Vocabulary/curlyrt
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m} y Composite Item Adverb
Rank Infinity -- operates on x and y as a whole -- WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Create an array having the shape of an item of y that's a composite of the items of y.
Each atom of operand m selects an atom from the corresponding positions of the items of y
] y=: 'abcde' ,: 'ABCDE' abcde ABCDE 0 1 0 0 1 } y NB. for each atom of m, choose an atom from the items of y aBcdE
- Operand m must have the same shape as an item of y.
- Argument y meanwhile is of course a list of items of the same shape as m.
- Phrase m}y has the shape of m, but it is a composite:
Phrase m} y is equivalent to m {"0 1&.|: y , with the restriction that m must be numeric.
Common Uses
The only reason to use m} y is one of efficiency:
- either you want to avoid the transposes of m {"0 1&.|: y
- or you want to use one of the Special Combinations.
1. Create a composite item in place
a =: 'ABC' b =: 'abc' a =: 0 1 1} a ,: b a Abc
This form, where m} y appears in an assignment, is handled by special code that modifies a without first making a copy. Sentences taking advantage of this feature are very restricted in form.
Some other assignments using m} y are not in-place but avoid copying arguments. They are likewise very restricted in form.
2. Create a composite item without transposing m and y
] a =: i. 2 3
0 1 2
3 4 5
] b =: 100 + a NB. Two arrays
100 101 102
103 104 105
] c =: 0 1 0 ,: 1 1 0 NB. selector
0 1 0
1 1 0
c} a ,: b NB. composite item
0 101 2
103 104 5
c {"0 1&.|: a,:b NB. equivalent
0 101 2
103 104 5
3. Scatter-point replace using a Boolean selector:
]mat=. _5]\'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy' abcde fghij klmno pqrst uvwxy (mat e. 'aeiou') } mat,:'*' NB. Replace vowels *bcd* fgh*j klmn* pqrst *vwxy (mat e. 'aeiou') } mat,:toupper mat NB. Upper-case vowels AbcdE fghIj klmnO pqrst Uvwxy
Details
1. Operand m can be a gerund (v0`v1`v2) or (v1`v2), in which case m}y is executed as (v1 y)} (v2 y) . This form is not executed in place.
2. In-place assignment requires that 1 = 3!:0 myphrase , that is, the internal type of myphrase is Boolean.
It does not suffice for the atoms of myphrase to consist only of 0 or 1 — the actual type must be Boolean!
3. An obsolete form of Composite Items: (u} y) was used in early versions of J.
where operand u is a verb. Its use is deprecated in favor of m} y.
Oddities
1. Verb m} gives index error when y has only 1 item
(,0)} ,. 5 |index error | (,0)},.5 (,0)} 2 $ ,. 5 5
Use These Combinations
Combinations using m} y that have exceptionally good performance include:
What it does Type;
Precisions;
RanksSyntax Variants;
Restrictions
Benefits;
Bug Warnings
Composite item the x arrays are the same precision and not boxed, extended integer, or rational name =: i} x0,x1,...,xm,:xn =. in place of =:
If there are 2 x's, i may be Boolean or integer, but if more than 2 x's, i must be integer.
No parentheses allowedavoids catenation and lamination Composite item in place b is Boolean; x and name are the same precision and not boxed, extended integer, or rational name =: b} x,:name
name =: b} name,: x
Must be same name either side.
No parentheses allowed
avoids making a new copy of name
x m} y Amend Adverb
Rank Infinity -- operates on [x and] y as a whole -- WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
x m} y amends y by creating a new noun that is a copy of y with the locations m replaced by new values x
'gw' 0 3} 'cross' NB. Replace items 0 and 3 with 'g' and 'w' respectively grows
Because } is an adverb creating a verb,
the amendment process uses the operand m and the arguments x and y.
Thus there are 3 parts to the amendment.
m} is executed to produce an anonymous verb that is executed on the arguments x and y.
The anonymous verb has access to the value of m.
This resembles assignment to an index of an array in other languages. But x m} y can assign many indexes at once.
It also creates a new copy of the entire array y.If you modify only a small portion of a very large array, use the in-place form given below.
x m} y is used in J much less than you would think, considering the importance of in-place array modification in other languages.
Operand m gives the positions to be modified, and argument x the values to put there. In the simplest case there is only position
y =: 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: '*' 2} y NB. Modify position 2 y ab*defghijklmnop
Note, however, that a single atom in m refers to an item of y
] y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' abcd efgh ijkl mnop y =: '*' 2} y NB. Now position 2 is a list y abcd efgh **** mnop
Operand m may specify more than one target item of y
y =: 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: '*' 0 2 4 6} y y *b*d*f*hijklmnop
Each atom of m specifies a selection from y, just as with x { y . Thus the above m has 4 selections: 0 2 4 6 .
Each selected item can be assigned a different value. The values in x must have the same shape as a cell of the selected portion of the array y. If x has lower rank than the selected part of y, it is replicated as needed.
