parallel.for question - visual-studio-2010

I have a foreach loop that processes a few thousand xmlnodes from an xmlnodelist. I'm trying to integrate the Parallel.For options from .net 4 but I get an error that "No overload for method 'For' takes 3 arguments'. But every example I see so far has it written this way. Does someone know what I need to change to get this to compile? Thanks.
Parallel.For( 0, jobs.Count, i =>
{
//..do work here..
});

Now the only other question I have is how do I break out of the current iteration? It doesn't seem to like my continue statements.
How exactly do you expect continue statements to work when each iteration can be running concurrently? You should read How to: Stop or Break from a Parallel.For Loop on the MSDN for more information about this and take a look at the Stop and Break methods.

Now the only other question I have is how do I break out of the
current iteration? It doesn't seem to like my continue statements.
Instead of continue, use break. Rather than:
for (int i = 1; i < jobs.Count; i++) {
// Initialise iteration.
if (iterationInvalid) continue;
// Do work.
}
What you're essentially getting is:
for (int i = 1; i < jobs.Count; i++)
action(i);
void action (int i) {
// Initialise iteration.
if (iterationInvalid) break;
// Do work.
}

Related

Groovy for loop not incrementing correctly

I am writing a jenkins pipeline with what is a mixture of declarative and scripted syntax. I want to loop 4 times to create 4 parallel stages in the pipeline. I want to capture what loop I'm on, and print that at the beggining of each step:
def parallelStages = [:]
int cypressRunners = 4
for (int i = 1; i <= cypressRunners; i++) {
parallelStages["Cypress ${i}"] = {
stage("Cypress ${i}") {
node("cypress-runner-agent") {
echo "------------------ Cypress ${i} Stage ------------------"
// more steps
}
}
}
}
In the jenkins log, I always get a printout of
------------------ Runner 5 Stage ------------------
Even though in the left side, where the stage names are listed, I get the correctly indexed names of Cypress 1, Cypress 2, Cypress 3, Cypress 4, like this:
I am not a java or groovy developer, but this seems like a pretty simple for loop in any language. Is there some aspect of async, or closures, that I am missing here? Tons of questions exist about for loops not working as expected, but none in a jenkins-groovy-pipeline context, and certainly not for this scenario.
I figured out a solution, rather than delete I will post an answer in the event that it may help someone else in the future. My issue was similar to Iterate and print content of groovy closures, though not exactly. With help from that question, I just capture the current value of the index within the closure of the for loop and used that:
for (int i = 1; i <= cypressRunners; i++) {
def j = i // < ------- capture value within closure
parallelStages["Cypress ${j}"] = {
stage("Cypress ${j}") {
node("cypress-runner-agent") {
echo "------------------ Cypress ${j} Stage ------------------"
// more steps
}
}
}
}

C# Can every statement be an expression?

Can every statement be an expression in C#?
For example I know that a method invocation statement can be used as an expression and because of that I can do stuff like this:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; Console.WriteLine(i++));
But is it the case with every statement?
Edit:
But this thing for some reason doesn't work with the while loop
while (Console.WriteLine(1) > 0) { }
This code gives an error. Maybe you can explain what's happening? I got a bit confused.
In both cases you need an empty statement:
The empty statement consists of a single semicolon. It does nothing
and can be used in places where a statement is required but no action
needs to be performed.
The reason why for(int i = 0; i < 10; Console.WriteLine(i++)); works is because it has an empty statement ; at the end of the block.
To make the while loop work you need to add an empty statement as well.
while(Console.WriteLine(1) > 0);

