C/CPS 506
Comparative Programming Languages Prof. Alex Ufkes
Topic 4: Functions & control flow in Elixir
Notice!
Obligatory copyright notice in the age of digital delivery and online classrooms:
The copyright to this original work is held by Alex Ufkes. Students registered in course C/CPS 506 can use this material for the purposes of this course but no other use is permitted, and there can be no sale or transfer or use of the work for any other purpose without explicit permission of Alex Ufkes.
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Course Administration
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• • •
Lab 3 description is posted
Assignment description and tester for Smalltalk is posted If you liked Smalltalk, you can start working on the Smalltalk version.
Today
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Continuing Elixir:
• Basic types, lists and tuples
• Function and module basics
• Named and anonymous functions
Elixir Syntax: Basic Types
Typing literals into the shell will echo them back, assuming they are valid.
Decimal, binary, octal, and hexadecimal integers
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Elixir Syntax: Basic Types
Typing literals into the shell will echo them back, assuming they are valid.
More accurately:
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• • • •
Everything in Elixir is an expression, even single literals. Evaluating a literal simply results in that value.
In the interactive shell, the return value is printed for us. :ok is the return value of IO.puts. The actual printing to the screen is a side effect!
Elixir Syntax: Basic Types
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Floating point, Boolean, strings
Floating Point
Floating point numbers in Elixir are 64-bit, double precision
Elixir supports scientific notation
Rounding and truncate functions
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Floating Point
Floating point numbers in Elixir are 64-bit, double precision
Notice:
• We can omit parentheses around function arguments.
• Multiple arguments are still separated by commas.
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Boolean
Comparison operator works the way we’re used to
We can check if a value is Boolean using the is_boolean function
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Types, Values, Truthiness
In Elixir we have Boolean values true and false. Not all languages have a Boolean type.
C does not have a Boolean type. It still supports Boolean expressions, of course. • In C, numeric 0 is considered False, and everything else is considered True.
In Java, we have Boolean. Logical operators are only valid with Boolean operands.
Elixir complicates things by combining both approaches:
• We have Boolean True and False, but values of every other type are considered either true or false.
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Boolean:
true, false
Boolean Expressions
With these operators:
• non-false and non-nil are true.
• nil and false are false.
• 0 is considered true!
iex> “gh” && false Except…
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false
iex> “gh” || false
• •
The result isn’t true or false It’s the value that decided the result of true or false
“gh”
&&, ||, !
What we get is the value that determined the truthiness of the expression
Test Type
Elixir is dynamically typed!
• Type errors occur at run-time, not at compile time.
• I.e., attempting some operation on incompatible types
results in a run-time error.
• A static type system catches type errors at compile time
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Basic Arithmetic
Addition, multiplication
Division:
• Notice 5.0, despite integer operands
• / operator returns floating point in Elixir
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Basic Arithmetic
div and rem functions
div:
• Result of integer division
• Like / in Java
rem:
• Remainderoperator
• Requiresintegerarguments
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Precedence?
It’s fairly typical:
https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/master/operators.html
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div and rem are functions:
• Elixir allows us to drop the brackets
• Even with multiple arguments.
• Can make precedence hard to decipher.
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Likewise for round and trunc and is_boolean
Function Arity
Elixir functions are described in terms of their name and arity? Arity refers to the number of arguments a function takes
Elixir functions are commonly described by the following notation: name/arity
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round/1
rem/2
trunc/1
div/2
is_boolean/1
This is not language syntax, just a documentation style.
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More Types: Atoms
Atoms:
A constant whose name is its value:
iex> :hello
:hello
iex> :world
:world
iex> :hello == :world
false
Boolean literals are Atoms:
iex> :true == true
true
iex> :false == false
true
iex> is_boolean(:false)
true
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Elixir atoms are the equivalent of Smalltalk symbols. Atoms with same value exist only once in memory.
More Types: Strings
Can have line breaks in them:
iex> “Hello,
…> World!”
“Hello,
World!”
iex> “Hello,
World”
“Hello,
World”
We can use IO.puts/1 to print a string:
iex> IO.puts “Hello
World!”
Hello
World! :ok
IO.puts/1 returns the atom :ok after printing
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Newline is evaluated when we use the puts function.
