NAME¶
Math::Symbolic::Compiler - Compile Math::Symbolic trees to Perl code
SYNOPSIS¶
use Math::Symbolic::Compiler;
# A tree to compile
my $tree = Math::Symbolic->parse_from_string('a^2 + b * c * 2');
# The Math::Symbolic::Variable 'a' will be evaluated to $_[1], etc.
my $vars = [qw(b a c)];
my ($closure, $code, $trees) =
Math::Symbolic::Compiler->compile($tree, $vars);
print $closure->(2, 3, 5); # (b, a, c)
# prints 29 (= 3^2 + 2 * 5 * 2)
# or:
($closure, $trees) =
Math::Symbolic::Compiler->compile_to_sub($tree, $vars);
($code, $trees) = Math::Symbolic::Compiler->compile_to_code($tree, $vars);
DESCRIPTION¶
This module allows one to compile Math::Symbolic trees to Perl code and/or
anonymous subroutines whose arguments will be positionally mapped to the
variables of the compiled Math::Symbolic tree.
The reason you'd want to do this is that evaluating a Math::Symbolic tree to its
numeric value is extremely slow. So is compiling, but once you've done all
necessary symbolic calculations, you can take advantage of the speed gain of
invoking a closure instead of evaluating a tree.
UNCOMPILED LEFTOVER TREES¶
Not all, however, is well in the land of compiled Math::Symbolic trees. There
may occasionally be trees that cannot be compiled (such as a derivative) which
need to be included into the code as trees. These trees will be returned in a
referenced array by the compile*() methods. The closures will have access to
the required trees as a special variable '@_TREES inside the closure's scope,
so you need not worry about them in that case. But if you plan to use the
generated code itself, you need to supply an array named @_TREES that contains
the trees as returned by the compile*() methods in the scope of the
eval() you evaluate the code with.
Note that you give away all performance benefits compiling the tree might have
if the closure contains uncompiled trees. You can tell there are any by
checking the length of the referenced array that contains the trees. If it's
0, then there are no trees left to worry about.
AVOIDING LEFTOVER TREES¶
In most cases, this is pretty simple. Just apply all derivatives in the tree to
make sure that there are none left in the tree. As of version 0.130, there is
no operator except derivatives that cannot be compiled. There may, however, be
some operators you cannot get rid of this easily some time in the future. If
you have problems getting a tree to compile, try using the means of
simplification provided by Math::Symbolic::* to get a simpler tree for
compilation.
EXPORT¶
None by default, but you may choose to import the
compile(),
compile_to_sub(), and
compile_to_code() subroutines to your
namespace using the standard Exporter semantics including the ':all' tag.
SUBROUTINES¶
($code, $trees) = compile_to_code($tree, $vars)¶
The
compile_to_code() class method takes one mandatory argument which is
the Math::Symbolic tree to be compiled. Second argument is optional and an
array reference to an array of variable mappings. See "VARIABLE PASSING
STYLES" for details on how this works.
compile_to_code() returns a string and an array reference. The string
contains the compiled Perl code that uses the values stored in @_ as described
in the section on positional variable passing. It also accesses a special
variable @_TREES if there were any sub-trees (inside the tree that has been
compiled) that were impossible to compile. The array reference returned by
this method contains any of the aforementioned trees that failed to compile.
If there are any such trees that did not compile, you may put them into the
@_TREES variable in scope of the
eval() that evaluates the compiled
code in the same order that they were returned by this method. If you do that,
the code will run and determine the value of the tree at run-time. Needless to
say, that is slow.
($sub, $trees) = compile_to_sub($tree, $vars)¶
The
compile_to_sub() class method takes one mandatory argument which is
the Math::Symbolic tree to be compiled. Second argument is optional and an
array reference to an array of variable mappings. See "VARIABLE PASSING
STYLES" for details on how this works.
compile_to_sub() returns a list of two elements, the first being the
compiled anonymous subroutine. For details on the second element, please refer
to the docs on the
compile_to_code() subroutine.
($sub, $code, $trees) = compile($tree, $vars)¶
The
compile() class method takes one mandatory argument which is the
Math::Symbolic tree to be compiled. Second argument is optional and an array
reference to an array of variable mappings. See "POSITIONAL VARIABLE
PASSING" for details on how this works.
compile() returns a list of three elements, the first being the compiled
anonymous subroutine, the second being the compiled code. For details on the
second and third elements, please refer to the docs on the
compile_to_code() subroutine.
VARIABLE PASSING STYLES¶
Currently, the Math::Symbolic compiler only supports compiling to subs with
positional variable passing. At some point, the user should be able to choose
between positional- and named variable passing styles. The difference is best
explained by an example:
# positional:
$sub->(4, 5, 1);
# named: (NOT IMPLEMENTED!)
$sub->(a => 5, b => 4, x => 1);
With positional variable passing, the subroutine statically maps its arguments
to its internal variables. The way the subroutine does that has been fixed at
compile-time. It is determined by the second argument to the various compile_*
functions found in this package. This second argument is expected to be a
reference to an array of variable names. The order of the variable names
determines which parameter of the compiled sub will be assigned to the
variable. Example:
my ($sub) =
Math::Symbolic::Compiler->compile_to_sub($tree, [qw/c a b/]);
# First argument will be mapped to c, second to a, and third to b
# All others will be ignored.
$sub->(4, 5, 6, 7);
# Variable mapping: a = 5, b = 6, c = 4
One important note remains: if any (or all) variables in the tree are
unaccounted for, they will be lexicographically sorted and appended to the
variable mapping in that order. That means if you don't map variables
yourself, they will be sorted lexicographically.
Thanks to Henrik Edlund's input, it's possible to pass a hash reference as
second argument to the compile* functions instead of an array reference. The
order of the mapped variables is then determined by their associated value,
which should be an integer starting with 0. Example:
Math::Symbolic::Compiler->compile_to_sub($tree, {b => 2, a => 1, c => 0});
Would result in the order c, a, b.
AUTHOR¶
Please send feedback, bug reports, and support requests to the Math::Symbolic
support mailing list: math-symbolic-support at lists dot sourceforge dot net.
Please consider letting us know how you use Math::Symbolic. Thank you.
If you're interested in helping with the development or extending the module's
functionality, please contact the developers' mailing list:
math-symbolic-develop at lists dot sourceforge dot net.
List of contributors:
Steffen MXller, symbolic-module at steffen-mueller dot net
Stray Toaster, mwk at users dot sourceforge dot net
Oliver EbenhXh
SEE ALSO¶
New versions of this module can be found on
http://steffen-mueller.net or CPAN.
The module development takes place on Sourceforge at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/math-symbolic/
Math::Symbolic