Array#sample random numbers generator - ruby

How does Array#sample work, if you pass a range as random numbers generator?
As here :
> [*1..10].sample(random: 1..3)
=>9

As per the doc, sample(random: rng), rng is not a Range Object, as you might thought. rng is a Random number generator.
The optional rng argument will be used as the random number generator.
a = (1..10).to_a
r = Random.new
r2 = r.dup
a1 = a.sample(random: r)
a2 = a.sample(random: r2)
a1 == a2 # => true
The point is #sample, takes its second argument as keyword argument. If we use something like foo: 12 or rng: (1..2), it will give ArgumentError: unknown keyword:. The optional argument will be acceptable only when you will supply it a value as random: <any random number generator>. Now, coming to your point :
r = 1..3
a1 = [*1..10].sample(random: r)
a2 = [*1..10].sample(random: r)
a1 == a2 # => false
When you are passing the second argument as random: r, r must be Random object, or an object that responds to #rand. Remember with the second argument, you are telling #sample, to use your random number generator instead of the default one it uses in absence of the optional argument.
Here is one custom implementation of a RNG :
ob = Object.new
def ob.to_int
5000
end
gen_to_int = proc do |max|
ob
end
class << gen_to_int
alias rand call
end
ary = (0...10000).to_a
ary.sample(random: gen_to_int) # => 5000
ary.sample(random: gen_to_int) # => 5000
ary.sample(random: gen_to_int) # => 5000
This will give you the understanding about #sample with the optional argument. Look for more examples from #test_sample_random.
Update
How does Array#sample work, if you pass a range as random numbers generator?
To answer this, I would take a help of the TracePoint class.
trace = TracePoint.new(:c_call) do |tp|
p [tp.lineno, tp.defined_class, tp.method_id, tp.event]
end
trace.enable do
[1,2,3,4,5,66,4].sample(random: 1..3)
end
# >> [6, Array, :sample, :c_call]
# >> [6, Kernel, :rand, :c_call]
# >> [6, Kernel, :respond_to_missing?, :c_call]
So, from the above call stack, you can see - Array#sample method has been called. Now internally, Ruby called Kernel#rand on the Range object. Now, (1..3).respond_to? returned false(because #rand - it is a_private_ instance method for Range), that's why finally #respond_to_missing? method has been called to do the job.

Related

Sample an array with seed value to get consistent result

I am sampling several arrays and would like to add a seed value to get a consistent result every time its run, now and in the future.
My example:
constant_seed_value = 123456789
["a","b","c"].sample(seed: constant_seed_value ) should return "a" when run every time.
Just pass a Random.new with your seed to sample:
%w[a b c].sample(1, random: Random.new(123456789))
#=> ["a"]
See Array#sample and Random
You will need to make the seed a constant (or write it to a file and read it each time the program is run). I assume you don't care what the seed actually is.
If a side-calculation produces
Random.new_seed
#=> 44220669194288225494276674522501875094
you will write
SEED = 44220669194288225494276674522501875094
See Random::new_seed.
When the program is run you must initialize the seed to this value.
Random.srand(SEED)
#=> 129123040985656142450143558000073927364
See Random::srand.
Now let's compute some pseudo-random values.
arr = (1..1000).to_a
arr.sample(4)
#=> [762, 619, 41, 997]
rand
#=> 0.9619996498741139
rand
#=> 0.7952214967836931
Now restore the initial seed, as we would do if we re-ran the program.
Random.srand(SEED)
#=> 190782386885144604306184636344084340916
If we repeat the initial constuction of pseudo-random values we see they are the same as when we first computed them.
arr.to_a.sample(4)
#=> [762, 619, 41, 997]
rand
#=> 0.9619996498741139
rand
#=> 0.7952214967836931

