Erlang article #1 on programming.reddit.com

[Ryan Rawson]

Thats more of a list comprehension than a loop now is it?

-ryan

On 8/17/06, Richard A. O'Keefe <ok@REDACTED> wrote:
> "Ryan Rawson" <ryanobjc@REDACTED> wrote:
>         You'd have to break Erlang to insert loops.
>
> Wrong.
>
>         First off you'd have variables that need to be changed.
>
> Wrong.
>
>         If you want to loop, you probably want to map or fold.
>
> Right.
>
>         If you need to loop you might want to use gen_server instead,
>
> Not for processing a data structure you wouldn't/
>
>         or at the last resort use a tail recursive call.
>
> Why would that be the LAST resort?
>
> Friends, we had a thread about looping not so very long ago.
> By the end of it, there was a concrete proposal for a construct looking
> like
>
>     (let p1 = i1 then s1, ..., pk = ik then sk
>      for generators-and-filters
>      in final-result
>     )
>
> As a trivial example, let's compute the mean of the positive elements
> of a list:
>
>     (let N = 0 then N+1, S = 0 then S+X
>      for X <- List, X > 0
>      in S/N
>     )
>
> It's pretty much what you get if you hybridise Scheme DO loops with
> list comprehension, and it's as pure as anyone could wish for.
>
> Of course there is room for disagreement about whether it is useful
> enough to add to the language, but let there be no nonsense about
> it "breaking" Erlang.
>
>