Suppose I have the following recursive function, that returns the nth fibonacci number:
private int fib(int n) {
if(n == 1) return 0;
if(n == 2) return 1;
return fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2);
}
How would I write a piece of code to return the total number of recursive calls made by this function ? I was thinking of introducing a count parameter as in fib(int n, int count = 0) or a static variable inside fib as static int count = 0 and increment count right before the recursive call. I had no success with either of these two approaches as I couldn't return count. Is there a way to get the total number of recursive calls without modifying the original function ?
You can calculate by induction that the number of recursion calls to calculate F(n) is 2 * F(n) - 1 (for the basic case where n <= 2 it is 1). Try to write induction steps, if you will not be able, I will update my answer with a proof later.
So actually there is no need to write a recursive algorithm. Also there is O(log(n)) algorithm to calculate n-th fibonacci number based on matrix exponentiation.
So with some math, you can end up with an O(log(n)) algorithm to find the number of recursive calls. But if you will continue modifying your function, you will find this in approximately O(1.6^n)
You can use a reference variable to keep track of the times the function is called.
Why don't you try something like this:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int fib(int n,int& count) {
count++;
if(n == 1) return 0;
if(n == 2) return 1;
return fib(n - 1,count) + fib(n - 2,count);
}
int main()
{
int nth=7;
int count=0;
int num=fib(nth,count);
cout<<nth<<"th fibonacci sequence is "<<num<<" function calls: "<<count<<"recursive calls:"<<count-1<<endl;
return 0;
}
Without modifying the function? Use a proxy:
http://tutorials.jenkov.com/java-reflection/dynamic-proxies.html#proxy
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/reflection/proxy.html#examples
Foo foo = (Foo) DebugProxy.newInstance(new FooImpl());
foo.bar(null);
Related
I am required to find an optimization for the Ackermann function and explain the problem with the Ackermann problem itself. However, I'm not really sure where I should start. I understand that Ackermann's function grows faster than any primitive recursive function. Maybe using a BigInteger to store the result could help? or maybe using memoization?
For example I was thinking of using something like a bottom-up fibonacci solution, if we know that at A(0,1) = 1+1, A(1,0) = A(0,1), A(1,1) = A(0,A(1,0)) and I can build from there depending on the 'n'.
Does that sound reasonable or is it unachievable? What is the actual problem that leads it to grow this fast even for small numbers?
class Ackermann
{
static int ack(int m, int n)
{
if (m == 0)
{
return n + 1;
}
else if((m > 0) && (n == 0))
{
return ack(m - 1, 1);
}
else if((m > 0) && (n > 0))
{
return ack(m - 1, ack(m, n - 1));
}else
return n + 1;
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
System.out.println(ack(1, 2));
}
}
From this post, you can find the following:
A real gain of execution time can only be achieved by not recalculating subresults over and over again. Memoization is an optimization technique where the results of function calls are cached and returned when the same inputs occur again. See for instance Ward (1993). Grossman & Zeitman (1988) published a cunning algorithm which computes A(i, n) within O(i x A(i,n)) time and within O(i) space.
I have seen many examples, but couldn't get the right procedure to write the recurrence of any recursive function. For example: If I see these functions,
how can I write an accurate recurrence?
void print (int n)
{
if (n>0)
{cout<< n<<endl;
print(n-1);}
}
and
int power (int x, int n)
{
If (n==0)
return 1;
else
return x * power (x, n-1);
}
and
Int fib (int n)
{
If (n==0 or n==1)
return 1;
else
return fib(n-1) +fib (n-2);
}
and
int numberofDigits(int n) {
if ((-10 < n) && (n < 10))
return 1;
else
return 1 + numberofDigits(n/10);
}
Those are all recursive functions. We can see, some of the functions like (fibonacci, factorial etc) functions have pre-described recurrences on the internet.
But how to write a recurrence by ourselves?
There are generally to cases to a recursive function:
The recursive case
The "base" case
For example in the Fibonacci case the base case was "if n is 1 or 0 then the answer is 1", while the recursive case is defined as the sum of the two previous numbers.
The way to create your own recursive function is to isolate the recursive and base cases, and then implement. So the canonical recursive function would look like this:
type my_recursion(type var)
{
if (/* base case */)
return /* base case value */;
else
return my_recursion(/* pass something in here */);
}
I saw the following interview question on some online forum. What is a good solution for this?