Ruby and Lambda calculus

I'm trying to understand lambda calculus with procs and ruby. Here is some code:
puts -> x { -> y {x.call(y) } }
# => #<Proc:0x2a3beb0#C:/first-ruby.rb:1 (lambda)>
puts -> x { x + 2}.call(1)
# => 3
What does -> signify in above example? Is the call method passing the value to the caller, so in the first example, value y is passed to y and in the second example, 1 is passed to x? In the second example, why is 1 evaluated to x?
This is a shortcut for the pure lambda expression:
lmbd = -> arg{ something to do with arg } # With ->{} notation
lmbd = lambda { |arg| something to do with arg } # Standard notation
In your first example you invoke puts method with Proc(lambda) object, and that's why you see #<Proc:0x2a3beb0#C:/first-ruby.rb:1 (lambda)> in the output.
In the second example you invoke puts with lmbd.call(1) method, i.e. puts outputs the result of lambda calculation.
So, if you have lmbd variable which is lambda object, you can pass it like any argument and then get it's result by invoke lmbd.call():
lmbd = -> greeting{ puts "#{greeting}, lambda-expression!" }
def say_hello l, text
l.call(text)
end
say_hello lmbd, "Aloha" # => Aloha, lambda-expression!
What does -> signify in above example?
-> is part of the literal syntax for lambdas, just like, say, ' is part of the literal syntax for strings.
Is the .call method just passing the value from to caller,
The call method is the method, which, well, calls (or executes) the lambda. The arguments to the call method are bound to the parameters of the lambda.
so in first example value y is passed to y and in second example 1 is passed to x.
No, in the first example, y is passed to the outer lambda and bound to its x parameter. In the second example, 1 is passed to the lambda and bound to its x parameter.
In second example why how is 1 evaluated to x?
1 does not evalute to x. 1 is an immediate value, and in Ruby, immediate values always evaluate to themselves. 1 will always evaluate to 1, never to x or anything else.
Let's define a function using Ruby lambda.
def plus_two # no args here
->(x) {x + 2} # args go here
end
# assign a value
x = 1
# call it
plus_two.call(x)
# => 3
Your first example is a bit more complex but using this idea you should be able to come up with functional methods.
I'm studying Scala and functional programming is based upon these substitution principles.
Try doing some recursion using these.
It's like calling functions of functions n times.
What would be the base case then?
As for the Lambda Calculus https://github.com/mackorone/lambda/blob/master/intro.pdf
Try to keep things simple and show the steps rather than trying to figure out what a one liner is doing. Yes they are nice but if you can't read it you can't understand it.
Here's something I was just recently working on:
require 'date'
num = DateTime.now.to_time.utc.to_datetime.ajd - 2451545.0
#t = num / 36525.0
# the terms in reverse order form for the array
#l0_a = [1.0/-19880000.0,
1.0/-152990.0,
1.0/499310.0,
0.0003032028,
36000.76982779,
280.4664567]
# make an enumerator
#l0_e = #l0_a.each
# make a lambda to pass the enumerator to.
def my_lambda
->(x) {x.reduce {|acc, el| acc * #t + el} % 360}
end
puts my_lambda.call(#l0_e)
This is mean longitude of the sun formula using enumerator methods and of course a lambda.

