))))
(define (Y F)
((lambda (procedure)
(F (lambda (x) ((procedure procedure) x))))
(lambda (procedure)
(F (lambda (x) ((procedure procedure) x))))))

Guile/Scheme - redefine another module's internal function

Let's say I have the following two files:
;; demo.scm
(define-module (demo)
#:export (f))
(define (g x) 1)
(define (f x) (g x))
... and in the same directory:
;; use-demo.scm
(add-to-load-path ".")
(use-modules (demo))
(define (g x) (+ x 1))
(display (f 5))
(newline)
Running use-demo.scm in Guile (2), I get the output 1. So it looks like the function f has 'closed over' the function g that's defined in module demo. Is there any way to get around this? I really want to use the version of g that I've redefined in use-demo.scm.
OK, just for the record, I did some research and am posting the solution to this specific problem in case it helps someone.
The trick is to not redefine g locally, but rather to 'inject' the new function into the demo module's mapping of names to values.
(add-to-load-path ".")
(use-modules (demo))
(module-define! (resolve-module '(demo)) 'g
(lambda (x) (+ x 1)))
(display (f 5))
(newline)
If you have specific functions that you'd like to be able to override, you could make them configurable using parameters. This has some advantages:
You don't need to call reload-module to put the module back in its original configuration.
The changes only apply for the scope of the code which needs the modified behaviour.
It works properly when using multiple threads.
Obviously, the main disadvantage is that you need to add some boilerplate for each function that you want to allow to be overridden (although that's what hygienic macros are for, hehe).
The following code may work. I haven't run it.
;; demo.scm
(define-module (demo)
#:export (f))
(define (default-g x) 1)
(define p (make-parameter default-g))
(define (f x) ((p) x))
;; use-demo.scm
(add-to-load-path ".")
(use-modules (demo))
(define (my-g x) (+ x 1))
(parameterize ((## (demo) p) my-g)
(display (f 5))
(newline))
Obviously, if you can provide some additional information about what the application for this capability is, I might be able to suggest alternative approaches (there are a few others).

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