Get the last 1000 digits of 5^1234566789893943
Simple algorithm:
1. Maintain a 1000-digits array which will have the answer at the end
2. Implement a multiplication routine like you do in school. It is O(d^2).
3. Use modular exponentiation by squaring.
Iterative exponentiation:
array ans;
int a = 5;
while (p > 0) {
if (p&1) {
ans = multiply(ans, a)
}
p = p>>1;
ans = multiply(ans, ans);
}
multiply: multiplies two large number using the school method and return last 1000 digits.
Time complexity: O(d^2*logp) where d is number of last digits needed and p is power.
A typical solution for this problem would be to use modular arithmetic and exponentiation by squaring to compute the remainder of 5^1234566789893943 when divided by 10^1000. However in your case this will still not be good enough as it would take about 1000*log(1234566789893943) operations and this is not too much, but I will propose a more general approach that would work for greater values of the exponent.
You will have to use a bit more complicated number theory. You can use Euler's theorem to get the remainder of 5^1234566789893943 modulo 2^1000 a lot more efficiently. Denote that r. It is also obvious that 5^1234566789893943 is divisible by 5^1000.
After that you need to find a number d such that 5^1000*d = r(modulo 2^1000). To solve this equation you should compute 5^1000(modulo 2^1000). After that all that is left is to do division modulo 2^1000. Using again Euler's theorem this can be done efficiently. Use that x^(phi(2^1000)-1)*x =1(modulo 2^1000). This approach is way faster and is the only feasible solution.
The key phrase is "modular exponentiation". Python has that built in:
Python 3.4.1 (v3.4.1:c0e311e010fc, May 18 2014, 10:38:22) [MSC v.1600 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information.
>>> help(pow)
Help on built-in function pow in module builtins:
pow(...)
pow(x, y[, z]) -> number
With two arguments, equivalent to x**y. With three arguments,
equivalent to (x**y) % z, but may be more efficient (e.g. for ints).
>>> digits = pow(5, 1234566789893943, 10**1000)
>>> len(str(digits))
1000
>>> digits
4750414775792952522204114184342722049638880929773624902773914715850189808476532716372371599198399541490535712666678457047950561228398126854813955228082149950029586996237166535637925022587538404245894713557782868186911348163750456080173694616157985752707395420982029720018418176528050046735160132510039430638924070731480858515227638960577060664844432475135181968277088315958312427313480771984874517274455070808286089278055166204573155093723933924226458522505574738359787477768274598805619392248788499020057331479403377350096157635924457653815121544961705226996087472416473967901157340721436252325091988301798899201640961322478421979046764449146045325215261829432737214561242087559734390139448919027470137649372264607375942527202021229200886927993079738795532281264345533044058574930108964976191133834748071751521214092905298139886778347051165211279789776682686753139533912795298973229094197221087871530034608077419911440782714084922725088980350599242632517985214513078773279630695469677448272705078125
>>>
The technique we need to know is exponentiation by squaring and modulus. We also need to use BigInteger in Java.
Simple code in Java:
BigInteger m = //BigInteger of 10^1000
BigInteger pow(BigInteger a, long b) {
if (b == 0) {
return BigInteger.ONE;
}
BigInteger val = pow(a, b/2);
if (b % 2 == 0)
return (val.multiply(val)).mod(m);
else
return (val.multiply(val).multiply(a)).mod(m);
}
In Java, the function modPow has done it all for you (thank Java).
Use congruence and apply modular arithmetic.
Square and multiply algorithm.
If you divide any number in base 10 by 10 then the remainder represents
the last digit. i.e. 23422222=2342222*10+2
So we know:
5=5(mod 10)
5^2=25=5(mod 10)
5^4=(5^2)*(5^2)=5*5=5(mod 10)
5^8=(5^4)*(5^4)=5*5=5(mod 10)
... and keep going until you get to that exponent
OR, you can realize that as we keep going you keep getting 5 as your remainder.
Convert the number to a string.
Loop on the string, starting at the last index up to 1000.
Then reverse the result string.
I posted a solution based on some hints here.
