Stream programming

[Kiuhnm]

On 3/23/2012 17:33, Nathan Rice wrote:
>> I will use "<=>" to mean "is equivalent to". That's not part of the DSL.
>> A flow has one or more streams:
>>   1 stream:
>>     [1,2,3]
>>   2 streams:
>>     [1,3,5] | [2,4,6]
>> Two flows can be concatenated:
>>   [1,2,3] + [4,5,6]<=>  [1,2,3,4,5,6]
>>   [0] + ([1,2] | [3,4]) + [10]<=>  [0,1,2,10] | [0,3,4,10]
>>   ([1,2] | [10,20]) + ([3,4] | [30,40])<=>  [1,2,3,4] | [10,20,30,40]
>
> Algebraically, your concatenation rules don't really make sense - your
> flows are both distributive and non distributive.

?

> You also make the
> implicit assumption of an order over streams in a flow, but disregard
> the implications of that assumption in some cases.

?

>  I understand what
> you're trying to communicate, so I think you need to be a little more
> strict and explicit in your definitions.

No, I don't think you understand what I meant.

>> A flow can be transformed:
>>   [1,2] - f<=>  [f(1),f(2)]
>>   ([1,2] | [3,4]) - f<=>  [f(1,3),f(2,4)]
>>   ([1,2] | [3,4]) - [f]<=>  [f(1),f(2)] | [f(3),f(4)]
>>   ([1,2] | [3,4]) - [f,g]<=>  [f(1),f(2)] | [g(3),g(4)]
>>   [1,2] - [f,g]<=>  [f(1),f(2)] | [g(1),g(2)]
>
> Given the examples you pose here, it is clear that you are assuming
> that the streams are synchronized in discrete time.  Since you do not
> provide any mechanism for temporal alignment of streams you are also
> assuming every stream will have an element at every time point, the
> streams start at the same time and are of the same length.  Is this
> what you want?

Yes. I thought that streams as an alternative to functional programming 
were widely known.

>> Some functions are special and almost any function can be made special:
>>   [1,2,3,4,5] - filter(isprime)<=>  [2,3,5]
>>   [[],(1,2),[3,4,5]] - flatten<=>  [1,2,3,4,5]
>> Note that 'filter' is not really necessary, thanks to 'flatten'.
>
> This implies that your transformations again produce flows.  You
> should explicitly state this.

Isn't that obvious? BTW, those are not rigorous definitions. I thought I 
was talking to people who regularly works with streams.

>> Flows can be named, remembered and used
>>   as a value:
>>     [1,2,3,4,5] - 'flow' + val('flow')<=>  [1,2,3,4,5]*2
>
> Is this a flow with two identical streams, or a flow with one long
> stream formed by concatenation?

What does
   [1,2,3,4,5]*2
mean in Python?

Those are Python's lists/arrays.

>>   as a transformation chain:
>>     [1,2,3] - skipfirst - 'again' | [4,5,6] - func('again')
>>       <=>  [2,3] | [5,6]
>>   Recursion is also possible and stops when a function is applied to an empty
>> sequence.
>> Flows can be saved (push) and restored (pop) :
>>   [1,2,3,4] - push - by(2) - 'double' - pop | val('double')
>>       <=>  [1,2,3,4] | [2,4,6,8]
>> There are easier ways to achieve the same result, of course:
>>   [1,2,3,4] - [id, by(2)]
>
> You are grasping at an algebra here, a sort of calculus of temporal
> observations.  You need to step back and make it rigorous before you
> worry about issues such as a readable syntax.
>
> Nathan

I don't agree. Sorry.

Kiuhnm