PDP-10.its/doc/libdoc/for.info

;;;-*-Lisp-*-
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;;;			ITERATION FUNCTIONS		     ;;;
;;; 		   Peter Szolovits (PSZ @ MIT-ML)	     ;;;
;;;			   July 16, 1976		     ;;;
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;;;     revised by PSZ & RAMESH on Mar. 22, 1979	     ;;;
;;;	revised by LH@MIT-ML on May 9, 1979	     	     ;;;
;;;	revised again by BYRON@MIT-ML on July 12, 1979	     ;;;
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;;;This package defines a set of functions to provide an
;;;approximation of INTERLISP's iteration statement facility
;;;within a MACRO package for MACLISP.
;;;
;;;
;;;For the simplest exposition of its use and utility, here are
;;;a few examples of how the iterations statements may be used:
;;;
;;; (FOR I FROM 1 TO 3 COLLECT I) ==> (1 2 3)
;;;
;;; (COLLECT (CONS I X) FOR X IN '(A B C D E) AS I BY 3)
;;;		==> ((1 . A) (4 . B) (7 . C) (10 . D) (13 . E))
;;;
;;; (UNLESS (ATOM X) JOIN X FOR X IN '((A B C) (D E) F (G)))
;;;		==> (A B C D E G)
;;;
;;; (FOR X ON '(A B C D) AS I FROM 1 ADJOIN (PRINT I) X)
;;; 1
;;; 2
;;; 3
;;; 4
;;;		==> (A B C D B C D C D D)
;;;
;;; (FIRST (SETQ FOO '(A B (C D) E))
;;;  WHILE (ATOM (CAR FOO)) DO (SETQ FOO (CDR FOO)) (PRINT FOO))
;;; (B (C D) E)
;;; ((C D) E)
;;;		==> NIL
;;;
;;; (BIND X (FOO '(A B (C D) E))
;;;  WHILE (ATOM (SETQ X (CAR FOO))) 
;;;  COLLECT (SETQ FOO (CDR FOO)) (CONS X X))
;;;		==> ((A . A) (B . B))
;;;
;;; (FOR X IN '(A B C D) FIRST-TIME (MEMQ X '(E F G C 1 2 3)))
;;;		==> (C 1 2 3)
;;;
;;;FOR now supports LET-type "destructuring" wherever variables are
;;; explicitly bound (by BIND, FOR, or AS) so:
;;;
;;; (FOR (X Y) IN '((1 2) (3 4)) COLLECT (+ X Y) ==> (3 7)
;;;
;;; (BIND ((X Y) '(2 4)) FOR I FROM 1 TO 2 COLLECT (+ X Y I)) ==> (7 8)
;;;
;;*page


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;;;			GENERAL DESCRIPTION		     ;;;
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;;;
;;;	An ITERATION is a convenient manner of writing a complex
;;;LISP looping expression when control is desired of various
;;;aspects of the iteration which make the system-provided
;;;functions (e.g., MAPCAR, DO) too rigid or too cumbersome.
;;;
;;;	An iteration statement consists of a number of clauses,
;;;described below, written in succession within a single S-EXPR.
;;;
;;;	Every iteration has at most one MAIN CLAUSE, which
;;;controls what, if anything, is collected as the result of the
;;;iteration.  The default provided main clauses are:
;;;
;;; DO (or DOING) -- evaluated for side-effect only; return is
;;;		NIL.
;;; COLLECT -- A list of the values of every evaluation of the
;;;		main clause is returned (c.f. MAPCAR).
;;; JOIN -- The values of every evaluation of the main clause
;;;		are NCONCed together to form the value (c.f.
;;;		MAPCAN).
;;; ADJOIN -- Like JOIN, but joining is by APPEND rather than
;;;		NCONC.  Every joined segment is copied exactly
;;;		once, even if there is only one segment.
;;; COUNT -- The number of non-NIL values of the evaluations of
;;;		the main clause is returned.
;;; SUM -- The sum of the values of the evaluations of the main
;;;		clause is returned.
;;; FIRST-TIME -- The value of the iteration is the first
;;;		non-NIL value of the main clause, and iteration
;;;		terminates when and if this occurs.
;;; PRINT (or PRINTING) -- PRINT's the values of the evaluations
;;;		of the main clause.