ruby string array iteration. Array of arrays

I have a ruby problem
Here's what i'm trying to do
def iterate1 #define method in given class
#var3 = #var2.split(" ") #split string to array
#var4 = #var3
#var4.each do |i| #for each array item do i
ra = []
i.each_char {|d| ra << counter1(d)} # for each char in i, apply def counter1
#sum = ra.inject(:+)
#sum2 = #sum.inject(:+) #have to do the inject twice to get values
end
#sum2
I know i have over complicated this
Basically the input is a string of letters and values like "14556 this word 398"
I am trying to sum the numbers in each value, seperated by the whitespace like (" ")
When i use the def iterate1 method the block calls the counter1 method just fine, but i can only get the value for the last word or value in the string.
In this case that's 398, which when summed would be 27.
If i include a break i get the first value, which would be 21.
I'm looking to output an array with all of the summed values
Any help would be greatly appreciated
I think you're after:
"10 d 20 c".scan(/\b\d+\b/).map(&:to_i).inject(:+) # Returns 30
scan(/\b\d+\b/) will extract all numbers that are made up of digits only in an array, map(&:to_i) will convert them to integers and I guess you already know what inject(:+) will do.
I'm not sure if I understand what you're after correctly, though, so it might help if you provide the answer you expect to this input.
EDIT:
If you want to sum the digits in each number, you can do it with:
"12 d 34 c".scan(/\b\d+\b/).map { |x| x.chars.map(&:to_i).inject(:+) }
x.chars will return an enumerator for the digits, map(&:to_i) will convert them to integers and inject(:+) will sum them.
The simplest answer is to use map instead of each because the former collects the results and returns an array. e.g:
def iterate1 #define method in given class
#var3 = #var2.split(" ") #split string to array
#var4 = #var3
#var4.map do |i| #for each array item do i
ra = []
i.each_char {|d| ra << counter1(d)} # for each char in i, apply def counter1
#sum = ra.inject(:+)
#sum2 = #sum.inject(:+) #have to do the inject twice to get values
end
end
You could write it a lot cleaner though and I think Stefan was a big help. You could solve the issue with a little modification of his code
# when you call iterate, you should pass in the value
# even if you have an instance variable available (e.g. #var2)
def iterate(thing)
thing.scan(/\b\d+\b/).map do |x|
x.chars.map{|d| counter1(d)}.inject(:+)
end
end
The above assumes that the counter1 method returns back the value as an integer