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
vector<char> multiplyArrays(const vector<char> &data1, const vector<char> &data2, int k) {
int sz1 = data1.size();
int sz2 = data2.size();
vector<char> result(sz1+sz2,0);
for(int i=sz1-1; i>=0; --i) {
char carry = 0;
for(int j=sz2-1; j>=0; --j) {
char value = data1[i] * data2[j]+result[i+j+1]+carry;
carry = value/10;
result[i+j+1] = value % 10;
}
result[i]=carry;
}
if(sz1+sz2>k){
vector<char> lastKElements(result.begin()+(sz1+sz2-k), result.end());
return lastKElements;
}
else
return result;
}
vector<char> calculate(unsigned long m, unsigned long n, int k) {
if(n == 0) {
return vector<char>(1, 1);
} else if(n % 2) { // odd number
vector<char> tmp(1, m);
vector<char> result1 = calculate(m, n-1, k);
return multiplyArrays(result1, tmp, k);
} else {
vector<char> result1 = calculate(m, n/2, k);
return multiplyArrays(result1, result1, k);
}
}
int main(int argc, char const *argv[]){
vector<char> v=calculate(5,8,1000);
for(auto c : v){
cout<<static_cast<unsigned>(c);
}
}
I don't know if Windows can show a big number (Or if my computer is fast enough to show it) But I guess you COULD use this code like and algorithm:
ulong x = 5; //There are a lot of libraries for other languages like C/C++ that support super big numbers. In this case I'm using C#'s default `Uint64` number.
for(ulong i=1; i<1234566789893943; i++)
{
x = x * x; //I will make the multiplication raise power over here
}
string term = x.ToString(); //Store the number to a string. I remember strings can store up to 1 billion characters.
char[] number = term.ToCharArray(); //Array of all the digits
int tmp=0;
while(number[tmp]!='.') //This will search for the period.
tmp++;
tmp++; //After finding the period, I will start storing 1000 digits from this index of the char array
string thousandDigits = ""; //Here I will store the digits.
for (int i = tmp; i <= 1000+tmp; i++)
{
thousandDigits += number[i]; //Storing digits
}
Using this as a reference, I guess if you want to try getting the LAST 1000 characters of this array, change to this in the for of the above code:
string thousandDigits = "";
for (int i = 0; i > 1000; i++)
{
thousandDigits += number[number.Length-i]; //Reverse array... ¿?
}
As I don't work with super super looooong numbers, I don't know if my computer can get those, I tried the code and it works but when I try to show the result in console it just leave the pointer flickering xD Guess it's still working. Don't have a pro Processor. Try it if you want :P
Let's assume that we have a pair of numbers (a, b). We can get a new pair (a + b, b) or (a, a + b) from the given pair in a single step.
Let the initial pair of numbers be (1,1). Our task is to find number k, that is, the least number of steps needed to transform (1,1) into the pair where at least one number equals n.
I solved it by finding all the possible pairs and then return min steps in which the given number is formed, but it taking quite long time to compute.I guess this must be somehow related with finding gcd.can some one please help or provide me some link for the concept.
Here is the program that solved the issue but it is not cleat to me...
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#define INF 1000000000
int n,r=INF;
int f(int a,int b){
if(b<=0)return INF;
if(a>1&&b==1)return a-1;
return f(b,a-a/b*b)+a/b;
}
int main(){
cin>>n;
for(int i=1;i<=n/2;i++){
r=min(r,f(n,i));
}
cout<<(n==1?0:r)<<endl;
}
My approach to such problems(one I got from projecteuler.net) is to calculate the first few terms of the sequence and then search in oeis for a sequence with the same terms. This can result in a solutions order of magnitude faster. In your case the sequence is probably: http://oeis.org/A178031 but unfortunately it has no easy to use formula.
:
As the constraint for n is relatively small you can do a dp on the minimum number of steps required to get to the pair (a,b) from (1,1). You take a two dimensional array that stores the answer for a given pair and then you do a recursion with memoization:
int mem[5001][5001];
int solve(int a, int b) {
if (a == 0) {
return mem[a][b] = b + 1;
}
if (mem[a][b] != -1) {
return mem[a][b];
}
if (a == 1 && b == 1) {
return mem[a][b] = 0;
}
int res;
if (a > b) {
swap(a,b);
}
if (mem[a][b%a] == -1) { // not yet calculated
res = solve(a, b%a);
} else { // already calculated
res = mem[a][b%a];
}
res += b/a;
return mem[a][b] = res;
}
int main() {
memset(mem, -1, sizeof(mem));
int n;
cin >> n;
int best = -1;
for (int i = 1; i <= n; ++i) {
int temp = solve(n, i);
if (best == -1 || temp < best) {
best = temp;
}
}
cout << best << endl;
}
In fact in this case there is not much difference between dp and BFS, but this is the general approach to such problems. Hope this helps.
EDIT: return a big enough value in the dp if a is zero
You can use the breadth first search algorithm to do this. At each step you generate all possible NEXT steps that you havent seen before. If the set of next steps contains the result you're done if not repeat. The number of times you repeat this is the minimum number of transformations.
