Compile[] of Which[]
- To: mathgroup at christensen.cybernetics.net
- Subject: [mg1274] Compile[] of Which[]
- From: Jonathan Rich <rich at news.acns.nwu.edu>
- Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 03:25:41 -0400
- Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, US
I am trying to compile a procedure. In the course of this, I came across what is either an error in the documentation, or a bug, or something I don't understand properly. The documentation for "Compile[]" (see MathSource #0203-971 by Matt Cook or 0204-028 by Jerry Keiper) clearly states that the testing function "Which[]" is compilable. However in my experience, looking at the guts of the CompiledFunction, it requests that "Which[]" be evaluated externally, which defeats the whole purpose of Compile and greatly slows down the calculation. This has forced me to replace a single "Which" by numerous "If"s. Using this workaround Compile will work as it should. However I would like clarification on whether the documentation is in error or just what is going on. Below is a very simple example to demonstrate the problem: Mathematica 2.2 for HP9000 Series 700 Copyright 1988-93 Wolfram Research, Inc. -- Motif graphics initialized -- In[1]:= fWhich=Compile[{a,b}, Which[ a<b,b, a>b,a, a==b,a ] ]; In[2]:= fIf=Compile[{a,b}, If[ a<b,b, If[ a>b,a,a ] ] ]; In[3]:= fIf//InputForm Out[3]//InputForm= CompiledFunction[{_Real, _Real}, {2, 0, 4, 0}, {{1, 17}, {4, 1, 0}, {4, 2, 1}, {75, 0, 1, 0}, {69, 0, 3}, {17, 1, 3}, {70, 7}, {75, 1, 0, 1}, {69, 1, 3}, {17, 0, 2}, {70, 2}, {17, 0, 2}, {17, 2, 3}, {8, 3}}, Function[{a, b}, If[a < b, b, If[a > b, a, a]]]] In[4]:= fWhich//InputForm Out[4]//InputForm= CompiledFunction[{_Real, _Real}, {0, 0, 3, 0}, {{1, 17}, {4, 1, 0}, {4, 2, 1}, {24, Function[{a, b}, Which[a < b, b, a > b, a, a == b, a]], 2}, {8, 2}}, Function[{a, b}, Which[a < b, b, a > b, a, a == b, a]]] The above shows that "fif" is fully compiled but that in "fwhich" the opcode 24 indicates that "Which[]" is considered non-compilable and so must be evaluated externally despite the documentation which says otherwise. Any clarification would be much appreciated. Thanks. -- Jonathan Rich Geoscience Dept., NWU