[erlang-questions] update_counter on steroids

[Thomas Lindgren]

1. Conditionals and select (cond ? true : false) look like the next level. 

2. Use cases always come in handy. Here is one: It would be interesting if we could define realistic random number generators entirely in one update_counter operation. Linear congruential ones should fit with your proposal.

3. An old favorite of mine: instead of crashing when a counter does not exist, initialize it to the submitted value. (Implement as an option or a new BIF.) Usage: profiling, in my case.

Best,
Thomas



>________________________________
> From: Ulf Wiger <ulf@REDACTED>
>To: erlang questions <erlang-questions@REDACTED> 
>Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 1:39 PM
>Subject: [erlang-questions] update_counter on steroids
> 
>
>
>There was some discussion recently on teaching update_counter some new tricks.
>
>Here is a suggestion:
>
>Right now, the function takes (Tab, Key, UpOp | [UpOp]), where
>  UpOp ::== {Pos, Incr} | {Pos, Incr, Threshold, WrapTo}
>
>I'd like to save the result of an operation in a temporary variable.
>
>An atomic reset, for example. (let's say counter c1 has the value 17):
>
>ets:update_counter(counters, c1, [{2, 0, '$1'}, {2, {'-', '$1'}}]) ->
>  [17, 0]
>
>(Increment by 0 means we read the existing value, just like today).
>
>Why use this instead of simply ets:insert/2? Well, for one thing, we get the old value back, so it's an atomic read-reset.
>
>Sum counter:
>
>ets:update_counter(counters, c2, [{2,0,'$1'}, {3,0,'$2'}, {4, {'+', '$1', '$2'}}])
>
>Wrap with parameterized threshold and reset value:
>
>ets:update_counter(counters, c3, [{3,0,'$1'}, {4,0,'$2'}, {2, Incr, '$1', '$2'}])
>
>This assumes the following changes:
>
>- A number of temp variables, like in match specs.
>- A 3-tuple  {Pos, Incr, SaveTo}, where SaveTo is a variable name (e.g. '$1')
>- A 5-tuple  {Pos, Incr, Threshold, WrapTo, SaveTo}
>- The possibility to use, wherever an integer() is expected
>  VariableName | {UnaryOp, VariableName} | {BinaryOp, Var1, Var2}
>
>We could also use this to e.g. store a value together with an increment operation. A reset with timestamp:
>
>TS = timestamp(),  % in milliseconds
>ets:update_counter(counters, c4, [{2, 0, '$1'}, {2, {'-', '$1'}, {3, 0, '$2'}, {3, {'-', TS, '$2'}}])
>
>…a bit bizarre perhaps, but still.
>
>Comments?
>
>BR,
>Ulf W
>
>
>Ulf Wiger, Co-founder & Developer Advocate, Feuerlabs Inc.
>http://feuerlabs.com
>
>
>
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