First of all, the maximum number you can get after k-3 steps is kth fibinocci number. Let t be the magic ratio.
Now, for n start with (n, upper(n/t) ).
If x>y:
NumSteps(x,y) = NumSteps(x-y,y)+1
Else:
NumSteps(x,y) = NumSteps(x,y-x)+1
Iteratively calculate NumSteps(n, upper(n/t) )
PS: Using upper(n/t) might not always provide the optimal solution. You can do some local search around this value for the optimal results. To ensure optimality you can try ALL the values from 0 to n-1, in which worst case complexity is O(n^2). But, if the optimal value results from a value close to upper(n/t), the solution is O(nlogn)
For example,
Look at the code that calculates the n-th Fibonacci number:
fib(int n)
{
if(n==0 || n==1)
return 1;
return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2);
}
The problem with this code is that it will generate stack overflow error for any number greater than 15 (in most computers).
Assume that we are calculating fib(10). In this process, say fib(5) is calculated a lot of times. Is there some way to store this in memory for fast retrieval and thereby increase the speed of recursion?
I am looking for a generic technique that can be used in almost all problems.
Yes your insight is correct.
This is called dynamic programming. It is usually a common memory runtime trade-off.
In the case of fibo, you don't even need to cache everything :
[edit]
The author of the question seems to be looking for a general method to cache rather than a method to compute Fibonacci. Search wikipedia or look at the code of the other poster to get this answer. Those answers are linear in time and memory.
**Here is a linear-time algorithm O(n), constant in memory **
in OCaml:
let rec fibo n =
let rec aux = fun
| 0 -> (1,1)
| n -> let (cur, prec) = aux (n-1) in (cur+prec, cur)
let (cur,prec) = aux n in prec;;
in C++:
int fibo(int n) {
if (n == 0 ) return 1;
if (n == 1 ) return 1;
int p = fibo(0);
int c = fibo(1);
int buff = 0;
for (int i=1; i < n; ++i) {
buff = c;
c = p+c;
p = buff;
};
return c;
};
This perform in linear time. But log is actually possible !!!
Roo's program is linear too, but way slower, and use memory.
Here is the log algorithm O(log(n))
Now for the log-time algorithm (way way way faster), here is a method :
If you know u(n), u(n-1), computing u(n+1), u(n) can be done by applying a matrix:
| u(n+1) | = | 1 1 | | u(n) |
| u(n) | | 1 0 | | u(n-1) |
So that you have :
| u(n) | = | 1 1 |^(n-1) | u(1) | = | 1 1 |^(n-1) | 1 |
| u(n-1) | | 1 0 | | u(0) | | 1 0 | | 1 |
Computing the exponential of the matrix has a logarithmic complexity.
Just implement recursively the idea :
M^(0) = Id
M^(2p+1) = (M^2p) * M
M^(2p) = (M^p) * (M^p) // of course don't compute M^p twice here.
You can also just diagonalize it (not to difficult), you will find the gold number and its conjugate in its eigenvalue, and the result will give you an EXACT mathematical formula for u(n). It contains powers of those eigenvalues, so that the complexity will still be logarithmic.
Fibo is often taken as an example to illustrate Dynamic Programming, but as you see, it is not really pertinent.
#John:
I don't think it has anything to do with do with hash.
#John2:
A map is a bit general don't you think? For Fibonacci case, all the keys are contiguous so that a vector is appropriate, once again there are much faster ways to compute fibo sequence, see my code sample over there.
This is called memoization and there is a very good article about memoization Matthew Podwysocki posted these days. It uses Fibonacci to exemplify it. And shows the code in C# also. Read it here.