Two semicolons inside a for-loop parentheses

I'm customising a code I found over the internet (it's the Adafruit Tweet Receipt). I cannot understand many parts of the code but the most perplexing to me is the for-loop with two semicolons inside the parentheses
boolean jsonParse(int depth, byte endChar) {
int c, i;
boolean readName = true;
for(;;) { //<---------
while(isspace(c = timedRead())); // Scan past whitespace
if(c < 0) return false; // Timeout
if(c == endChar) return true; // EOD
if(c == '{') { // Object follows
if(!jsonParse(depth + 1, '}')) return false;
if(!depth) return true; // End of file
if(depth == resultsDepth) { // End of object in results list
What does for(;;) mean? (It's an Arduino program so I guess it's in C).
for(;;) {
}
functionally means
while (true) {
}
It will probably break the loop/ return from loop based on some condition inside the loop body.
The reason that for(;;) loops forever is because for has three parts, each of which is optional. The first part initializes the loop; the second decides whether or not to continue the loop, and the third does something at the end of each iteration. It is full form, you would typically see something like this:
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
If the first (initialization) or last (end-of-iteration) parts are missing, nothing is done in their place. If the middle (test) part is missing, then it acts as though true were there in its place. So for(;;) is the same as for(;true;)', which (as shown above) is the same as while (true).
The for loop has 3 components, separated by semi-colons. The first component runs before the looping starts and is commonly used to initialize a variable. The second is a condition. The condition is checked at the beginning of each iteration, and if it evaluates to true, then the code in the loop runs. The third components is executed at the end of the loop, before another iteration (starting with condition check) begins, and is often used to increment a variable.
In your case for(;;) means that it will loop forever since the condition is not present. The loop ends when the code returns or breaks.
Each clause of a for loop is optional. So when they are excluded, it still loops. for loops compile into while loops.
The end result becomes a check to initialize any variables, which concludes after nothing happening since it is empty, a check to the boolean condition in the second clause, which is not present so the loop starts, and once the loop hits the end bracket, a check to see if there is any code to run before checking the boolean condition again.
In code it looks like:
while(true){
}
Here's What Wikipedia Says About it
Use as infinite loops
This C-style for-loop is commonly the source of an infinite loop since the fundamental steps of iteration are completely in the control of the programmer. In fact, when infinite loops are intended, this type of for-loop can be used (with empty expressions), such as:
for (;;)
//loop body
This style is used instead of infinite while(1) loops to avoid a type conversion warning in some C/C++ compilers.Some programmers prefer the more succinct for(;;) form over the semantically equivalent but more verbose while (true) form.

nice way of doing 'if ALL items in collection pass test'

I mean this:
bool passed = true;
for(int i = 0; i < collection.Length; i++)
{
if(!PassesTest(collection[i]))
{
passed = false;
break;
}
}
if(passed){/*passed code*/}
requires extra variable, extra test
for(int i = 0; i < collection.Length; i++)
{
if(!PassesTest(collection[i]))
{
return;
}
}
{/*passed code*/}
neat, but requires this to be it's own function, if this it's self is inside a loop or something, not the most performant way of doing things. also, writing a whole extra function is a pain
if(passed){/*passed code*/}
for(int i = 0; i < collection.Length; i++)
{
if(!PassesTest(collection[i]))
{
goto failed;
}
}
{/*passed code*/}
failed: {}
great, but you have to screw around with label names and ugly label syntax
for(int i = 0; ; i++)
{
if(!(i < collection.Length))
{
{/*passed code*/}
break;
}
if(!PassesTest(collection[i]))
{
break;
}
}
probably the nicest, but still a bit manual, kinda wasting the functionality of the for loop construct, for instance, you can't do this with a foreach
what is the nicest way to handle this problem?
it seems to me something like this would be nice:
foreach(...)
{
...
}
finally{...} // only executed if loop ends conventionally (without break)
am I missing something? because this is a very common problem for me, and I don't really like any of the solutions I've come up with.
I use c++ and C#, so solutions in either would be great.
but would also be interested in solutions in other languages. (though a design principle that avoids this in any language would be ideal)
If your language doesn't have this feature, write a function "forall," which takes two arguments: a list and a boolean-valued function which is to be true for all elements of the list. Then you only have to write it once, and it matters very little how idiomatic it is.
The "forall" function looks exactly like your second code sample, except that now "collection" and "passesTest" are the arguments to that function.
Calling forall looks roughly like:
if (forall(myList,isGood)) {
which is readable.
As an added bonus, you could implement "exists" by calling "forall" on the negated boolean function, and negating its answer. That is, "exists x P(x)" is implemented as "not forall x not P(x)".
You can use Linq in .NET.
Here's an example in C#:
if(collection.All(item => PassesTest(item)))
{
// do my code
}
C++ and STL
if (std::all_of(collection.begin(), collection.end(), PassesTest))
{
/* passed code */
}
Ruby:
if collection.all? {|n| n.passes_test?}
# do something
end
Clojure:
(if (every? passes-test? collection)
; do something
)
Groovy:
if (!collection.find { !PassesTest(it) }) {
// do something
}
Scala:
def passesTest(i: Int) = i < 5 // example, would likely be idiomatically in-line
var seq = List(1,2,3,4);
seq.forall(passesTest) // => True
Most, if not all of the answers presented here are saying: higher-order constructs -- such as "passing functions" -- are really, really nice. If you are designing a language, don't forget about the last 60+ years of programming languages/designs.
Python (since v2.5):
if all(PassesTest(c) for c in collection):
do something
Notes:
we can iterate directly on collection, no need for an index and lookup
all() and any() builtin functions were added in Python 2.5
the argument to any(), i.e. PassesTest(c) for c in collection, is a generator expression. You could also view it as a list comprehension by adding brackets [(PassesTest(c) for c in collection]
... for c in collection causes iteration through a collection (or sequence/tuple/list). For a dict, use dict.keys(). For other datatypes, use the correct iterator method.