Strings in Elixir are represented by sequences of bytes.
However. Unicode characters beyond 255 require two bytes to represent:
iex> byte_size “Hello” 5
iex> byte_size “Hellö” 6
iex> String.length “Hellö” 5
More Types: Strings Unicode: length VS number of bytes
Use String.length/1 to find the number of characters.
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More Types: Strings Interpolation, concatenation
iex> name = “Alex”
“Alex”
iex> “Hello, #{name}!” “Hello, Alex!”
iex> name = “Alex”
“Alex”
iex> “Hello, ” <> name “Hello, Alex”
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Interpolation
Concatenation
Type Summary
Integer:
+, -, *, /
div/2, rem/2
>, >=, <, <=, ==, != 2, -7, 0x1F, 0o777, 0b10101Float: 2.0, 1.1e-3, 3.14e7Boolean:true, falseAtom: :Hello, :world, :false, :trueString: “Hello, World!”, “123”, “tr
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Collections: Lists
• Use [ ] to define a list of values.
• Like Smalltalk, values can be anything (heterogeneous).
• Operating on lists is central in functional languages
iex> [1, 2, true, 3, false]
[1, 2, true, 3, false]
iex> length [1, 2, 3] 3
Lists are implemented in Elixir as linked lists.
Use length/1 to print the number of items in the list.
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Lists are implemented in Elixir as linked lists. Heads Tails
iex> list = [1, 3.14, true, “Hello”, :World]
[1, 3.14, true, “Hello”, :World]
iex> hd list 1
iex> tl list
[3.14, true, “Hello”, :World]
Return first element of list
Return all but first element of a list
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Lists are implemented in Elixir as linked lists. Heads Tails
iex(30)> hd [1] 1
iex(31)> tl [1] []
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List Concatenation & Subtraction
iex> list = [1, 2, true, :Hello, “World”, false, 5] [1, 2, true, :Hello, “World”, false, 5]
iex> list — [true, false]
[1, 2, :Hello, “World”, 5]
iex> list ++ [6]
[1, 2, true, :Hello, “World”, false, 5, 6]
iex> list — [:Hello, “abcd”]
[1, 2, true, “World”, false, 5]
Safe to attempt removal of an item not in the list!
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Huh?
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iex> [104, 101, 108, 108, 111] ‘hello’
When the Erlang shell sees a list of printable Unicode values, it displays them as a list of characters.
Collections: Tuples
A sequence of values whose elements are stored contiguously in memory
iex> tup = {1, “2”, :three} {1, “2”, :three}
iex> elem tup, 0
1
iex> elem tup, 1
“2”
iex> elem tup, 2
:three
iex> elem tup, 3
** (ArgumentError) argument error
:erlang.element(4, {1, “2”, :three})
This means we can directly access individual elements using elem/2:
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Lists & Tuples are Immutable Operations result in new lists/tuples:
iex> tup
{1, “2”, :three}
iex> put_elem(tup, 1, 55)
{1, 55, :three}
iex> tup
{1, “2”, :three}
Bind a new label (or re-bind tuple) to save the result.
tup = put_elem(tuple, 1, 55)
put_elem/3 returned a different tuple. The original hasn’t changed.
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put_elem/3 to change an element
Elixir Variables are Immutable
When we say: x=1
• The value 1 is created in memory • xis a label for the value 1
If we then say: x=2
• We are NOT changing the value 1 in memory.
• We are creating the value 2 at a different place in memory
• xis now a label for the value 2
• This is called re-binding.
• We change the label, not the value.
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Elixir Variables are Immutable x=1
x=2
1×2
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Elixir Variables are Immutable x=1
x=2
1×2
Garbage:
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Elixir Variables are Immutable
• In imperative languages, variables can be thought of as containers.
• We can put whatever we want into the container (if the type
system allows it, of course)
• Reassigning a variable means mutating the value in the container
• In Elixir and other functional languages, variables are labels.
• We can change the value that we apply the label to, but we can’t
change the value itself.
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Lists or Tuples?
Lists in Elixir are linked lists:
• Linear time to access and append, constant time to pre-pend
• Use to store a collection of values
Tuples are contiguous:
• Constant time to access, linear time to update
• Use when size and contents are fixed at compile time.
