[erlang-questions] re cursive fun()

[deepblue_other]

Edwin Fine-2 wrote:
> 
> I'm assuming that you want to do this in the shell, otherwise it would be
> easier just to write the function in the usual way, e.g.
> 
> myfun() ->
>     blah, blah,
>     myfun().
> 
no shell is not the reason, I need a function that will only be called from
within another function and I dont want to "pollute" the "module wide" space
with another function, so Im putting in a nested one... 
I would prefer to declare a regular function, but as far as I know there are
no nested functions in Erlang (regular named functions).

Edwin Fine-2 wrote:
> 
> To create a fun that calls itself, you must realize that you are creating
> an
> unnamed function. When you write
> 
> fun(X) -> X * 2 end.
> 
> this is compiled to a Fun data type, e.g. #Fun<erl_eval.6.13229925>.
> 
> Since the function does not have a name, it cannot refer to itself.
> 
> When you write FunVar = fun(X) -> X * 2 end, the function is bound to the
> variable FunVar. Because the binding takes place *after* the fun is
> created,
> the fun cannot refer to the variable FunVar within its definition.
> 
> So how is it done? You have to pass the variable to the function so that
> it
> "knows" what to call:
> 
> FunVar =
>    fun(MySelf) ->
>       ...
>       MySelf().
> 
> Then when you call it, you call FunVar(FunVar). Looks strange but it
> works.
> 
> Example: Writing a simple generate and fold function using only a fun()
> variable.
> 
> 9> GenFold =
>    fun(0, Acc, _) ->
>       Acc;
>    (X, Acc, Fun) ->
>       Fun(X - 1, [X|Acc], Fun)
>    end.
> #Fun<erl_eval.18.105910772>
> 10> GenFold(10, [],
> GenFold).
> [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
> 11>
> 
> Or a for loop:
> 
> 22> For =
>     fun(Max, Max, ExecFun, _) ->
>        ok;
>    (N, Max, ExecFun, Next) ->
>       ExecFun(N),
>       Next(N + 1, Max, ExecFun, Next)
>    end.
> #Fun<erl_eval.4.105156089>
> 23> For(0,10,fun(I) -> io:format("~B ", [I]) end,
> For).
> 
> 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ok
> 24>
> 
> Stuff like this is described in Joe Armstrong's Erlang book.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 11:19 PM, deepblue_other <cktgatb@REDACTED> wrote:
> 
>>
>> hello
>> I have this going on
>>
>> FunVar =
>>   fun() ->
>>      ...
>>      FunVar()
>>   end.
>>
>> so the compiler is complaining that FunVar is unbound at the place where
>> its
>> being used inside fun(); this makes sense, however Im wondering how to
>> make
>> this into a recursive function since there's no name to reference the
>> function with.
>>
>> thanks
>> --
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what you have described makes perfect sense
thanks

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