If you're using C#, and can use PostSharp, here's a simple memoization aspect for your code:
[Serializable]
public class MemoizeAttribute : PostSharp.Laos.OnMethodBoundaryAspect, IEqualityComparer<Object[]>
{
private Dictionary<Object[], Object> _Cache;
public MemoizeAttribute()
{
_Cache = new Dictionary<object[], object>(this);
}
public override void OnEntry(PostSharp.Laos.MethodExecutionEventArgs eventArgs)
{
Object[] arguments = eventArgs.GetReadOnlyArgumentArray();
if (_Cache.ContainsKey(arguments))
{
eventArgs.ReturnValue = _Cache[arguments];
eventArgs.FlowBehavior = FlowBehavior.Return;
}
}
public override void OnExit(MethodExecutionEventArgs eventArgs)
{
if (eventArgs.Exception != null)
return;
_Cache[eventArgs.GetReadOnlyArgumentArray()] = eventArgs.ReturnValue;
}
#region IEqualityComparer<object[]> Members
public bool Equals(object[] x, object[] y)
{
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(x, y))
return true;
if (x == null || y == null)
return false;
if (x.Length != y.Length)
return false;
for (Int32 index = 0, len = x.Length; index < len; index++)
if (Comparer.Default.Compare(x[index], y[index]) != 0)
return false;
return true;
}
public int GetHashCode(object[] obj)
{
Int32 hash = 23;
foreach (Object o in obj)
{
hash *= 37;
if (o != null)
hash += o.GetHashCode();
}
return hash;
}
#endregion
}
Here's a sample Fibonacci implementation using it:
[Memoize]
private Int32 Fibonacci(Int32 n)
{
if (n <= 1)
return 1;
else
return Fibonacci(n - 2) + Fibonacci(n - 1);
}
Quick and dirty memoization in C++:
Any recursive method type1 foo(type2 bar) { ... } is easily memoized with map<type2, type1> M.
// your original method
int fib(int n)
{
if(n==0 || n==1)
return 1;
return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2);
}
// with memoization
map<int, int> M = map<int, int>();
int fib(int n)
{
if(n==0 || n==1)
return 1;
// only compute the value for fib(n) if we haven't before
if(M.count(n) == 0)
M[n] = fib(n-1) + fib(n-2);
return M[n];
}
EDIT: #Konrad Rudolph
Konrad points out that std::map is not the fastest data structure we could use here. That's true, a vector<something> should be faster than a map<int, something> (though it might require more memory if the inputs to the recursive calls of the function were not consecutive integers like they are in this case), but maps are convenient to use generally.
According to wikipedia Fib(0) should be 0 but it does not matter.
Here is simple C# solution with for cycle:
ulong Fib(int n)
{
ulong fib = 1; // value of fib(i)
ulong fib1 = 1; // value of fib(i-1)
ulong fib2 = 0; // value of fib(i-2)
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
fib = fib1 + fib2;
fib2 = fib1;
fib1 = fib;
}
return fib;
}
It is pretty common trick to convert recursion to tail recursion and then to loop. For more detail see for example this lecture (ppt).
What language is this? It doesnt overflow anything in c...
Also, you can try creating a lookup table on the heap, or use a map
caching is generally a good idea for this kind of thing. Since fibonacci numbers are constant, you can cache the result once you have calculated it. A quick c/pseudocode example
class fibstorage {
bool has-result(int n) { return fibresults.contains(n); }
int get-result(int n) { return fibresult.find(n).value; }
void add-result(int n, int v) { fibresults.add(n,v); }
map<int, int> fibresults;
}
fib(int n ) {
if(n==0 || n==1)
return 1;
if (fibstorage.has-result(n)) {
return fibstorage.get-result(n-1);
}
return ( (fibstorage.has-result(n-1) ? fibstorage.get-result(n-1) : fib(n-1) ) +
(fibstorage.has-result(n-2) ? fibstorage.get-result(n-2) : fib(n-2) )
);
}
calcfib(n) {
v = fib(n);
fibstorage.add-result(n,v);
}
This would be quite slow, as every recursion results in 3 lookups, however this should illustrate the general idea
Is this a deliberately chosen example? (eg. an extreme case you're wanting to test)
As it's currently O(1.6^n) i just want to make sure you're just looking for answers on handling the general case of this problem (caching values, etc) and not just accidentally writing poor code :D
Looking at this specific case you could have something along the lines of:
var cache = [];
function fib(n) {
if (n < 2) return 1;
if (cache.length > n) return cache[n];
var result = fib(n - 2) + fib(n - 1);
cache[n] = result;
return result;
}
Which degenerates to O(n) in the worst case :D
[Edit: * does not equal + :D ]
[Yet another edit: the Haskell version (because i'm a masochist or something)
fibs = 1:1:(zipWith (+) fibs (tail fibs))
fib n = fibs !! n
]
Try using a map, n is the key and its corresponding Fibonacci number is the value.
#Paul
Thanks for the info. I didn't know that. From the Wikipedia link you mentioned:
This technique of saving values that
have already been calculated is called
memoization
Yeah I already looked at the code (+1). :)
#ESRogs:
std::map lookup is O(log n) which makes it slow here. Better use a vector.
vector<unsigned int> fib_cache;
fib_cache.push_back(1);
fib_cache.push_back(1);
unsigned int fib(unsigned int n) {
if (fib_cache.size() <= n)
fib_cache.push_back(fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2));
return fib_cache[n];
}
Others have answered your question well and accurately - you're looking for memoization.