;;; RESULT -- Sets the RESULT variable to the value of the expression
;;;           and exits.
;;;
;;;Other main clauses may be added.  Each must be signalled by a
;;;keyword marked by the !FUNCTION property with an appropriate
;;;function to fill in the iteration template for it. 
;;;
;;;
;;;	The binding of LOOP VARIABLES and AUXILLIARY VARIABLES is
;;;controlled by the BIND, FOR and AS clauses.  The BIND keyword is
;;;followed by the variables or (variable initial-val) or
;;;(variable-structure initial-val) <as in LET> forms to be
;;;bound.  Those variables are bound, and the initial-vals are evaluated
;;;before any of the bindings for this iteration.  The FOR and AS
;;;clauses are equivalent and provide a way to have several loop
;;;variables.  The keyword is followed by the name of the variable, and
;;;optionally by FIXNUM, FLONUM, or NOTYPE.  NOTYPE is the default
;;;except for numeric (FROM, TO, DOWNTO, BY) variables, for which it is
;;;FIXNUM.  An appropriate declaration to the compiler is made. The rest
;;;of each variable clause has one of the following forms:
;;;
;;; FROM e1 TO e2 BY e3 -- This is the numeric iteration clause.
;;;		Its terms may appear in any order.  Instead of
;;;		the TO, we may have a DOWNTO term to indicate
;;;		that the loop is for decrementing the var.  FROM
;;;		defaults to 1, BY to 1 with TO and -1 with
;;;		DOWNTO.  Incrementing is assumed if neither is
;;;		stated.  (Currently, no checking is performed to
;;;		see that the types of args are consistent, and
;;;		the type of arithmetic used is determined by the
;;;		type specified.  NOTYPE implies general
;;;		arithmetic, and the default is FIXNUM.)
;;; IN list -- This is iteration over a list.  The var gets
;;;		successive elements of the list.
;;; ON list -- This is iteration over successive tails of the
;;;		list.
;;; STARTING e1 STEPPING e2 -- This is a general form for giving
;;;		initial and incremental values.  The terms may
;;;		be in either order.  STARTING defaults to NIL,
;;;		and if STEPPING is omitted, no stepping action
;;;		is set up.
;;; TRAILING v1, or TRAILS v1 -- The iteration variable will take on the
;;;		value that v1 had on the previous iteration.  V1 should
;;;		be some other iteration variable of this iteration.  On
;;;		the first iteration, since there is no previous value of
;;;		v1, we use NIL.
;;; SET-TO e1, or = e1 -- On each iteration, e1 is evaluated and
;;;		assigned to the variable.  This is most useful when e1
;;;		is expressed in terms of some other iteration
;;;		variable(s).  E1 is always computed in terms of the new
;;;		values of the iteration variables, not the old.
;;; BEING pathname OF e1, or
;;; BEING e1 AND ITS pathname -- These are the exclusive and
;;;		inclusive forms of the PATH ITERATION. 
;;;		Pathnames must be explicitly marked by the
;;;		!PATH-FUNCTION property with a function to
;;;		process them.  This is a special feature, most
;;;		useful for LMS and OWL, and in this package
;;;		there are no paths defined by default.  The
;;;		keyword ALONG is synonymous with BEING.  Note
;;;		that there are variants of these subclauses, not
;;;		described here, that are specifically tailored
;;;		for iterating through the objects in a zone of
;;;		an LMS node; these variants are recognized by
;;;		the fact that EACH occurs where the pathname or
;;;		ITS would normally have occurred.
;;;
;;; The sub-keywords like FROM, IN, etc., are recognized by having an
;;;!ITER-FUNCTION property;  thus, others may be added to the package.
;;;
;;;	TERMINATION CLAUSES allow specification of additional
;;; iteration termination conditions beyond any that are
;;; implied by FOR and AS clauses.  The following exist:
;;;
;;; WHILE e1 -- e1 is evaluated at the beginning of each
;;;		iteration, and the iteration terminates when e1
;;;		is NIL.
;;; UNTIL e1 -- like WHILE but terminates when e1 is non-NIL.
;;; REPEAT-WHILE e1 -- e1 is evaluated at the end of each
;;;		iteration, and the iteration terminates when e1
;;;		is NIL;  this guarantees at least one
;;;		iteration.
