Recursive lambdas in Ruby - ruby

Question

I have the following code which correctly generates all possible trees of size num:
class Tree
attr_accessor :left, :right
def initialize left = nil, right = nil
#left = left
#right = right
end
# Don't ever specify any arguments, it will make me very angry.
# Tilt your head 90 degrees to the side to see the tree when viewing.
def print level = 0
#right.pretty_print(level + 1) if #right
puts (' ' * level) + to_s
#left.pretty_print(level + 1) if #left
end
def self.generate num
trees = []
generate_subtrees(num) { |tree| trees << tree } if num > 0
trees
end
private
def self.generate_subtrees num, &block
if num == 0
yield nil
else
(1..num).each do |root_position|
generate_subtrees(root_position - 1) do |left|
generate_subtrees(num - root_position) do |right|
yield Tree.new nil, left, right
end
end
end
end
end
end
I’m trying to (for the sake of it) “condense” this into one method, utilizing lambda recursion. My current attempt (of several iterations) is below:
def self.generate num
trees = []
gen = ->(num, &block) do
if num == 0
yield nil # L61
else
(1..num).each do |root_position| # L63
gen.call(root_position - 1) do |left| # L64
gen.call(num - root_position) do |right|
block.call { Tree.new nil, left, right }
end
end
end
end
end
gen.call(num) { |tree| trees << tree } # L73
trees
end
This results in the error (referenced lines noted above):
LocalJumpError: no block given (yield)
from tree.rb:61:in `block in generate'
from tree.rb:64:in `call'
from tree.rb:64:in `block (2 levels) in generate'
from tree.rb:63:in `each'
from tree.rb:63:in `block in generate'
from tree.rb:73:in `call'
from tree.rb:73:in `generate'
from (irb):4
from /Users/amarshall/.rbenv/versions/1.9.2-p290/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'
What am I doing wrong? Alternative solutions to this mostly academic problem are also welcome.

Answer 1

The yield keyword does not work from inside a lambda. The alternative is to use &block, in the same way that you are already doing on line 64 and 65:
gen = ->(num, &block) do
if num == 0
block.call(nil)
else
# ...
end
gen.call(num) { |tree| trees << tree }