Re: Tempvar zombies littering my context!
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg114468] Re: Tempvar zombies littering my context!
- From: brien colwell <xcolwell at gmail.com>
- Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 21:51:22 -0500 (EST)
I had a similar issue and the solution was to use Block not Module.
I'm rather lost on the distinction between the two.
On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 6:12 AM, kj <no.email at please.post> wrote:
> I discovered that defining a Module in a certain way causes results
> in lingering temporary variable "zombies".
>
>
> To best show this, first I'll present a simple, zombie-free module:
>
> In[1]:== a[b_] :== Module[{c, d},
> c[___] :== (Print[c];);
> d[___] :== (Print[d];);
> c[];
> d[]
> ]
>
>
> This works as expected:
>
> In[2]:== a[1];
> During evaluation of In[2]:== c$6797
> During evaluation of In[2]:== d$6797
>
>
> Also, the names in the context are as expected; in particular,
> there are no temporaries in it:
>
> In[3]:== Names[$Context <> "*"]
> Out[3]== {"a", "b", "c", "d"}
>
>
> The above is what I'd consider "standard operating procedure."
>
> Now, before proceeding to the weirdness, I clear the context, for
> good measure:
>
> In[4]:== Scan[Remove, Names[$Context <> "*"]]
>
>
> ...and define another module, identical to the first one, except that
> in this one I've added a condition to the last line:
>
> In[5]:== a[b_] :== Module[{c, d},
> c[___] :== (Print[c];);
> d[___] :== (Print[d];);
> c[];
> d[] /; b ====== 1
> ]
>
>
> The module's behavior is, again, as expected:
>
> In[6]:== a[1];
> During evaluation of In[6]:== c$6798
> During evaluation of In[6]:== d$6798
>
>
> The weirdness is in the context's names:
>
> In[7]:== Names[$Context <> "*"]
> Out[7]== {"a", "b", "c", "c$", "d", "d$", "d$6798"}
>
>
> Now we have lingering temporary variable zombies! Not only
> "stubs" (is this what they're called) like c$ and d$, but also a
> full-blown d$6798. Here are their definitions:
>
> In[8]:== {#, ToString[Definition[#]]} & /@
> Select[%, MemberQ[Attributes[#], Temporary] &] // ColumnForm
>
> Out[8]== {"c$", "Attributes[c$] == {Temporary}"},
> {"d$", "Attributes[d$] == {Temporary}"},
> {"d$6798", "Attributes[d$6798] == {Temporary}\n \nd$6798[_=
__] :== (Print[d$6798]; )"}}]
>
>
> FWIW, the zombies appear only when the condition in the last line
> is True (leading to the evaluation of the rest of the last line):
>
> In[9]:== a[2];
> During evaluation of In[9]:== c$6799
>
> In[10]:== Names[$Context <> "*"]
> Out[10]== {"a", "b", "c", "c$", "d", "d$", "d$6798"}
>
>
> Note that after evaluating a[2] we see no zombie for d$6799.
>
> Nevertheless, every time the condition is true, the context gets
> littered with one more zombie:
>
> n[11]:== a[1];
> During evaluation of In[11]:== c$6800
> During evaluation of In[11]:== d$6800
>
> In[12]:== Names[$Context <> "*"]
> Out[12]== {"a", "b", "c", "c$", "d", "d$", "d$6798", "d$6800"}
>
>
> What's going on? And, more importantly, how can I redefine the
> module in In[5] so that its behavior remains unchanged, but it does
> not litter the context with a trail of zombies?
>
> Thanks!
>
> ~kj
>
>