;;; REPEAT-UNTIL e1 -- like REPEAT-WHILE but terminates when e1 is
;;;		non-NIL.
;;;
;;;
;;;	A SELECTION-CLAUSE is a filter on which iteration the
;;;main clause should be evaluated.  A conjunction is implied if more
;;; than one selection exists.  The following exist:
;;; WHEN e1 -- The main clause is evaluated if e1 is non-NIL.
;;; UNLESS e1 -- The main clause is evaluated if e1 is NIL.
;;;
;;;
;;;	The PERIPHERAL CLAUSES are of three kinds:
;;;
;;; FIRST e1 -- Evaluates e1 after initially binding the vars
;;;		but before starting the first iteration.
;;; FINALLY e1 -- Evaluates e1 after exiting the last iteration
;;;		but before returning the answer.  If the main
;;;		clause is a value-returning clause, the result
;;;		to be returned is in the variable RESULT (see notes).
;;; EACH-TIME e1 -- Evaluates e1 on every iteration of the loop,
;;;		whether or not the selection test is passed.
;;;

;;*page

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;;;			   CAVEATS			     ;;;
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;;;
;;;
;;;	A few notes should be made about implementation features
;;;which affect the evaluation of iteration forms:
;;;
;;; 1.  Like in  the LISP DO, initialization and updating of the
;;;iteration variables takes place in parallel.  Only SET-TO varaibles
;;;and their internally generated equivalents (e.g., "X in Y") are done
;;;after the others, and these should never lead to trouble.  This is a
;;;significant change from earlier versions of the FOR package.
;;;
;;; 2.  The iteration statement is translated to a LISP DO.  In
;;;particular, this means that a (RETURN val) form may be
;;;evaluated at any place to return that particular val as the
;;;value of the iteration.  If it is desired that any FINALLY
;;;clauses be evaluated and the value returned, then the
;;; following may be done:
;;;	(SETQ RESULT val), if appropriate and if the main clause
;;;			      is value-returning
;;;	(TERMINATE-ITERATION)
;;;Note that the RESULT clause may be used in many cases where this is
;;;desired.
;;;
;;; 3.  Wherever possible, the order of evaluation of
;;;expressions whose evaluation order is not otherwise
;;;constrained is that suggested by the order of writing them in
;;;the iteration statement.  This is only of significance if
;;;significant use of side effects is made.
;;;
;;; 4.  Wherever a single expression may appear, more than one
;;;may appear.  They will be implicitly surrounded by a PROGN,
;;;so all but the last will be evaluated for side effect only.
;;;
;;; 5.  The name RESULT, in which the value of value-collecting
;;;iterations is built up, is selected only by default.  If the
;;;value of the variable !RESULT-NAME is bound, that will be
;;;used instead.
;;;
;;; 6.  Almost no error checking is currently done, so it is
;;;possible to get weird errors if the iterative statement is
;;;not well-formed.
;;;
;;; 7.  This code is written using (I think) only one macro,
;;;!PUSH, which is not part of the standard LISP complement.
;;;!PUSH is defined herein to be equivalent to PUSH with its
;;;arguments reversed, except that it only works for simple
;;;(atomic) variables.
;;;
;;; 8.  For efficiency, translations produced by these macros
;;;are saved in the array !MACRO-EXPANSIONS and further calls on
;;;the same form are translated by retrieval rather than
;;;recomputation.  This, however, may cause some problems:  For
;;;efficiency considerations (i.e., SXHASH or EQUAL are slow),
;;;retrieval is done by EQ comparison on the form.  Thus, if the
;;;form has been edited since its original translation, an
;;;incorrect translation will be retrieved.  Further, since all
;;;translated forms are referred to from !MACRO-EXPANSIONS, many
;;;un-garbage-collectable obsolete copies of a form can be
;;;retained during debugging runs.  (E.g., if one keeps
;;;redefining some function which includes macro calls.  For
;;;anyone who thinks they can solve this problem by retrieval on
;;;the MAKNUM of the form or by making the array untraced by the
;;;GC, be warned that either "fix" causes mis-translations.)  The
;;;function !MACRO-FLUSH is provided to flush all existing
;;;translations and guarantee that new translations of all these
;;;macro forms are made.  This also releases for
;;;garbage-collection all the "old" forms which are only pointed
;;;at by this translation mechanism.