Re: st: Mata: Recursive structures and pointers

[Ulrich Kohler <kohler@wz-berlin.de>]

Richard,

as said, we didn't ask for writing the entire code  for us.  Thank you for 
doing it anyway. This is most welcome, naturally.

Uli

> Ulrich Kohler <kohler@wz-berlin.de> inquired about implementing
> a linked list in Mata.  This is what I came up with.
>
> mata
>
> struct listelem {
>         real scalar a
>         real scalar b
>         pointer(struct listelem scalar) scalar nextpoint
> }
>
> struct listelem scalar function setelem(real scalar s)
> {
>         struct listelem scalar e
>
>         e.a=s
>         e.b=s
>
>         return(e)
> }
>
> struct pointlist {
>         struct listelem scalar first
>         pointer(struct listelem scalar) scalar last
> }
>
> struct pointlist scalar function setpoint( real vector seq)
> {
>         struct pointlist scalar v
>         real scalar i
>         real scalar l
>
>         l = length(seq)
> 	if (l == 0) return(v)
>
> 	v.first.a = seq[1]
> 	v.first.b = seq[1]
>         v.last = &(v.first)
>         liststruct(v)
>         for (i=2; i<=l; i++) {
>                 v.last->nextpoint = &setelem(seq[i])
>                 v.last = v.last->nextpoint
>         }
>         return(v)
> }
>
> void function testit()
> {
> 	real scalar i
> 	real colvector v
> 	pointer(struct listelem scalar) scalar el
> 	struct pointlist scalar l
>
>
> 	v = 1::10
> 	l = setpoint(v)
>
> 	liststruct(l)
>
> 	printf("first\n")
> 	el = &(l.first)
> 	liststruct(*el)
>
> 	i = 1
> 	while(el->nextpoint!=NULL) {
> 		printf("\nnext %g\n", ++i)
> 		printf("el = ")
> 		el
> 		printf("next = ")
> 		el->nextpoint
> 		printf("\n")
> 		el = el->nextpoint
> 		liststruct(*el)
> 	}
> }
> end
>
> . mata: testit()
> 1  structure of 2 elements
> 1.1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1.1  1 x 1 real = 1
> 1.1.2  1 x 1 real = 1
> 1.1.3  1 x 1 pointer = NULL
> 1.2  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
> 1  structure of 2 elements
> 1.1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1.1  1 x 1 real = 1
> 1.1.2  1 x 1 real = 1
> 1.1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
> 1.2  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
> first
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 1
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 1
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 2
> el =   0x9022868
> next =   0x9020b68
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 2
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 2
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 3
> el =   0x9020b68
> next =   0x9022738
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 3
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 3
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 4
> el =   0x9022738
> next =   0x90208b8
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 4
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 4
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 5
> el =   0x90208b8
> next =   0x9026758
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 5
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 5
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 6
> el =   0x9026758
> next =   0x9020e98
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 6
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 6
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 7
> el =   0x9020e98
> next =   0x90225e8
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 7
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 7
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 8
> el =   0x90225e8
> next =   0x9026578
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 8
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 8
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 9
> el =   0x9026578
> next =   0x90269d8
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 9
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 9
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer != NULL
>
> next 10
> el =   0x90269d8
> next =   0x90214b8
>
> 1  structure of 3 elements
> 1.1  1 x 1 real = 10
> 1.2  1 x 1 real = 10
> 1.3  1 x 1 pointer = NULL
>
>
> -Rich
> rgates@stata.com
>
> > ------------------------------------------------xyz.mata---
> > ...
> > struct listelem {
> > 	real scalar a
> > 	real scalar b
> > 	pointer(struct listelem scalar) scalar nextpoint
> > }
> >
> > struct listelem scalar function setelem(real scalar s) {
> > 	struct listelem scalar e
> > 	e.a=s
> > 	e.b=s
> > 	return e;
> > }
> >
> > ------------------------------------------java code-----------
> > public class listelem {
> >
> > 	public int a;
> > 	public int b;
> > 	public listelem nextpoint;
> >
> > 	public void setelem(int s){
> > 		a=s;
> > 		b=s;
> > 	}
> > }
> >
> >
> > public class pointlist {
> >
> > 	public listelem first;		//the first element of the list
> > 	public listelem last;		//the last element of the list
> >
> >
> > //initialisation of the first element
> > 	pointlist(int k){
> > 		first = new listelem();
> > 		first.a = k;
> > 		first.b = k;
> > 		last = first;
> > 	}
> >
> >
> > 	public static pointlist setpoint(int[] seq){
> >
> > 		pointlist v;		//return linked list
> > 		int length;			//length of the argument vector seq
> >
> > 		v = new pointlist(seq[0]);
> > 		length = seq.length;
> >
> > //filling out of the list
> > 		for(int i=1; i<length; i++){
> > 			listelem newelem = new listelem();
> > 			newelem.setelem(seq[i]);
> >
> > 			v.last.nextpoint = newelem;
> > 			v.last = v.last.nextpoint;
> > 		}
> > 		return v;
> > 	}
> > -----------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Now let us turn to our attempts to implement this in Mata.
> > Basically we have defined the structure "pointlist" that implements a
> > "linked list" of points (a,b) and a function "setpoint" that fills out
> > this list with the values of the argument vector "seq". Below is how far
> > we got. We have indicated the line that causes trouble with a comment.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------xyz.mata---
> > ...
> > struct pointlist {
> > 	struct listelem scalar first
> > 	pointer(struct listelem scalar) scalar last
> > }
> >
> >
> > struct pointlist scalar function setpoint( real vector seq) {
> >
> > 	struct pointlist scalar v
> > 	real scalar i
> > 	real scalar length
> >
> > 		length = length(seq)
> > 		v.first.a = seq[1]
> > 		v.first.b = seq[1]
> > 		v.last = &v.first
> > 		liststruct(v)
> >
> >
> > 	for (i=2; i<=length; i++) {
> >
> > 		struct listelem m
> > 		m= setelem(seq[i])
> > 		v.last.nextpoint= m        // <- See error message below
> > 		v.last = &last.nextpoint
> > 	}
> > 	return(v)
> > }
> > ...
> > -----------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Compiling this code we receive the following error message at the
> > indicated line:
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > type mismatch:  exp.exp:  pointer found where struct expected
> > -------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > We somehow stick with this error message. Our main problem, however,
> > concerns the using of pointers. The pointer "last" should move along the
> > list and always point to the last element of the list (it means, it
> > should allow to set a new point at the end of the list). It does not
> > work. How can we add a new element at the end of the list?
> >
> > Many regards
> >
> > Uli and Magdalena

-- 
kohler@wz-berlin.de
+49 (0)30 25491-361
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