Elm Language Lists and Iteration Reducing a list to a single value
Example
In Elm, reducing functions are called "folds", and there are two standard methods to "fold" values up: from the left, foldl, and from the right, foldr.
> List.foldl (+) 0 [1,2,3]
6 : number
The arguments to foldl and foldr are:
- reducing function:
newValue -> accumulator -> accumulator - accumulator starting value
- list to reduce
One more example with custom function:
type alias Counts =
{ odd : Int
, even : Int
}
addCount : Int -> Counts -> Counts
addCount num counts =
let
(incOdd, incEven) =
if num `rem` 2 == 0
then (0,1)
else (1,0)
in
{ counts
| odd = counts.odd + incOdd
, even = counts.even + incEven
}
> List.foldl
addCount
{ odd = 0, even = 0 }
[1,2,3,4,5]
{ odd = 3, even = 2 } : Counts
In the first example above the program goes like this:
List.foldl (+) 0 [1,2,3]
3 + (2 + (1 + 0))
3 + (2 + 1)
3 + 3
6
List.foldr (+) 0 [1,2,3]
1 + (2 + (3 + 0))
1 + (2 + 3)
1 + 5
6
In the case of a commutative function like (+) there's not really a difference.
But see what happens with (::):
List.foldl (::) [] [1,2,3]
3 :: (2 :: (1 :: []))
3 :: (2 :: [1])
3 :: [2,1]
[3,2,1]
List.foldr (::) [] [1,2,3]
1 :: (2 :: (3 :: []))
1 :: (2 :: [3])
1 :: [2,3]
[1,2,3]
