Re: Functional or rules-based equivalent for procedural program
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg25004] Re: [mg24976] Functional or rules-based equivalent for procedural program
- From: "Tomas Garza" <tgarza at mail.internet.com.mx>
- Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 01:09:37 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
J. Leko [leko at ix.netcom.com] wrote:
> I have a question regarding the type of programming style by which I may
> accomplish a task in Mathematica. Mathematica supports three types of
> programming: procedural, functional, and rules-based. Like the majority of
> people, I was formally taught procedural programming, but am trying to
> undo this evil. >:-)
>
> Here is my situation...
>
> I am working with a set of all-sky imager (instrument) data. Some years
> ago, I created a FORTRAN program which subtracts background intensities
> from the data of interest. Here is a brief example of how it works:
>
> o The first two entries in the background file are at 2:08, and 2:17.
> o In the data file, the first four entries are time stamped 2:06, 2:10,
> 2:15, and 2:19.
> o My algorithm averages the background values taken at these two times,
> and then subtracts this from data which falls between these times, namely
> 2:10, 2:15.
> o The 2:19 data time value falls outside this background range, and would
> be handled by the average of the 2:17 and succeeding background times.
>
> Since the routine is written in FORTRAN, it is obviously procedural. As I
> stated above, I am expert in procedural programming, but would like to
> become proficient in Mathematica programming. Is there an efficient method
> by which I may perform this task in Mathematica using either functional,
> or rules-based methods?
So far, I guess you needn't go further than elementary list operations. Take
these examples of background values and data:
In[1]:=
bg = Table[Random[Integer, {200, 280}]/100, {20}] // Union // N // Sort
Out[1]=
{2.08, 2.15, 2.23, 2.3, 2.31, 2.38, 2.4, 2.43, 2.46, 2.49, 2.58, 2.6, 2.61,
\
2.64, 2.65, 2.71, 2.73}
In[2]:=
data = Table[Random[Integer, {210, 270}]/100, {30}] // Union // N // Sort
Out[2]=
{2.13, 2.15, 2.21, 2.24, 2.26, 2.28, 2.29, 2.3, 2.31, 2.34, 2.35, 2.38, 2.4,
\
2.41, 2.42, 2.43, 2.44, 2.48, 2.49, 2.54, 2.56, 2.58, 2.62, 2.66}
The consecutive averages of background values are
In[3]:=
avers = (Rest[bg] + Drop[bg, -1])/2
Out[3]=
{2.115, 2.19, 2.265, 2.305, 2.345, 2.39, 2.415, 2.445, 2.475, 2.535, 2.59, \
2.605, 2.625, 2.645, 2.68, 2.72}
Now you group the data according to the interval of consecutive background
values they belong to:
In[4]:=
sets = Table[
Select[data, bg[[j]] < # <= bg[[j + 1]] &], {j, 1, Length[bg] - 1}]
Out[4]=
{{2.13, 2.15}, {2.21}, {2.24, 2.26, 2.28, 2.29, 2.3}, {2.31}, {2.34, 2.35,
2.38}, {2.4}, {2.41, 2.42, 2.43}, {2.44}, {2.48, 2.49}, {2.54, 2.56,
2.58}, {}, {}, {2.62}, {}, {2.66}, {}}
Finally, you subtract from each set the corresponding background average and
eliminate the empty sets:
In[5]:=
sets - avers // Flatten
Out[5]=
{0.015, 0.035, 0.02, -0.025, -0.005, 0.015, 0.025, 0.035, 0.005, -0.005, \
0.005, 0.035, 0.01, -0.005, 0.005, 0.015, -0.005, 0.005, 0.015, 0.005,
0.025, \
0.045, -0.005, -0.02}
As you can see, only Rest, Drop, Table, Select, Flatten, and list addition,
division by a constant, and subtraction were necessary.
Tomas Garza
Mexico City