[erlang-patches] Add lists:init/1 - got tired of implementing it

[Fred Hebert]

I don't think there's any benefit in tail-recursion when you're
rebuilding an entirely new list. Given the limited number of arguments,
the list you're creating by not being tail-recursive is in all points
similar to the one you would have to maintain on the stack through tail
recursions. Maybe a bit larger, but given you don't have to trash it,
you're likely to avoid GC costs by doing it that way.

See http://erlang.2086793.n4.nabble.com/Efficiency-of-a-list-construction-td3538122.html#a3538379
and http://ferd.ca/erlang-s-tail-recursion-is-not-a-silver-bullet.html
for more information.

What I would worry about in my implementation is adding a clause
of 'init([]) -> error(badarg)' to be consequent in failures with the rest
of the lists module, and not get a 'function_clause' error there when
someone passes in an empty list.

On 04/25, Yurii Rashkovskii wrote:
> What about non-tail-recursiveness, though?
> 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 8:54 AM, Fred Hebert <mononcqc@REDACTED> wrote:
> 
> > Sounds to me like it would have been better implemented as something like:
> >
> > init([_]) -> [];
> > init([H|T]) -> [H|init(T)].
> >
> > As this would avoid re-building the list twice, once on each reversal.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Fred.
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Hans Svensson <hanssv@REDACTED> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> Yesterday I implemented, for the umpteenth time, the init-function. (I
> >> guess being taught Haskell at one point could be blamed partly for the
> >> coding style requiring this function...) It is a trivial function that I
> >> think should be part of the standard lists module. This patch adds the
> >> function, tests in lists_SUITE, and documentation of the function.
> >>
> >> The implementation is trivial: reverse(tl(reverse(List))).
> >>
> >> If I've missed some religious reason for not having this function feel
> >> free to drop the patch ;-)
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Hans
> >>
> >> git fetch git://github.com/hanssv/otp.**git<http://github.com/hanssv/otp.git>add_init_to_lists
> >>
> >> https://github.com/hanssv/otp/**compare/erlang:maint...add_**
> >> init_to_lists<https://github.com/hanssv/otp/compare/erlang:maint...add_init_to_lists>
> >> https://github.com/hanssv/otp/**compare/erlang:maint...add_**
> >> init_to_lists.patch<https://github.com/hanssv/otp/compare/erlang:maint...add_init_to_lists.patch>
> >> ______________________________**_________________
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> >>
> >
> >
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