A simple programming question.
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg23174] A simple programming question.
- From: Jack Goldberg <jackgold at math.lsa.umich.edu>
- Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 23:48:45 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi group;
In a post by Russell Towle [mg23117] appears a short
program written by David Park from an idea of Carl Woll.
Here it is:
OrderedUnion2[li_] :=
Block[ {i},
i[n_] := (i[n] = Null; n);
i /@ li
]
I understand about 98% of what's going on, but one item
keeps eluding me. What is the role of the parentheses in
the first line of the Block? Without () the program fails
and as is, the program inserts Null after the second time
it sees the same number in li. That is,
{1,1,2,3,4,3} => {1, Null, 2, 3, 4, Null}
I understand the point of i[n_] := i[n]=Null and I think
I understand the role of the "n" after the ";" - but I
don't quite get the whole picture. Presumably, the point
is not to have Null substituted for all entries in li but
only the duplicates... But what role does () play in all this?
A second related question. In order to understand the
"inner workings" I used Trace to no avail; I looked up
CompoundExpression to no avail; I tried Print[] at
various spots, also to no avail. Can anyone recommend
a scheme that could have helped me understand what was
going on?
Someone care to guide me here? Thanks,
Jack
- Follow-Ups:
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- From: Carl Woll <carlw@u.washington.edu>
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