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Thread: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

  1. #1
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    Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Hi there,
    I need to translate a program I have in python to Java. I ran across a problem that made me wonder about the basic functionality of the Java.

    In python, you can reassign a function to a new name. So for instance, i can do
    Code:
    def test(info): print info
    tmp = test
    tmp(A) #prints variable A via test function
    In Java, can I do something similar to this?

  2. #2
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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    You can do something similar, but with non-negligible boilerplate code and slightly different semantics. It would look something like this -- it's been a while since I did Java so I could be terribly wrong:

    Code:
    /* in DisplayFunction.java */
    interface DisplayFunction { void run(String info); }
    
    /* in your program */
    DisplayFunction test = new DisplayFunction() {
        void run(String info) {
            System.out.println(info);
        }
    };
    
    test.run(A); // prints the value of A
    DisplayFunction tmp = test;
    tmp.run(A); // same thing
    In English, I created an interface that has one method, and instantiated it by defining the method in-line. Now I have a "function" object (test) that is a first-class object and can be "called" by invoking its run() method. Closures work, but closed-over values are immutable, so they can't save state. Given the application domain of Java, this is probably a good thing.

    This technique probably has some fancy name in the Design Patterns book. I wouldn't recommend it; there are usually less warty ways to achieve dynamic function calls in a language without first-class functions. Every once in a while it may come in handy though.

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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Quote Originally Posted by trent.josephsen View Post
    This technique probably has some fancy name in the Design Patterns book.
    A "function object" or "functor". Warty, but the usual way to do it in Java.

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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Ah, so basically you're pointing a new variable to the same object, and then using that reference correct? So essentially the same thing I guess

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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Quote Originally Posted by trent.josephsen View Post
    You can do something similar, but with non-negligible boilerplate code and slightly different semantics. It would look something like this -- it's been a while since I did Java so I could be terribly wrong:
    You can also use the Callable interface for unary methods, which gives you the benefit of being able to pass it to standard library methods.

    Closures work, but closed-over values are immutable, so they can't save state. Given the application domain of Java, this is probably a good thing.
    This is almost correct. Closed over primitives are properly immutable. However, closed over objects are not; only their references are immutable. This means you can't assign a new object to the same reference, but you can mutate the object that the reference points to.

    Code:
    List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
    Runnable run = new Runnable() {
        @Override
        void run() {
            list.add("foo"); // legal
            list = new ArrayList<>(); // illegal
        }
    }
    In fact, the above code will fail to compile because list is not declared final.

    This technique probably has some fancy name in the Design Patterns book. I wouldn't recommend it; there are usually less warty ways to achieve dynamic function calls in a language without first-class functions. Every once in a while it may come in handy though.
    Unfortunately, the lambdas coming in Java 8 are merely syntactic sugar over this design pattern. Oracle will not sacrifice backwards compatibility for a proper first class function type.
    Last edited by schauerlich; May 31st, 2013 at 09:36 PM.
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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Quote Originally Posted by schauerlich View Post
    Unfortunately, the lambdas coming in Java 8 are merely syntactic sugar over this design pattern. Oracle will not sacrifice backwards compatibility for a proper first class function type.
    If the syntactic sugar is good enough, is there any reason to sacrifice backwards compatibility for proper first class functions? For example, in scala I can write

    Code:
    val fib: Int = (n: Int) => n match { 
      case 0 => 0 
      case 1 => 1 
      case n => fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)
    }
    
    def a(x: Int, y: Int) = x + y
    val b = a _
    to my heart's content. It doesn't matter that my lambdas and functions are functors under the sheets, because I never write functor code at all.

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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Quote Originally Posted by schauerlich View Post
    This is almost correct. Closed over primitives are properly immutable. However, closed over objects are not; only their references are immutable. This means you can't assign a new object to the same reference, but you can mutate the object that the reference points to.
    Aha! Thanks for that correction; that does make a bit more sense. (Not a tremendous amount of sense, but some more.)

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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Quote Originally Posted by Leuchten View Post
    If the syntactic sugar is good enough, is there any reason to sacrifice backwards compatibility for proper first class functions? For example, in scala I can write

    Code:
    val fib: Int = (n: Int) => n match { 
      case 0 => 0 
      case 1 => 1 
      case n => fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)
    }
    
    def a(x: Int, y: Int) = x + y
    val b = a _
    to my heart's content. It doesn't matter that my lambdas and functions are functors under the sheets, because I never write functor code at all.
    It's largely aesthetic reasons; types for functional interfaces are not explicitly functional, the types are less readable, and the call sites do not look the same (func.call(arg1, arg2) vs func(arg1, arg2)).

    There are also the aforementioned issues with lexical scoping and variable capture that don't operate like they do in other languages.
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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    This seems a lot like the distinction between primitive types and objects, and the new standard looks to be "resolving" it in much the same way.

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    Re: Quick java question (imitating python functionality)

    Quote Originally Posted by schauerlich View Post
    It's largely aesthetic reasons; types for functional interfaces are not explicitly functional, the types are less readable, and the call sites do not look the same (func.call(arg1, arg2) vs func(arg1, arg2)).

    There are also the aforementioned issues with lexical scoping and variable capture that don't operate like they do in other languages.

    This can be handled with syntatic sugar. All of scala's anonymous functions are defined like:

    Code:
    trait Function6[-T1,-T2,-T3,-T4,-T5,-T6,+R] extends AnyRef {
      def apply(t1: T1, t2: T2, t3: T3, t4: T4, t5: T5, t6: T6): R
    }
    but the type ends up looking like:

    Code:
      (Int, Float, BigInt, String, Char, Double) => Boolean
    because of syntatic sugar. Java sadly doesn't go that far and leaves a lot to be desired with its syntatic sugar for function literals, but with enough there is little to no difference. As for variable capture issues, that can also be sidestepped with functors, though I'm not entirely how scala does it:

    Code:
    var a = 5
    val b = (x: Int) => a += x
    b(10) //a now equals 15
    Java could probably do all of that without breaking backwards compatibility, but they haven't for some reason. Java 8, last I checked, allowed you to mutate closed over variables if they were class members, not variables local to a function. I don't know if that's still the case or not.

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