Details below. In the previous example x (an atom) matched the shape of a 0-cell of the selection.
y =: 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: 'ABCD' 0 2 4 6} y y AbBdCfDhijklmnop
Operand m can select from multiple axes
This is like multidimensional indexing in other languages.
] y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' abcd efgh ijkl mnop y =: '*' (<2 1)} y y abcd efgh i*kl mnop
Operand m can make multiple selections from multiple axes to select a region of the array to be modified
y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: '*' (<0 2;3 1)} y NB. Modify rows 0 &2, columns 3&1 y a*c* efgh i*k* mnop
If operand m is a numeric array of rank > 1, it specifies a scatter-modify: each 1-cell of m is the index list of a cell of y. All the cells addressed by rows of m are replaced by cells of x.
Thus the 1-frame of m gives the frame of the selection.
y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: '*' (2 2$3 2 1 1)} y NB. Multidimensional m; each row selects a cell. Selection is 2 0-cells y abcd e*gh ijkl mn*p
Argument x can give the new value for atoms independently
y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: 'AB' (<0 2;3 1)} y NB. Store 'AB' into position 3&1 of each of rows 0&2 y aBcA efgh iBkA mnop y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' ]x =: 2 2$ 'ABCD' NB. A different value for each modified atom AB CD y =: x (<0 2;3 1)} y y aBcA efgh iDkC mnop
y =: _4 ]\ 'abcdefghijklmnop' y =: 'AB' (2 2$3 2 1 1)} y NB. Multidimensional m; each row selects a cell. Selection is 2 0-cells. A cell of x goes into each y abcd eBgh ijkl mnAp
The examples so far have used assignment in place, where the result of x m} y is assigned back to the original y. But this is not essential. The result of (x m} y) is a new modified array, always having the same shape as y, that can be used like any other array
'*' 2} 'abcdefgh' NB. Create an array and modify it. The modified array is the result. ab*defgh
Common uses
1. When converting seconds to hours/minutes/seconds, replace the first number in the base (HMS) with 0 to allow unlimited hours
HMS =: 24 60 60 HMS #: 96400 NB. this gives hours mod 24 2 46 40 ((0) 0} HMS) #: 96400 NB. unlimited hours... 26 46 40 (0) 0} HMS NB. ...by using modified base 0 60 60
2. Force a 1 into the last position of a list of frets, to avoid losing text
text =. 'Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith are here. Let them in.' ] frets =. '. ' E. text NB. Find the ends of sentences 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 frets <;.2 text NB. Box the sentences. Unfortunately the bit at the end is lost. +---------------------------------+ |Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith are here.| +---------------------------------+ ((1) _1} frets) <;.2 text NB. Stuff a 1 into the last position +---------------------------------+--------------+ |Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith are here.| Let them in.| +---------------------------------+--------------+ (1) _1} frets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
3. Replace a single box in a list of boxes
]w =: ;:'The quick brown fox rested.'
+---+-----+-----+---+-------+
|The|quick|brown|fox|rested.|
+---+-----+-----+---+-------+
(,&'ish' each 2 { w) 2} w
+---+-----+--------+---+-------+
|The|quick|brownish|fox|rested.|
+---+-----+--------+---+-------+
4. Replace a subarray with another of the same shape
]a=. i.6 6
0 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31 32 33 34 35
]b=. 3 3$100 200 300 400 500 600
100 200 300
400 500 600
100 200 300
b (<2 3 4;1 2 3)}a NB. specifying the perimeter of b's new location within a
0 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11
12 100 200 300 16 17
18 400 500 600 22 23
24 100 200 300 28 29
30 31 32 33 34 35
am=. {{ x (<m <@(+i.)"0 $x)} y }} NB. abstracting the logic
b 2 1 am a NB. and specifying only the coordinate of b's lowest corner, yielding the same result
0 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11
12 100 200 300 16 17
18 400 500 600 22 23
24 100 200 300 28 29
30 31 32 33 34 35
More Information
1. You can change portions of a noun in place (that is, without making a new copy of the noun), when no harm can come from doing so. The most common example of this is modification to a name that is about to be reassigned. Our examples have emphasized that form.
In this form of in-place modification you immediately assign the result of x m} namedy to the same name, so that the previous value of namedy can never again be used. Only in that case is it safe for J to create the new noun in the same location in memory as the old one.
With big arrays, amendment without in-place assignment can be colossally inefficient
bigarray =: ] 5 (5)} bigarray NB. same result as above, but 100,000 times slower
Other places where in-place modification can be performed are discussed here.
2. If m is a numeric array of rank > 1, each row of m gives the index list of a cell of y to be modified. In other words, m is interpreted according to the rules below as if it were (<"1 m).
3. Operand m may have any rank.
The locations of y that will be altered are those that would be selected by m { y .
subject to the rule above that nonnumeric arrays m are boxed first
This means
- the full generality of indexing is allowed using boxed m
- if m is a list of boxes, each box of m specifies a separate selection.
If m is an array, each atom a of m must select a result of the same shape.
