I understand in Smalltalk numerical calculation, if without round brackets, everything starts being calculated from left to right. Nothing follows the rule of multiplication and division having more precedence over addition and subtraction.
Like the following codes
3 + 3 * 2
The print output is 12 while in mathematics we get 9
But when I started to try power calculation, like
91 raisedTo: 3 + 1.
I thought the answer should be 753572
What I actual get is 68574964
Why's that?
Is it because that +, -, *, / have more precedence over power ?
Smalltalk does not have operators with precedence. Instead, there are three different kinds of messages. Each kind has its own precedence.
They are:
unary messages that consist of a single identifier and do not have parameters as squared or asString in 3 squared or order asString;
binary messages that have a selector composed of !%&*+,/<=>?#\~- symbols and have one parameter as + and -> in 3 + 4 or key -> value;
keyword messages that have one or more parameters and a selector with colons before each parameter as raisedTo: and to:by:do: in 4 risedTo: 3 and 1 to: 10 by: 3 do: [ … ].
Unary messages have precedence over binary and both of them have precedence over keyword messages. In other words:
unary > binary > keyword
So for example
5 raisedTo: 7 - 2 squared = 125
Because first unary 2 squared is evaluated resulting in 4, then binary 7 - 4 is evaluated resulting in 3 and finally keyword 5 risedTo: 3 evaluates to 125.
Of course, parentheses have the highest precedence of everything.
To simplify the understanding of this concept don't think about numbers and math all the numbers are objects and all the operators are messages. The reason for this is that a + b * c does not mean that a, b, and c are numbers. They can be humans, cars, online store articles. And they can define their own + and * methods, but this does not mean that * (which is not a "multiplication", it's just a "star message") should happen before +.
Yes, +, -, *, / have more precedence than raisedTo:, and the interesting aspect of this is the reason why this happens.
In Smalltalk there are three types of messages: unary, binary and keyword. In our case, +, -, * and / are examples of binary messages, while raisedTo: is a keyword one. You can tell this because binary messages are made from characters that are not letters or numbers, unlike unary or keywords, which start with a letter or underscore and follow with numbers or letters or underscores. Also, you can tell when a selector is unary because they do not end with a colon. Thus, raisedTo: is a keyword message because it ends with colon (and is not made of non-letter or numeric symbols).
So, the expression 91 raisedTo: 3 + 1 includes two selectors, one binary (+) and one keyword (raisedTo:) and the precedence rule says:
first evaluate unary messages, then binary ones and finally those with keywords
This is why 3 + 1 gets evaluated first. Of course, you can always change the precedence using parenthesis. For example:
(91 raisedTo: 3) + 1
will evaluate first raisedTo: and then +. Note that you could write
91 raisedTo: (3 + 1)
too. But this is usually not done because Smalltalk precedence rules are so easy to remember that you don't need to emphasize them.
Commonly used binary selectors
# the Point creation message for x # y
>= greater or equal, etc.
-> the Association message for key -> value
==> production tranformation used by PetitParser
= equal
== identical (very same object)
~= not equal
~~ not identical
\\ remainder
// quotient
and a lot more. Of course, you are always entitled to create your own.
Related
I'm learning OCaml, and the docs and books I'm reading aren't very clear on some things.
In simple words, what are the differences between
-10
and
~-10
To me they seem the same. I've encountered other resources trying to explain the differences, but they seem to explain in terms that I'm not yet familiar with, as the only thing I know so far are variables.
In fact, - is a binary operator, so some expression can be ambigous : f 10 -20 is treated as (f 10) - 20. For example, let's imagine this dummy function:
let f x y = (x, y)
If I want produce the tuple (10, -20) I naïvely would write something like that f 10 -20 which leads me to the following error:
# f 10 -20;;
Error: This expression has type 'a -> int * 'a
but an expression was expected of type int
because the expression is evaluated as (f 10) - 20 (so a substract over a function!!) so you can write the expression like this: f 10 (-20), which is valid or f 10 ~-20 since ~- (and ~+ and ~-. ~+. for floats) are unary operators, the predecense is properly respected.
It is easier to start by looking at how user-defined unary (~-) operators work.
type quaternion = { r:float; i:float; j:float; k:float }
let zero = { r = 0.; i = 0.; j = 0.; k = 0. }
let i = { zero with i = 1. }
let (~-) q = { r = -.q.r; i = -.q.i; j = -. q.j; k = -. q.k }
In this situation, the unary operator - (and +) is a shorthand for ~- (and ~+) when the parsing is unambiguous. For example, defining -i with
let mi = -i
works because this - could not be the binary operator -.