Some simple Ruby questions - iterators, blocks, and symbols

My background is in PHP and C#, but I'd really like to learn RoR. To that end, I've started reading the official documentation. I have some questions about some code examples.
The first is with iterators:
class Array
def inject(n)
each { |value| n = yield(n, value) }
n
end
def sum
inject(0) { |n, value| n + value }
end
def product
inject(1) { |n, value| n * value }
end
end
I understand that yield means "execute the associated block here." What's throwing me is the |value| n = part of the each. The other blocks make more sense to me as they seem to mimic C# style lambdas:
public int sum(int n, int value)
{
return Inject((n, value) => n + value);
}
But the first example is confusing to me.
The other is with symbols. When would I want to use them? And why can't I do something like:
class Example
attr_reader #member
# more code
end
In the inject or reduce method, n represents an accumulated value; this means the result of every iteration is accumulated in the n variable. This could be, as is in your example, the sum or product of the elements in the array.
yield returns the result of the block, which is stored in n and used in the next iterations. This is what makes the result "cumulative."
a = [ 1, 2, 3 ]
a.sum # inject(0) { |n, v| n + v }
# n == 0; n = 0 + 1
# n == 1; n = 1 + 2
# n == 3; n = 3 + 3
=> 6
Also, to compute the sum you could also have written a.reduce :+. This works for any binary operation. If your method is named symbol, writing a.reduce :symbol is the same as writing a.reduce { |n, v| n.symbol v }.
attr and company are actually methods. Under the hood, they dynamically define the methods for you. It uses the symbol you passed to work out the names of the instance variable and the methods. :member results in the #member instance variable and the member and member = methods.
The reason you can't write attr_reader #member is because #member isn't an object in itself, nor can it be converted to a symbol; it actually tells ruby to fetch the value of the instance variable #member of the self object, which, at class scope, is the class itself.
To illustrate:
class Example
#member = :member
attr_accessor #member
end
e = Example.new
e.member = :value
e.member
=> :value
Remember that accessing unset instance variables yields nil, and since the attr method family accepts only symbols, you get: TypeError: nil is not a symbol.
Regarding Symbol usage, you can sort of use them like strings. They make excellent hash keys because equal symbols always refer to the same object, unlike strings.
:a.object_id == :a.object_id
=> true
'a'.object_id == 'a'.object_id
=> false
They're also commonly used to refer to method names, and can actually be converted to Procs, which can be passed to methods. This is what allows us to write things like array.map &:to_s.
Check out this article for more interpretations of the symbol.
For the definition of inject, you're basically setting up chained blocks. Specifically, the variable n in {|value| n = yield(n, value)} is essentially an accumulator for the block passed to inject. So, for example, for the definition of product, inject(1) {|value| n * value}, let's assume you have an array my_array = [1, 2, 3, 4]. When you call my_array.product, you start by calling inject with n = 1. each yields to the block defined in inject, which in turns yields to the block passed to inject itself with n (1) and the first value in the array (1 as well, in this case). This block, {|n, value| n * value} returns 1 == 1 * 1, which is set it inject's n variable. Next, 2 is yielded from each, and the block defined in inject block yields as yield(1, 2), which returns 2 and assigns it to n. Next 3 is yielded from each, the block yields the values (2, 3) and returns 6, which is stored in n for the next value, and so forth. Essentially, tracking the overall value agnostic of the calculation being performed in the specialised routines (sum and product) allows for generalization. Without that, you'd have to declare e.g.
def sum
n = 0
each {|val| n += val}
end
def product
n = 1
each {|val| n *= val}
end
which is annoyingly repetitive.
For your second question, attr_reader and its family are themselves methods that are defining the appropriate accessor routines using define_method internally, in a process called metaprogramming; they are not language statements, but just plain old methods. These functions expect to passed a symbol (or, perhaps, a string) that gives the name of the accessors you're creating. You could, in theory, use instance variables such as #member here, though it would be the value to which #member points that would be passed in and used in define_method. For an example of how these are implemented, this page shows some examples of attr_* methods.
def inject(accumulator)
each { |value| accumulator = yield(accumulator, value) }
accumulator
end
This is just yielding the current value of accumulator and the array item to inject's block and then storing the result back into accumulator again.
class Example
attr_reader #member
end
attr_reader is just a method whose argument is the name of the accessor you want to setup. So, in a contrived way you could do
class Example
#ivar_name = 'foo'
attr_reader #ivar_name
end
to create an getter method called foo
Your confusion with the first example may be due to your reading |value| n as a single expression, but it isn't.
This reformatted version might be clearer to you:
def inject(n)
each do |value|
n = yield(n, value)
end
return n
end
value is an element in the array, and it is yielded with n to whatever block is passed to inject, the result of which is set to n. If that's not clear, read up on the each method, which takes a block and yields each item in the array to it. Then it should be clearer how the accumulation works.
attr_reader is less weird when you consider that it is a method for generating accessor methods. It's not an accessor in itself. It doesn't need to deal with the #member variable's value, just its name. :member is just the interned version of the string 'member', which is the name of the variable.
You can think of symbols as lighter weight strings, with the additional bonus that every equal label is the same object - :foo.object_id == :foo.object_id, whereas 'foo'.object_id != 'foo'.object_id, because each 'foo' is a new object. You can try that for yourself in irb. Think of them as labels, or primitive strings. They're surprisingly useful and come up a lot, e.g. for metaprogramming or as keys in hashes. As pointed out elsewhere, calling object.send :foo is the same as calling object.foo
It's probably worth reading some early chapters from the 'pickaxe' book to learn some more ruby, it will help you understand and appreciate the extra stuff rails adds.
First you need to understand where to use symbols and where its not..
Symbol is especially used to represent something. Ex: :name, :age like that. Here we are not going to perform any operations using this.
String are used only for data processing. Ex: 'a = name'. Here I gonna use this variable 'a' further for other string operations in ruby.
Moreover, symbol is more memory efficient than strings and it is immutable. That's why ruby developer's prefers symbols than string.
You can even use inject method to calculate sum as (1..5).to_a.inject(:+)

