Sign up ×
Code Review Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for peer programmer code reviews. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I am using Dr.Racket, Intermediate Student with Lambda. I was wondering if there was any way I can simplify this code using any sort of method like lambda, abstraction, map, filter, etc.

 ; alien-at-edge?: alien --> boolean
(define (alien-at-edge? an-alien)
(or (alien-at-right-edge? an-alien)
(alien-at-left-edge? an-alien)))    

; any-alien-at-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-edge? a-loa) 
(cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
[else (or (alien-at-edge? (first a-loa)) 
      (any-alien-at-edge? (rest a-loa)))])) 

;alien-at-left-edge?: alien --> boolean
(define (alien-at-left-edge? an-alien)
 (<= (- (posn-x an-alien) ALIEN-DELTA-X) alien-half))  

;alien-at-right-edge?: alien --> boolean
(define (alien-at-right-edge? an-alien)
(>= (+ (posn-x an-alien) ALIEN-DELTA-X) (- WIDTH alien-half))) 

;any-alien-at-right-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-right-edge? a-loa) 
(cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
[else (or (alien-at-right-edge? (first a-loa)) 
      (any-alien-at-right-edge? (rest a-loa)))])) 

;any-alien-at-left-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-left-edge? a-loa) 
(cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
[else (or (alien-at-left-edge? (first a-loa)) 
      (any-alien-at-left-edge? (rest a-loa)))]))
share|improve this question
    
In what sort of ways do you think lambda, filter, map, and abstraction might be applied to simplify the code? –  ben rudgers Dec 17 '13 at 17:47
    
Can you reindent the code? Also, have you read chapter 16 on "Similarities"? ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/part_three.html –  dyoo Dec 17 '13 at 18:27

2 Answers 2

You can rewrite all your any- functions in one definition like this

(define (any predicate? a-loa) 
     (cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
           [else (or (predicate? (first a-loa)) 
                     (any predicate? (rest a-loa)))]))

There is also a findf function in standard library

share|improve this answer
 ; alien-at-edge?: alien --> boolean
(define (alien-at-edge? an-alien)
(or (alien-at-right-edge? an-alien)
(alien-at-left-edge? an-alien)))

Not much to do here but don't forget about indentation to make your code readable.

; any-alien-at-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-edge? a-loa) 
(cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
[else (or (alien-at-edge? (first a-loa)) 
      (any-alien-at-edge? (rest a-loa)))]))

This pattern occurs a lot in functional programming: produce a value (a boolean here) by applying a function (or here) to your list. You can rewrite your function as:

; any-alien-at-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-edge? a-loa) 
  (foldl or false a-loa)

You can also use ormap if foldl is hard to understand.

;alien-at-left-edge?: alien --> boolean
(define (alien-at-left-edge? an-alien)
 (<= (- (posn-x an-alien) ALIEN-DELTA-X) alien-half))  

;alien-at-right-edge?: alien --> boolean
(define (alien-at-right-edge? an-alien)
(>= (+ (posn-x an-alien) ALIEN-DELTA-X) (- WIDTH alien-half))) 

Watch out for indentation and trailing spaces.

;any-alien-at-right-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-right-edge? a-loa) 
(cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
[else (or (alien-at-right-edge? (first a-loa)) 
      (any-alien-at-right-edge? (rest a-loa)))])) 

;any-alien-at-left-edge?: loa --> boolean 
(define (any-alien-at-left-edge? a-loa) 
(cond [(empty? a-loa) false] 
[else (or (alien-at-left-edge? (first a-loa)) 
      (any-alien-at-left-edge? (rest a-loa)))]))

Those ones can also be implemented using foldl. Try it out!

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.