- This doesn't mean that each a specifies a similar-looking region in y, but that
- The shapes resulting from the selections using each atom of m must be identical: in other words $a{y must be the same for each a in m .
y =: i. 6 6 100 (0 1)} y NB. selection is 2-list. Each atom specifies a row, so shapes match 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 100 (0;1)} y NB. two selections, but same result 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 100 (0;1 2)} y NB. second selection is bigger than the first --> error |domain error | 100 (0;1 2)}y 100 ((<0),(<a:;1))} y NB. select a row and a column. Each is a 6-atom list --> OK 100 100 100 100 100 100 6 100 8 9 10 11 12 100 14 15 16 17 18 100 20 21 22 23 24 100 26 27 28 29 30 100 32 33 34 35 100 ((<0),(<3;3 2 1 3 2 1))} y NB. Same thing here too 100 100 100 100 100 100 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 100 100 100 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
3. Argument x must have the shape of a cell of m{y
x is replicated as needed to the shape of m{y
y =: i. 2 3
100 (0}) y NB. `x` (an atom) has the shape of a 0-cell of m{y, and is replicated
100 100 100
3 4 5
100 101 (0}) y NB. `x` is a 2-atom list, but m{y is a 3-atom list
|length error
| 100 101 (0})y
100 101 102 (0}) y NB. `x` is a 3-atom list, and so is m{y
100 101 102
3 4 5
100 101 102 (0 2}) i. 3 3 NB. `x` is a 3-atom list, m{y has shape 2 3, so x is replicated
100 101 102
3 4 5
100 101 102
100 101 (<(i. 2 2);0)} i. 4 4 NB. m{y has shape 2 2, x is replicated
100 1 2 3
101 5 6 7
100 9 10 11
101 13 14 15
4. If the selections specified by the atoms of m overlap, the amendments are applied in order, leaving the last one as the survivor
(Don't rely on this behavior in future versions of J!)
(100 200 300,:400 500 600) ((<0),(<a:;1))} i. 3 3 100 400 300 3 500 5 6 600 8
5. Operand m may be a gerund v0`v1`v2, in which case x v0`v1`v2} y executes as
(x v0 y) (x v1 y)} (x v2 y)
Note: all the verbs v0 v1 v2 are executed dyadically.
This form of x m} y is often useful in tacit verbs. The modification is performed in-place if possible.
Apply a "substring;position couple": x (x -: substring;starting-position) to a given string y
CASE 1:
X=: 'CDEFG' M=: 2 3 4 5 6 Y=: 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' X M} Y abCDEFGhijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
CASE 2:
x =: 'CDEFG';2 NB. the "substring;starting-position" couple
y =: 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' NB. the target string
v0=: 4 : '0 {:: x' NB. return the substring from the couple: x
v1=: 4 : 0 NB. return the list of indexes in y to amend
'substring startpos' =. x
startpos + i. #substring
)
v2=: ] NB. simply return y from the phrase: x v2 y
(x v0 y) ; (x v1 y) ; (x v2 y) NB. <--> X;M;Y in CASE 1 (Just checking for equivalence)
+-----+---------+--------------------------+
|CDEFG|2 3 4 5 6|abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz|
+-----+---------+--------------------------+
g =: v0`v1`v2 NB. assign the gerund to a pronoun: 'g'
type 'g'
+----+
|noun|
+----+
x g} y NB. do the amend
abCDEFGhijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
x v0`v1`v2} y NB. --or use gerund phrase itself directly
abCDEFGhijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
6. If argument y has rank = 1 and operand m is a numeric array of rank > 1, then to avoid interpreting an amend operation as scatter-modify, box each element of m twice.
x=. 'ABC'
y =: 25 $ '.'
m1=. 2 3 4 ,: 8 11 13 NB. rank(m)=2
x m1} y NB. not supported since J903
|length error
| x m1}y
x (<^:2"_1 m1)} y NB. a workaround
..ABC...A..B.C...........
<^:2"_1 m1 NB. valid location
+-------+---------+
|+-----+|+-------+|
||2 3 4|||8 11 13||
|+-----+|+-------+|
+-------+---------+
] m2=. _2 3 {."2 i. 2 3 4 NB. rank(m)=3
4 5 6
8 9 10
16 17 18
20 21 22
x m2} y NB. not supported since J903
|length error
| x m2}y
x (<^:2"_1 m2)} y NB. a workaround
....ABC.ABC.....ABC.ABC..
<^:2"_1 m2 NB. valid location
+--------+----------+
|+------+|+--------+|
||4 5 6|||16 17 18||
||8 9 10|||20 21 22||
|+------+|+--------+|
+--------+----------+
Details
1. A verb form of Amend: (x u} y) was used in early versions of J.
where operand u is a verb. x m} y is normaly used instead, except in cases where operations on individual atoms are needed.
Use These Combinations
Combinations using x m} y that have exceptionally good performance include:
What it does Type;
Precisions;
RanksSyntax Variants;
Restrictions
Benefits;
Bug Warnings
Amend in place not boxed, extended integer, or rational name =. x i} name
name =. x (i}) name
name =. name i}~ x
or if y is an unnamed intermediate result=: in place of =.
Must be same name either side.
Parentheses allowed around x and i onlyavoids making a new copy of name