Nevertheless, the binary operator has a higher priority than the unary - thus
let wrong = Fun.id -i
is read as
let wrong = (Fun.id) - (i)
In this context, I can either use the full form ~-
let ok' = Fun.id ~-i
or add some parenthesis
let ok'' = Fun.id (-i)
Going back to type with literals (e.g integers, or floats), for those types, the unary + and - symbol can be part of the literal itself (e.g -10) and not an operator. For instance redefining ~- and ~+ does not change the meaning of the integer literals in
let (~+) = ()
let (~-) = ()
let really = -10
let positively_real = +10
This can be "used" to create some quite obfuscated expression:
let (~+) r = { zero with r }
let (+) x y = { r = x.r +. y.r; i = x.i +. y.i; k = x.k +. x.k; j =x.k +. y.j }
let ( *. ) s q = { r = s *. q.r; i = s *. q.i; j = s *. q.j; k = s *. q.k }
let this_is_valid x = +x + +10. *. i
OCaml has two kinds of operators - prefix and infix. The prefix operators precede expressions and infix occur in between the two expressions, e.g., in !foo we have the prefix operator ! coming before the expression foo and in 2 + 3 we have the infix operator + between expressions 2 and 3.
Operators are like normal functions except that they have a different syntax for application (aka calling), whilst functions are applied to an arbitrary number of arguments using a simple syntax of juxtaposition, e.g., f x1 x2 x3 x41, operators can have only one (prefix) or two (infix) arguments. Prefix operators are very close to normal functions, cf., f x and !x, but they have higher precedence (bind tighter) than normal function application. Contrary, the infix operators, since they are put between two expressions, enable a more natural syntax, e.g., x + y vs. (+) x y, but have lower precedence (bind less tight) than normal function application. Moreover, they enable chaining several operators in a row, e.g., x + y + z is interpreted as (x + y) + z, which is much more readable than add (add (x y) z).
Operators in OCaml distinguished purely syntactically. It means that the kind of an operator is fully defined by the first character of that operator, not by a special compiler directive, like in some other languages (i.e., there is not infix + directive in OCaml). If an operator starts with the prefix-symbol sequence, e.g., !, ?#, ~%, it is considered as prefix and if it starts with an infix-symbol then it is, correspondingly, an infix operator.
The - and -. operators are treated specially and can appear both as prefix and infix. E.g., in 1 - -2 we have - occurring both in the infix and prefix positions. However, it is only possible to disambiguate between the infix and the prefix versions of the - (and -.) operators when they occur together with other operators (infix or prefix), but when we have a general expression, the - operator is treated as infix. E.g., max 0 -1 is interpreted as (max 0) - 1 (remember that operator has lower precedence than function application, therefore when they two appear with no parentheses then functions are applied first and operators after that). Another example, Some -1, which is interpreted as Some - 1, not as Some (-1). To disambiguate such code, you can use either the parentheses, e.g., max 0 (-1), or the prefix-only versions, e.g, Some ~-1 or max 0 ~-1.
As a matter of personal style, I actually prefer parentheses as it is usually hard to keep these rules in mind when you read the code.
1) Purists will say that functions in OCaml can have only one argument and f x1 x2 x3 x4 is just ((f x1) x2) x3) x4, which would be a totally correct statement, but a little bit irrelevant to the current discussion.
Using ^5, one can get the first five elements of an array:
my #foo = 10..20;
say #foo[^5].join(',');
10,11,12,13,14
What is ^5 actually? Indexing syntax, a shortcut for lists, ... ?
The prefix ^ operator is the upto operator. It generates a Range from 0 upto N (exclusive)
See also prefix:<^>.
In the example it is used as a specification of an array slice, so it is equivalent to #foo[0,1,2,3,4].
I'm trying to prove if this language:
L = { w={0,1}* | #0(w) % 3 = 0 } (number of 0's is divisble by 3)
is regular using the pumping lemma, but I can't find a way to do it. All other examples I got, have a simple form or let's say a more defined form such as w = axbycz etc.