What is the correct way to convert from a for loop to a while loop?

I have a for loop of the form:
for (int i = from; i < to; i++) {
// do some code (I don't know exactly what, it is subject to change)
}
And I want to convert it to a while loop (mostly because I want to play with the value of i inside the loop to go backwards and forwards and my co-worker thinks that doing this in a for loop is prone to problems. I tend to agree with him). So I wrote something like this:
int i = from;
while (i < to) {
try {
// do some code (I don't know exactly what, it is subject to change)
} finally {
i++;
}
}
Which prompted some some loud comments. My reasoning is that you don't know what the code inside the loop does - it may (and does) have multiple continue commands.
As a response he wrote this:
int i = from - 1;
while (++i < to) {
// do some code (I don't know exactly what, it is subject to change)
}
Granted its less lines, but I still think my code is more elegant - what do you think?
Playing with the value of your index while in a looping structure is prone to problems, no matter what the looping structure is.
It's not going to matter if it's a for loop or a while loop, the point is will the indexer eventually lead you to make a decision of loop termination?
If you're confident that you're indexer will eventually cause your exit condition to be achieved, then that is all you should be concerned with, not whether to use a for or a while.
And I want to convert it to a while loop (mostly because I want to play with the value of i inside the loop to go backwards and forwards and my co-worker thinks that doing this in a for loop is prone to problems. I tend to agree with him).
This is perfectly acceptable in most languages. There is no reason to avoid a for loop.
It seems to me that it may be easier and more readable to convert it to:
while (condition == true) {
// do stuff
// set the condition flag appropriately
}
and thus separate the termination of the loop from the variable incrementation.
If I see a loop with a limit check (e.g. i < limit) I would tend to assume that there's a variable that is being modified in a (reasonably) consistent fashion. There's no reason why you can't do what you want, but I would lean towards the more readable and more expected behaviour.
Why bother with silly loops when you can do the same (and much more!) with the uber-powerful goto?
i = fro;
my_loop:
//all your stuff here
i++;
if (i < to) goto my_loop;
If you are one of those faint hearted programmers that diminish the goto, then you can try with this:
i = fro;
while(1) {
//your stuff here
if (++i < to) break;
}
The easiest way to do this would be to not convert into a while loop, such as below.
for (int i = from; i < to; ) {
// do some code (I don't know exactly what, it is subject to change)
i += rand()*10;
}
To answer the question about which code I would select; I choose your longer code. Its MUCH easier to read the first(longer) loop. And yes I can read the second but even if you have lots of experience you have to look twice to know what that loop does. Plus the compiler will optimize the code well enough.

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