generalmap 1.0.2

A generalized map function for lift function over structures

What is Generalized Map Function (generalmap)

This is a generalized map function in python, which can lift basic function over various data structures and user defined objects. It implements the idea borrowed from functional programming language, that is to define a simple function first to tackle a small piece of problem, then reuse this function to apply to complicated data structures (sometimes called function lifting).

An simple example, given lst=[1, 2, 3] and function f = lambda x: x+1, this functin only focuses on solving the problem for one element in the list, but map(f, lst) will apply f to a list, which is a more complicated structure. In a nutshell, the map function let you focus on the atom part or essential part of the problem, then reuse the function in a very smart and cheap way.

However, the default map function provided by python is very restrictive:

• it can only apply to iteratable
• it can cross only one level of the structure
• it is not easy to apply to user defined objects

and these are what generalmap package can do.

Basic Usage

Some examples below like applying function to nonhomogeneous data structure are not good coding styles, they are simply used to demonstrate what this pacakge can do.

Lift function automatically

This is the default behavior, the gMap function will cross all predefined structures then apply f to the basic types like int, float, string (defaultly) or int, float (if set intoStr=True). One caveat is that f will always apply to the same level of structure.

An one level example:

# define different structures
sList = [1, 2, 3]
sTuple = (1, 2, 3)
sDict = {1: 2, 2: 3, 3: 4}

# create function
foo = lambda x: x+1

# create default gMap object
mp = GMap()

# apply f and print the results
print(mp.gMap(foo, sList))
print(mp.gMap(foo, sTuple))
print(mp.gMap(foo, sDict))

with output as:

[2, 3, 4]
(2, 3, 4)
{1: 3, 2: 4, 3: 5}

Example for two level mixed nonhomogeneous structure:

sMixed = [(1, 2), [3, 4, 5], {6: 6, 7: 7}, range(3), slice(None, 10, 2)]

def foo x:
    return x+1

mp = GMap()

print(mp.gMap(foo, sMixed))

with output as:

[(2, 3), [4, 5, 6], {6: 7, 7: 8}, range(1, 4), slice(1, 11, 2)]

notice different structures have their own unique lifting behaviors predefined.

In defualt, the gMap will not crossing string to apply function on each character, but this can be changed:

sStr1 = '123'

foo = lambda x: str(int(x)+1)

mp = GMap(intoStr=True)  # change default behavior

print(mp.gMap(foo, sStr1))

with output:

234

Lift function by specifying depth

With depth specified, gMap will apply f to the desinged level without caring whether the type is basic or not. Depth 1 as one level structure (behavior of map function in python).

A example:

sMixed = [[(1, 2, 4), (4, 5)], [(6, 7, 8), '91011']]

foo = lambda x: x[0]

mp = GMap(recDepth=2)  #  specify depth

print(mp.gMap(foo, sMixed))

with output:

[[1, 4], [6, '9']]

The sMixed has a three-level strucure, but we force gMap only apply to the second level, so the function will take tuples and string as input. Notice we don't need to specify the intoStr here, for we don't lift function into the string structure.

Current supported strucutres

The basic (bottom) types including:

int, float, string

the structure types including:

list, tuple, map, range, slice

if with intoStr set as True, then string is a structure type instead of basic.

Advanced Usage: Apply to User Defined Objects

This section is not necessary if the basic usage is enough for you!!

There are two more things user can achieve with this package:

1. Register new basic types.
2. Register new structure types

Register new basic types

This can be accomplished by the method mp.regBasicType(cls) where cls is the class. For instance, suppose there is a new data type double defined, and we want it to be a bottom type, so that when we apply gMap automatically, it'll stop and apply f on the data of this type.

Notice, if register a new basic type that is already in the structure types, it will be removed from the structure type.

Register new structure types

The method mp.regStructType(cls, clsRule) can register a new structure type, where cls is a class and clsRule is a rule description function. Same as before, registering an existing basic type to structure type will remove it from the basic type list.