I don't think you can use pumping lemma to prove that a language is regular. To prove a language is regular, you just need to give a regular expression or a DFA. In this case the regular expression is quite easy:
1*(01*01*01*)*
(proof: the regular expression clearly does not accept any string which has the number of 0's not divisible by 3, so we just need to prove that all possible strings which has the number of 0's divisible by 3 is accepted by this regular expression, which can be done by confirming that for strings that contain 3n 0's, the regular expression matches it since 1n001n101n201n3...01n3n-201n3n-101n3n has the same number of 0's and the nk's can be substituted so that it matches the string, and that this format is clearly accepted by the regular expression)
Pumping lemma cannot be used to prove that a language is regular because we cannot set the y as in Daniel Martin's answer. Here is a counter-example, in a similar format as his answer (please correct me if I'm doing something fundamentally different from his answer):
We prove that the language L = {w=0n1p | n ∈ N, n>0, p is prime} is regular using pumping lemma as follows: note that there is at least one occurrence of 0, so we take y as 0, and we have xykz = 0n+k-11p, which still satisfy the language definition. Therefore L is regular.
But this is false, since we know that a sequence with prime-numbered length is not regular. The problem here is we cannot just set y to any character.
Any string in this language with at least three characters in it has this property: either the string has a "1" in it, or there are three "0"s in a row.
If the string contains a 1, then you can split it as in the pumping lemma and set y equal to some 1 in the string. Then obviously the strings xyz, xyyz, xyyyz, etc. are all in the language because all those strings have the same number of zeros.
If the string does not contain a 1, it contains three 0s in a row. Setting y to those three 0s, it should be obvious that xyz, xyyz, xyyyz, etc. are all in the language because you're adding three 0 characters each time, so you always have a number of 0s divisible by 3.
#justhalf in the comments is perfectly correct; the pumping lemma can be used to prove that a regular language can be pumped or that a language that cannot be pumped is not regular, but you cannot use the pumping lemma to prove that a language is regular in the first place. Mea Culpa.
Instead, here's a proof that the given language is regular based on the Myhill-Nerode Theorem:
Consider the set of all strings of 0s and 1s. Divide these strings into three sets:
E0, all strings such that the number of 0s is a multiple of three,
E1, all strings such that the number of 0s is one more than a multiple of three,
E2, all strings such that the number of 0s is two more than a multiple of three.
Obviously, every string of 0s and 1s is in one of these three sets.
Furthermore, if x and z are both strings of 0s and 1s, then consider what it means if the concatenation xz is in L:
If x is in E0, then xz is in L if and only if z is in E0
If x is in E1, then xz is in L if and only if z is in E2
If x is in E2, then xz is in L if and only if z is in E1
Therefore, in the language of the theorem, there is no distinguishing extension for any two strings in the same one of our three Ei sets, and therefore there are at most three equivalence classes. A finite number of equivalence classes means the language is regular.
(in fact, there are exactly three equivalence classes, but that isn't needed)
A language is regular if and only if some nondeterministic finite automaton recognizes it.
Automaton is a finite state machine.
We have to build an automaton that regonizes L.
For each state, thinking like:
"Where am I?"
"Where can I go to, with some given entry?"
So, for L = { w={0,1}* | #0(w) % 3 = 0 }
The possibilites (states) are:
The remainder (rest of division) is 0, 1 or 2. Which means we need three states.
Let q0,q1 and q2 be the states that represent the remainderes 0,1 and 2, respectively.
q0 is the start and final state.
Now, for "0" entries, do the math #0(w)%3 and go to the aproppriated state.
Transion functions:
f(q0, 0) = q1
f(q1, 0) = q2
f(q2, 0) = q0
For "1" entries, it just loops wherever it is, 'cause it doesn't change the machine state.
f(qx, 1) = qx
The pumping lemma proves if some language is not regular.
Here is a good book for theory of computation: Introduction to the Theory of Computation 3rd Edition
by Michael Sipser.
What is the minimum number of states needed in a DFA to accept the strings having '1' as 5th symbol from right? Strings are defined over the alphabet {0,1}.
The Myhill-Nerode theorem is a useful tool for solving these sorts of problems.
The idea is to build up a set of equivalence classes of strings, using the idea of "distinguishing extensions". Consider two strings x and y. If there exists a string z
such that exactly one of xz and yz is in the language, then z is a distinguishing extension,
and x and y must belong to different equivalence classes. Each equivalence class maps to a different state in the minimal DFA.
For the language you've described, let x and y be any pair of different 5-character strings
over {0,1}. If they differ at position n (counting from the right, starting at 1), then any string z with length 5-n will be a distinguishing extension: if x has a 0 at position n,
and y has a 1 at position n, then xz is rejected and yz is accepted. This gives 25 = 32
equivalence classes.
If s is a string with length k < 5 characters, it belongs to the same equivalence class
as 0(5-k)s (i.e. add 0-padding to the left until it's 5 characters long).
