Beefy Boxes and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks
There's more than one way to do things
 
PerlMonks  

Re^3: A mini-language for sequences (part 1)

by tmoertel (Chaplain)
on Nov 19, 2004 at 20:29 UTC ( [id://409153]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re^2: A mini-language for sequences (part 1)
in thread A mini-language for sequences (part 1)

brian, thanks for the pointers!
CPAN already has Set::CrossProduct, Object::Iterate, and Tie::Cycle. I think those three modules cover just about everything discussed in the node, and anything they don't I can add.
While the overlap of my meditation's sequences and your modules is large, I would like to point out some philosophical differences between our approaches. (These aren't pros or cons – just differences.)
  1. The sets that sequences represent are implicit. This lets them be defined on the fly so that, for example, you can efficiently take the Cartesian products of arbitrary sequences (that themselves may the products of sequences). This also lets you work (space efficiently) with sequences whose lengths cannot be known until they are exhausted. However, the lengths of sequences cannot be known until they are exhausted.
  2. You can observe the cyclical wrap-around point of a sequence. This lets the wrap-around be used as a trigger for other events, such as terminating a parallel merge operation or advancing the next most-significant sequence in a series of sequences.
  3. I think that it's easier to build up a chain of operations with sequences than with the collection of CPAN modules. For example, it seems like you must forego the space-saving benefits of iterators to take the product of an earlier product, which discourages the use of products in computational chains.
  4. Nevertheless, I think that the CPAN modules are probably more practical for the functionality where our libraries overlap. My sequences are first and foremost meditative material. In their present form, they aren't suited for production use.
If you're looking to add features, it would be nice if Set::CrossProduct could take the product of arbitrary iterators.   :)

Cheers,
Tom

Log In?
Username:
Password:

What's my password?
Create A New User
Domain Nodelet?
Node Status?
node history
Node Type: note [id://409153]
help
Chatterbox?
and the web crawler heard nothing...

How do I use this?Last hourOther CB clients
Other Users?
Others taking refuge in the Monastery: (7)
As of 2024-03-29 00:07 GMT
Sections?
Information?
Find Nodes?
Leftovers?
    Voting Booth?

    No recent polls found