;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;; 0. Syntax ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;; General form. ;; Lisp comprises of two syntax called: the ATOM and the S-expression. ;; `forms` are known as grouped S-expressions. 8 ; an atom; it evaluates to itself :ERLANG ;Atom; evaluates to the symbol :ERLANG. t ; another atom which denotes true. (* 2 21) ; an S- expression '(8 :foo t) ;another one ;;; Comments ;; Single line comments start with a semicolon; use two for normal ;; comments, three for section comments, and four fo file-level ;; comments. ;; Block Comment #| comment text |# ;;; Environment ;; LFE is the de-facto standard. ;; Libraries can be used directly from the Erlang ecosystem. Rebar3 is the build tool. ;; LFE is usually developed with a text editor(preferably Emacs) and a REPL ;; (Read Evaluate Print Loop) running at the same time. The REPL ;; allows for interactive exploration of the program as it is "live" ;; in the system. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;; 1. Literals and Special Syntactic Rules ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;; Integers 1234 -123 ; Regular decimal notation #b0 #b10101 ; Binary notation #0 #10101 ; Binary notation (alternative form) #o377 #o-111 ; Octal notation #d123456789 #d+123 ; Explicitly decimal notation #xc0ffe 0x-01 ; Hexadecimal notation #2r1010 #8r377 ;Notation with explicit base (up to 36) #\a #$ #\ä #\🐭 ;Character notation (the value is the Unicode code point of the character) #\x1f42d; ;Character notation with the value in hexadecimal ;;; Floating point numbers 1.0 +2.0 -1.5 1.0e10 1.111e-10 ;;; Strings "any text between double quotes where \" and other special characters like \n can be escaped". ; List String "Cat: \x1f639;" ; writing unicode in string for regular font ending with semicolon. #"This is a binary string \n with some \"escaped\" and quoted (\x1f639;) characters" ; Binary strings are just strings but function different in the VM. ; Other ways of writing it are: #B("a"), #"a", and #B(97). ;;; Character escaping \b ; => Backspace \t ; => Tab \n ; => Newline \v ; => Vertical tab \f ; => Form Feed \r ; => Carriage Return \e ; => Escape \s ; => Space \d ; => Delete ;;; Binaries ;; It is used to create binaries with any contents. #B((#"a" binary) (#"b" binary)) ; #"ab" (Evaluated form) ;;; Lists are: () or (foo bar baz) ;;; Tuples are written in: #(value1 value2 ...). Empty tuple #() is also valid. ;;; Maps are written as: #M(key1 value1 key2 value2 ...). Empty map #M() is also valid. ;;; Symbols: Things that cannot be parsed. Eg: foo, Foo, foo-bar, :foo | foo | ; explicit construction of symbol by wrapping vertical bars. ;;; Evaluation ;; #.(... some expression ...). E.g. '#.(+ 1 1) will evaluate the (+ 1 1) while it ;; reads the expression and then be effectively '2. ;; List comprehension in LFE REPL lfe> (list-comp ((<- x '(0 1 2 3))) (trunc (math:pow 3 x))) (1 3 9 27) ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; 2. Core forms ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; These forms are same as those found at Common Lisp and Scheme. (quote e) (cons head tail) (car e) (cdr e) (list e ... ) (tuple e ... ) (binary seg ... ) (map key val ...), (map-get m k), (map-set m k v ...), (map-update m k v ...) (lambda (arg ...) ...) (match-lambda ((arg ... ) {{(when e ...)}} ...) ; Matches clauses ... ) (let ((pat {{(when e ...)}} e) ...) ... ) (let-function ((name lambda|match-lambda) ; Only define local ... ) ; functions ... ) (letrec-function ((name lambda|match-lambda) ; Only define local ... ) ; functions ... ) (let-macro ((name lambda-match-lambda) ; Only define local ...) ; macros ...) (progn ... ) (if test true-expr {{false-expr}}) (case e (pat {{(when e ...)}} ...) ... )) (receive (pat {{(when e ...)}} ... ) ... (after timeout ... )) (catch ... ) (try e {{(case ((pat {{(when e ...)}} ... ) ... ))}} {{(catch ; Next must be tuple of length 3! (((tuple type value ignore) {{(when e ...)}} ... ) ... )}} {{(after ... )}}) (funcall func arg ... ) (call mod func arg ... ) - Call to Erlang Mod:Func(Arg, ... ) (define-module name declaration ... ) (extend-module declaration ... ) - Define/extend module and declarations. (define-function name lambda|match-lambda) (define-macro name lambda|match-lambda) - Define functions/macros at top-level. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; 3. Macros ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; Macros are part of the language to allow you to create abstractions ;; on top of the core language and standard library that move you closer ;; toward being able to directly express the things you want to express. ;; Top-level function (defun name (arg ...) ...) ;; Adding comments in functions (defun name "Toplevel function with pattern-matching arguments" ((argpat ...) ...) ...) ;; Top-level macro (defmacro name (arg ...) ...) (defmacro name arg ...) ;; Top-level macro with pattern matching arguments (defmacro name ((argpat ...) ...) ...) ;; Top-level macro using Scheme inspired syntax-rules format (defsyntax name (pat exp) ...) ;;; Local macros in macro or syntax-rule format (macrolet ((name (arg ... ) ... ) ... ) ... ) (syntaxlet ((name (pat exp) ...) ...) ...) ;; Like CLISP (prog1 ...) (prog2 ...) ;; Erlang LFE module (defmodule name ...) ;; Erlang LFE record (defrecord name ...) ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; 4. Patterns and Guards ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; Using patterns in LFE compared to that of Erlang ;; Erlang ;; LFE ;; {ok, X} (tuple 'ok x) ;; error 'error ;; {yes, [X|Xs]} (tuple 'yes (cons x xs)) ;; <<34,F/float>> (binary 34 (f float)) ;; [P|Ps]=All (= (cons p ps) all) _ ; => is don't care while pattern matching (= pattern1 pattern2) ; => easier, better version of pattern matching ;; Guards ;; Whenever pattern occurs(let, case, receive, lc, etc) it can be followed by an optional ;; guard which has the form (when test ...). (progn gtest ...) ;; => Sequence of guard tests (if gexpr gexpr gexpr) (type-test e) (guard-bif ...) ;; => Guard BIFs, arithmetic, boolean and comparison operators ;;; REPL lfe>(set (tuple len status msg) #(8 ok "Trillian")) #(8 ok "Trillian") lfe>msg "Trillian" ;;; Program illustrating use of Guards (defun right-number? ((x) (when (orelse (== x 42) (== x 276709))) 'true) ((_) 'false)) ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; 5. Functions ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; A simple function using if. (defun max (x y) "The max function." (if (>= x y) x y)) ;; Same function using more clause (defun max "The max function." ((x y) (when (>= x y)) x) ((x y) y)) ;; Same function using similar style but using local functions defined by flet or fletrec (defun foo (x y) "The max function." (flet ((m (a b) "Local comment." (if (>= a b) a b))) (m x y))) ;; LFE being Lisp-2 has separate namespaces for variables and functions ;; Both variables and function/macros are lexically scoped. ;; Variables are bound by lambda, match-lambda and let. ;; Functions are bound by top-level defun, flet and fletrec. ;; Macros are bound by top-level defmacro/defsyntax and by macrolet/syntaxlet. ;; (funcall func arg ...) like CL to call lambdas/match-lambdas ;; (funs) bound to variables are used. ;; separate bindings and special for apply. apply _F (...), apply _F/3 ( a1, a2, a3 ) ;; Cons'ing in function heads (defun sum (l) (sum l 0)) (defun sum (('() total) total) (((cons h t) total) (sum t (+ h total)))) ;; ``cons`` literal instead of constructor form (defun sum (l) (sum l 0)) (defun sum (('() total) total) ((`(,h . ,t) total) (sum t (+ h total)))) ;; Matching records in function heads (defun handle_info (('ping (= (match-state remote-pid 'undefined) state)) (gen_server:cast (self) 'ping) `#(noreply ,state)) (('ping state) `#(noreply ,state))) ;; Receiving Messages (defun universal-server () (receive ((tuple 'become func) (funcall func)))) ;; another way for receiving messages (defun universal-server () (receive (`#(become ,func) (funcall func)))) ;; Composing a complete function for specific tasks (defun compose (f g) (lambda (x) (funcall f (funcall g x)))) (defun check () (let* ((sin-asin (compose #'sin/1 #'asin/1)) (expected (sin (asin 0.5))) (compose-result (funcall sin-asin 0.5))) (io:format "Expected answer: ~p~n" (list expected)) (io:format "Answer with compose: ~p~n" (list compose-result)))) ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; 6. Concurrency ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;; Message passing as done by Erlang's light-weight "processes". (defmodule messenger-back (export (print-result 0) (send-message 2))) (defun print-result () (receive ((tuple pid msg) (io:format "Received message: '~s'~n" (list msg)) (io:format "Sending message to process ~p ...~n" (list pid)) (! pid (tuple msg)) (print-result)))) (defun send-message (calling-pid msg) (let ((spawned-pid (spawn 'messenger-back 'print-result ()))) (! spawned-pid (tuple calling-pid msg)))) ;; Multiple simultaneous HTTP Requests: (defun parse-args (flag) "Given one or more command-line arguments, extract the passed values. For example, if the following was passed via the command line: $ erl -my-flag my-value-1 -my-flag my-value-2 One could then extract it in an LFE program by calling this function: (let ((args (parse-args 'my-flag))) ... ) In this example, the value assigned to the arg variable would be a list containing the values my-value-1 and my-value-2." (let ((`#(ok ,data) (init:get_argument flag))) (lists:merge data))) (defun get-pages () "With no argument, assume 'url parameter was passed via command line." (let ((urls (parse-args 'url))) (get-pages urls))) (defun get-pages (urls) "Start inets and make (potentially many) HTTP requests." (inets:start) (plists:map (lambda (x) (get-page x)) urls)) (defun get-page (url) "Make a single HTTP request." (let* ((method 'get) (headers '()) (request-data `#(,url ,headers)) (http-options ()) (request-options '(#(sync false)))) (httpc:request method request-data http-options request-options) (receive (`#(http #(,request-id #(error ,reason))) (io:format "Error: ~p~n" `(,reason))) (`#(http #(,request-id ,result)) (io:format "Result: ~p~n" `(,result)))))) ;; Check out Erlang's documentation for more concurrency and OTP docs.