Passing a method as a parameter in Ruby

I am trying to mess around a little bit with Ruby. Therefor I try to implement the algorithms (given in Python) from the book "Programming Collective Intelligence" Ruby.
In chapter 8 the author passes a method a as parameter. This seems to work in Python but not in Ruby.
I have here the method
def gaussian(dist, sigma=10.0)
foo
end
and want to call this with another method
def weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5, weightf = gaussian)
foo
weight = weightf(dist)
foo
end
All I got is an error
ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (0 for 1)
The comments referring to blocks and Procs are correct in that they are more usual in Ruby. But you can pass a method if you want. You call method to get the method and .call to call it:
def weightedknn( data, vec1, k = 5, weightf = method(:gaussian) )
...
weight = weightf.call( dist )
...
end
You want a proc object:
gaussian = Proc.new do |dist, *args|
sigma = args.first || 10.0
...
end
def weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5, weightf = gaussian)
...
weight = weightf.call(dist)
...
end
Just note that you can't set a default argument in a block declaration like that. So you need to use a splat and setup the default in the proc code itself.
Or, depending on your scope of all this, it may be easier to pass in a method name instead.
def weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5, weightf = :gaussian)
...
weight = self.send(weightf)
...
end
In this case you are just calling a method that is defined on an object rather than passing in a complete chunk of code. Depending on how you structure this you may need replace self.send with object_that_has_the_these_math_methods.send
Last but not least, you can hang a block off the method.
def weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5)
...
weight =
if block_given?
yield(dist)
else
gaussian.call(dist)
end
end
...
end
weightedknn(foo, bar) do |dist|
# square the dist
dist * dist
end
But it sounds like you would like more reusable chunks of code here.
You can pass a method as parameter with method(:function) way. Below is a very simple example:
def double(a)
return a * 2
end
=> nil
def method_with_function_as_param( callback, number)
callback.call(number)
end
=> nil
method_with_function_as_param( method(:double) , 10 )
=> 20
The normal Ruby way to do this is to use a block.
So it would be something like:
def weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5)
foo
weight = yield(dist)
foo
end
And used like:
weightedknn(data, vec1) { |dist| gaussian( dist ) }
This pattern is used extensively in Ruby.
You can use the & operator on the Method instance of your method to convert the method to a block.
Example:
def foo(arg)
p arg
end
def bar(&block)
p 'bar'
block.call('foo')
end
bar(&method(:foo))
More details at http://weblog.raganwald.com/2008/06/what-does-do-when-used-as-unary.html
You have to call the method "call" of the function object:
weight = weightf.call( dist )
EDIT: as explained in the comments, this approach is wrong. It would work if you're using Procs instead of normal functions.
I would recommend to use ampersand to have an access to named blocks within a function. Following the recommendations given in this article you can write something like this (this is a real scrap from my working program):
# Returns a valid hash for html form select element, combined of all entities
# for the given +model+, where only id and name attributes are taken as
# values and keys correspondingly. Provide block returning boolean if you
# need to select only specific entities.
#
# * *Args* :
# - +model+ -> ORM interface for specific entities'
# - +&cond+ -> block {|x| boolean}, filtering entities upon iterations
# * *Returns* :
# - hash of {entity.id => entity.name}
#
def make_select_list( model, &cond )
cond ||= proc { true } # cond defaults to proc { true }
# Entities filtered by cond, followed by filtration by (id, name)
model.all.map do |x|
cond.( x ) ? { x.id => x.name } : {}
end.reduce Hash.new do |memo, e| memo.merge( e ) end
end
Afterwerds, you can call this function like this:
#contests = make_select_list Contest do |contest|
logged_admin? or contest.organizer == #current_user
end
If you don't need to filter your selection, you simply omit the block:
#categories = make_select_list( Category ) # selects all categories
So much for the power of Ruby blocks.
Similarly to a Proc or a method call, you can also pass a lambda as weightf parameter :
def main
gaussian = -> (params) {
...
}
weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5, gaussian, params)
# Use symbol :gaussian if method exists instead
end
def weightedknn(data, vec1, k = 5, weightf, params)
...
weight = weightf.call(params)
...
end
you also can use "eval", and pass the method as a string argument, and then simply eval it in the other method.

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