Programming languages with tail call optimization (mostly functional languages) can do certain cases of recursion without stack overflow. It doesn't directly apply to your definition of Fibonacci, though there are tricks..
The phrasing of your question made me think of an interesting idea.. Avoiding stack overflow of a pure recursive function by only storing a subset of the stack frames, and rebuilding when necessary.. Only really useful in a few cases. If your algorithm only conditionally relies on the context as opposed to the return, and/or you're optimizing for memory not speed.
Mathematica has a particularly slick way to do memoization, relying on the fact that hashes and function calls use the same syntax:
fib[0] = 1;
fib[1] = 1;
fib[n_] := fib[n] = fib[n-1] + fib[n-2]
That's it. It caches (memoizes) fib[0] and fib[1] off the bat and caches the rest as needed. The rules for pattern-matching function calls are such that it always uses a more specific definition before a more general definition.
One more excellent resource for C# programmers for recursion, partials, currying, memoization, and their ilk, is Wes Dyer's blog, though he hasn't posted in awhile. He explains memoization well, with solid code examples here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/wesdyer/archive/2007/01/26/function-memoization.aspx
The problem with this code is that it will generate stack overflow error for any number greater than 15 (in most computers).
Really? What computer are you using? It's taking a long time at 44, but the stack is not overflowing. In fact, your going to get a value bigger than an integer can hold (~4 billion unsigned, ~2 billion signed) before the stack is going to over flow (Fibbonaci(46)).
This would work for what you want to do though (runs wiked fast)
class Program
{
public static readonly Dictionary<int,int> Items = new Dictionary<int,int>();
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(Fibbonacci(46).ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
public static int Fibbonacci(int number)
{
if (number == 1 || number == 0)
{
return 1;
}
var minus2 = number - 2;
var minus1 = number - 1;
if (!Items.ContainsKey(minus2))
{
Items.Add(minus2, Fibbonacci(minus2));
}
if (!Items.ContainsKey(minus1))
{
Items.Add(minus1, Fibbonacci(minus1));
}
return (Items[minus2] + Items[minus1]);
}
}
If you're using a language with first-class functions like Scheme, you can add memoization without changing the initial algorithm:
(define (memoize fn)
(letrec ((get (lambda (query) '(#f)))
(set (lambda (query value)
(let ((old-get get))
(set! get (lambda (q)
(if (equal? q query)
(cons #t value)
(old-get q))))))))
(lambda args
(let ((val (get args)))
(if (car val)
(cdr val)
(let ((ret (apply fn args)))
(set args ret)
ret))))))
(define fib (memoize (lambda (x)
(if (< x 2) x
(+ (fib (- x 1)) (fib (- x 2)))))))
The first block provides a memoization facility and the second block is the fibonacci sequence using that facility. This now has an O(n) runtime (as opposed to O(2^n) for the algorithm without memoization).
Note: the memoization facility provided uses a chain of closures to look for previous invocations. At worst case this can be O(n). In this case, however, the desired values are always at the top of the chain, ensuring O(1) lookup.
As other posters have indicated, memoization is a standard way to trade memory for speed, here is some pseudo code to implement memoization for any function (provided the function has no side effects):
Initial function code:
function (parameters)
body (with recursive calls to calculate result)
return result
This should be transformed to
function (parameters)
key = serialized parameters to string
if (cache[key] does not exist) {
body (with recursive calls to calculate result)
cache[key] = result
}
return cache[key]
By the way Perl has a memoize module that does this for any function in your code that you specify.
# Compute Fibonacci numbers
sub fib {
my $n = shift;
return $n if $n < 2;
fib($n-1) + fib($n-2);
}
In order to memoize this function all you do is start your program with
use Memoize;
memoize('fib');
# Rest of the fib function just like the original version.
# Now fib is automagically much faster ;-)
#lassevk:
This is awesome, exactly what I had been thinking about in my head after reading about memoization in Higher Order Perl. Two things which I think would be useful additions:
An optional parameter to specify a static or member method that is used for generating the key to the cache.
An optional way to change the cache object so that you could use a disk or database backed cache.
Not sure how to do this sort of thing with Attributes (or if they are even possible with this sort of implementation) but I plan to try and figure out.
(Off topic: I was trying to post this as a comment, but I didn't realize that comments have such a short allowed length so this doesn't really fit as an 'answer')