With new structure type defined, it can be mixed with other structure types to build complicated data structure. And gMap can be used on these objects the way same as before.

Below is a new data type called MSet (multiset).

# a self defined container (multiset)
class MSet:
    def __init__(self, lst):
        self.elems = lst

    def __repr__(self):
        return('MSet' + str(self.elems) + '')

    def __getitem__(self, idx):
        if type(idx) is int:
            return self.elems[idx]
        else:
            return MSet(self.elems[idx])

    def toList(self):
        return self.elems

then we need to define a map rule function for this class, all the rules will be explained in the next section.

# define the function that describe the map rule
# each term will be explained in the next section
def msetMapRule(mset):
    isBottom = False
    const = MSet
    paramList = mset.toList()
    paramMapIdx = range(len(paramList))
    ifExpand = False
    projFunc = lambda x: x
    liftFunc = lambda x, res: res
    return (isBottom, const, paramList, paramMapIdx, ifExpand, projFunc, liftFunc)

with both class and rules are defined, we can apply gMap as same as before:

mp = gMap()  # create gMap object
mp.regStructType(MSet, msetMapRule) # register new structure type with rule

# define functions and data
# a two level MSet
mset0 = MSet([1,2])
mset1 = MSet([3,4])
mset = MSet([mset0, mset1])

# a tuple of MSets
mtuple = (MSet([1,2]), MSet([3,4]))

# function to apply
foo = lambda x: x+1

# apply and show results
print(mp.gMap(foo, mset))
print(mp.gMap(foo, mtuple))

the output is

MSet[MSet[2, 3], MSet[4, 5]]
(MSet[2, 3], MSet[4, 5])

The map rule function

Now suppose we are defining a map rule function mcMapRule for the class MyCls, then mcMapRule(myObj) is a function accepting objects of MyCls and ouput a tuple of rules. Each term in the rules are defined as:

1. isBottom: a function from the input object myObj to bool, to sift extra bottom cases that is input dependent, such as length 1 string is a bottom case for string structure. In most cases, isBottom = False.

2. const: a construct function that given a list of parameters can construct an object of MyCls, not necessary to be the constructor of the class.

3. paramList: the list of parameters that used as input for the construct function const to produce the input object myObj.

4. paramMapIdx: the list of indexes of elements in paramList that needs to be apply by f. In most cases, all parameters needs to be applied by f, then paramMapIdx = range(len(paramList)).

5. ifExpand: means when we apply const onto the paramList, do we need to expand the list or not. If const(a,b,c), then ifExpand=True, if const([a, b, c]), then ifExpand=False.

6. projFunc: define a function that transform the input myObj to the next level. In most cases, there is nothing to transform, so projFunc = lambda x: x. In the dictionary case, we only map f on the value instead of the key, so we need to extract the second value to pass to f, hence projFunc = lambda x: x[1] (in my implementation, the parameter list for dictionary is a list of length 2 tuples, so x[1] is extracting the value).

7. liftFunc: the reverse process of projFunc. After applying f on the transformed value we get res, then how to merge res with current input object myObj. In most cases, there is nothing to merge, so liftFunc = lambda x, res: res. In the dictionary case, we need to combine with key into a tuple, so liftFunc = lambda x, res: (x[0], res).

An rule of thumb is, if we apply f to all the parameters of the construct function, like list, tuple or the example MSet above, then we always set

paraMapIdx = range(len(paramList))
projFunc = lambda x: x
liftFunc = lambda x, res: res

And in most cases isBottom = False, so the only things to specify are the construct function, the construct list of parameters and whether or not expand the list when we apply construct function on the parameter list.

All the rules for the predefined structure types can be found in the source file, can be used as examples for designing rules.

How to Install

Use pip

pip install generalmap

Future Plan

Add more predefined basic and strcutre types.