If s is a string with length k > 5 characters, its equivalence class is determined by its final 5 characters.
Therefore, all strings over {0,1} fall into one of the 32 equivalence classes described above, and by the Myhill-Nerode theorem, the minimal DFA for this language has 32 states.
No of state will be 2^n where n is nth symbol from right
So 2^5=32 will be no of states
So I thought that negative numbers, when mod'ed should be put into positive space... I cant get this to happen in objective-c
I expect this:
-1 % 3 = 2
0 % 3 = 0
1 % 3 = 1
2 % 3 = 2
But get this
-1 % 3 = -1
0 % 3 = 0
1 % 3 = 1
2 % 3 = 2
Why is this and is there a workaround?
result = n % 3;
if( result < 0 ) result += 3;
Don't perform extra mod operations as suggested in the other answers. They are very expensive and unnecessary.
In C and Objective-C, the division and modulus operators perform truncation towards zero. a / b is floor(a / b) if a / b > 0, otherwise it is ceiling(a / b) if a / b < 0. It is always the case that a == (a / b) * b + (a % b), unless of course b is 0. As a consequence, positive % positive == positive, positive % negative == positive, negative % positive == negative, and negative % negative == negative (you can work out the logic for all 4 cases, although it's a little tricky).
If n has a limited range, then you can get the result you want simply by adding a known constant multiple of 3 that is greater that the absolute value of the minimum.
For example, if n is limited to -1000..2000, then you can use the expression:
result = (n+1002) % 3;
Make sure the maximum plus your constant will not overflow when summed.
We have a problem of language:
math-er-says: i take this number plus that number mod other-number
code-er-hears: I add two numbers and then devide the result by other-number
code-er-says: what about negative numbers?
math-er-says: WHAT? fields mod other-number don't have a concept of negative numbers?
code-er-says: field what? ...
the math person in this conversations is talking about doing math in a circular number line. If you subtract off the bottom you wrap around to the top.
the code person is talking about an operator that calculates remainder.
In this case you want the mathematician's mod operator and have the remainder function at your disposal. you can convert the remainder operator into the mathematician's mod operator by checking to see if you fell of the bottom each time you do subtraction.
If this will be the behavior, and you know that it will be, then for m % n = r, just use r = n + r. If you're unsure of what will happen here, use then r = r % n.
Edit: To sum up, use r = ( n + ( m % n ) ) % n
I would have expected a positive number, as well, but I found this, from ISO/IEC 14882:2003 : Programming languages -- C++, 5.6.4 (found in the Wikipedia article on the modulus operation):
The binary % operator yields the remainder from the division of the first expression by the second. .... If both operands are nonnegative then the remainder is nonnegative; if not, the sign of the remainder is implementation-defined
JavaScript does this, too. I've been caught by it a couple times. Think of it as a reflection around zero rather than a continuation.
Why: because that is the way the mod operator is specified in the C-standard (Remember that Objective-C is an extension of C). It confuses most people I know (like me) because it is surprising and you have to remember it.
As to a workaround: I would use uncleo's.
UncleO's answer is probably more robust, but if you want to do it on a single line, and you're certain the negative value will not be more negative than a single iteration of the mod (for example if you're only ever subtracting at most the mod value at any time) you can simplify it to a single expression:
int result = (n + 3) % 3;
Since you're doing the mod anyway, adding 3 to the initial value has no effect unless n is negative (but not less than -3) in which case it causes result to be the expected positive modulus.
There are two choices for the remainder, and the sign depends on the language. ANSI C chooses the sign of the dividend. I would suspect this is why you see Objective-C doing so also. See the wikipedia entry as well.
Not only java script, almost all the languages shows the wrong answer'
what coneybeare said is correct, when we have mode'd we have to get remainder
Remainder is nothing but which remains after division and it should be a positive integer....
If you check the number line you can understand that
I also face the same issue in VB and and it made me to forcefully add extra check like
if the result is a negative we have to add the divisor to the result
Instead of a%b
Use: a-b*floor((float)a/(float)b)
You're expecting remainder and are using modulo. In math they are the same thing, in C they are different. GNU-C has Rem() and Mod(), objective-c only has mod() so you will have to use the code above to simulate rem function (which is the same as mod in the math world, but not in the programming world [for most languages at least])
Also note you could define an easy to use macro for this.
#define rem(a,b) ((int)(a-b*floor((float)a/(float)b)))
Then you could just use rem(-1,3) in your code and it should work fine.