• Not meant to be iterated over, direct element access only.
Both are immutable, updating creates new list/tuple. However:
• If we change one element in a 10-element tuple, we don’t
actually duplicate values for the 9 unchanged elements.
• Behind the scenes, elements can be shared.
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Lists or Tuples?
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Just like Python:
• Fixed, small number of elements, need fast random access? Use a tuple.
• Large number of elements, changing in size over time, don’t need random access? Use a list.
• Always keep in mind the cost of operations on arrays VS linked lists (C/CPS305)
Functions
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Recall: First Class VS Higher Order
Higher Order functions
• Can accept a first-class functions as an arguments
• Can return a first-class function
First Class functions
• •
Can be passed to higher order functions as arguments Can be returned from higher order functions
Named Functions Defined within a module
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• •
• •
Modules can contain multiple functions
Modules can be compiled independently, making functions available for later use.
Named functions are not first class!
o Cannot be passed as arguments, cannot be returned Named functions of same name can have different arity, unlike anonymous functions (coming up)
Modules and Named Functions
Module name:
defmodule Greeter do def hello(name) do
“Hello, ” <> name
end
end
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Function name and argument list
Function expressions
Erlang bytecode
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In a script file (.exs)
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Named Functions
Named functions (and modules) can be defined in a script, but then we can’t use them later (without including their source code)
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Named functions (and modules) can be defined in a script, but then we can’t use them later (without including their source code)
• Define Greeter module in the file “Greeter.ex”
• Compile it with elixirc:
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As long as the script is in the same folder, we can invoke functions from Greeter:
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Private Functions, Default Arguments
Private function:
Can only be invoked inside Greeter module
defmodule Greeter do
defp hello(), do: “Hello ”
def greet(name \ “Bill”), do: hello() <> name
end
Default argument:
If no argument is provided, name will be “Bill”
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Return Values
• We don’t have an imperative-style return statement in Elixir
• The result of the final expression is returned.
Four expressions
defmodule Silly do def print() do
“Hello” “,”
“” “World!”
end end
IO.puts Silly.print() World!
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Overloading
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Multiple Modules
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Anonymous Functions
Can be created live, inline:
iex> add = fn a, b -> a + b end
• “Anonymous” functions can still be named.
• They are first class
• Can be passed to another
function and invoked there.
Function parameters
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Function behavior
Anonymous Functions
Invoke using the dot operator:
iex> add = fn (a, b) -> a + b end #Function<12.99386804/2 in :erl_eval.expr/5>
iex> add.(1, 2) 3
iex> add.(8, 9)
17
Arguments are passed in the usual manner
Can’t use this syntax with anonymous functions:
iex> add 8, 9
** (CompileError) iex:8: undefined function add/2
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Shorthand
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iex> add = &(&1 + &2) &:erlang.+/2
iex> add.(3, 4) 7
iex> add.(8, -4)
4
Function Composition
(Maybe) not the most readable
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Function Composition
The pipe operator:
x = inc.(inc.(inc.(inc.(0))))
Can be written as:
x = 0 |> inc.() |> inc.() |> inc.() |> inc.()
Result becomes first argument of next function call
Very useful with Enums and Streams (next class)
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Higher Order & First Class Functions
Higher order functions:
• Functions that return functions or accept them as arguments
• Named functions are higher order in Elixir
First class functions:
• First class functions can be passed as arguments into other functions
• Anonymous functions are first class in Elixir
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Higher Order & First Class Functions
A function accepting a function as an argument?
defmodule UserMath do
def hof(val, func) do
func.(val)
end end
Two arguments:
• A numeric value and a function
• (Or so our function assumes)
Invoke func with val as argument
• If func is not actually a function?
• We will get a run-time type error
if/when we try to use it as such.
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Higher Order & First Class Functions
A function accepting a function as an argument?
defmodule UserMath do
def hof(val, func) do
func.(val)
end end
• Anonymous function to do some operation
• Recall – only anonymous functions can be args
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• Pass value 8 and function sq to hof
Same Thing?
No! the result of pow() is passed as an argument, not the function itself.
Are we not passing a function to another function here?
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In Summary:
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Continuing Elixir:
• Lists and tuples
• Function and module basics
• Named and anonymous functions
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