RE: composing functions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg45533] RE: [mg45527] composing functions
- From: "Wolf, Hartmut" <Hartmut.Wolf at t-systems.com>
- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 04:03:50 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
>-----Original Message----- >From: Pedro L [mailto:pedrito6 at softhome.net] To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net >Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 8:16 AM >To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net >Subject: [mg45533] [mg45527] composing functions > > >Hi! > >I would like to find a way for composing a list of functions over a >list of numbers. > >I have the list {{f, g, h}, {a, b, c, d}} >(f, g, h are functions and a, b, c, d are numbers) >I would like to obtain h[g[f[a, b], c], d] > >Since it's for a real program, I had to do it in "any" way. So I did >it as I show below: > > >In[1]:= kk = {{f, g, h}, {a, b, c, d}} > >Out[1]= {{f, g, h}, {a, b, c, d}} > >In[2]:= result1 = {kk[[2,1]]}; For[i = 1, i < Length[kk[[2]]], >i++, AppendTo[result1, kk[[1,i]]]; > AppendTo[result1, kk[[2,i + 1]]]]; result1 > >Out[2]= {a, f, b, g, c, h, d} > >In[3]:= result2 = StringJoin @@ ToString /@ result1 > >Out[3]= afbgchd > >In[4]:= result3 = StringInsert[result2, "~", Range[2, >StringLength[result2]]] > >Out[4]= a~f~b~g~c~h~d > >In[5]:= result4 = ToExpression[result3] > >Out[5]= h[g[f[a, b], c], d] > > > > >But I'm really sure that it can be done much better. > >Could you help me? > > > Pedrito, program recursively, In[15]:= Clear[composeLeft] In[16]:= composeLeft[{}, x_, {}] := x (* terminating condition *) In[17]:= composeLeft[{}, _, _List] := Message[composeLeft::"nofun"] In[18]:= composeLeft[_List, _, {}] := Message[composeLeft::"noarg"] (two error cases, you must define the message texts before use) The recursive function: In[19]:= composeLeft[ff_List, x_, xx_List] := composeLeft[Rest[ff], First[ff][x, First[xx]], Rest[xx]] In[20]:= composeLeft[{f, g, h}, a, {b, c, d}] Out[20]= h[g[f[a, b], c], d] A (not so pleasant) alternative using Fold: In[65]:= Clear[composeLeft] In[66]:= composeLeft[ff_List, x_, xx_List] := Block[{funList = ff, cf}, cf[r_, s_] := First[{First[funList][r, s], funList = Rest[funList]}]; Fold[cf, x, xx]] In[68]:= composeLeft[{f, g, h}, a, {b, c, d}] Out[68]= h[g[f[a, b], c], d] (Of course, then you should also treat the errors.) Another idea would be to exploit Composition, just to sketch: In[81]:= Attributes[cc] = HoldRest; In[82]:= cc[f_, y_][x_] := f[x, y] In[84]:= (Composition @@ MapThread[cc, {{h, g, f}, {d, c, b}}])[a] Out[84]= h[g[f[a, b], c], d] -- Hartmut Wolf