[swift-evolution] Proposal: Implement a rotate algorithm, equivalent to std::rotate() in C++

[Sergey Bolshedvorsky]

Hi Dmitri,

Thank you for your feedback! I’ve updated a proposal based on your comments: https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/pull/77 <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/pull/77>

> What jumps at me immediately is that the APIs are using integers to specify positions in the collection.  I think they should be using collection's indices instead.
Yes you are right, the APIs should use collection indexes. 

> I'm unsure why we need `first` and `last` -- shouldn't the API operate on the whole collection?  We have slices to operate on subsequences.

The C++ implementation allows to rotate all elements of collection or only some of them. A precondition of this function is that
0 <= first <= middle <= last < count

> Another point to consider is how the call site of these functions looks like:

 I’ve added 2 API usage examples to PR:

Example of rotating all elements of the collection:

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
let rotated = numbers.rotateFrom(0, middle: 3, last: 8)
// rotated contains [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1, 2, 3]

Example of rotating some elements of the collection:

let numbers = [10, 12, 13, 11, 15, 14]
let rotated = numbers.rotateFrom(1, middle: 3, last: 4)
// rotated contains [10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 14]


> It is interesting that you are proposing that the new algorithms should produce lazy views.  I agree this is consistent with the rest of the library, but I'm worried about the performance implications.  Have you thought about this?  One point to keep in mind is that you can implement the `_copyToNativeArrayBuffer()` and `_initializeTo()` entry points in all new lazy collections, using the optimal eager algorithm.  This way, converting them to arrays will be fast.
Thanks for pointing out the performance issue with lazy views. I will draft the implementation of algorithms for regular collections at first and then I will think how it can be reused with lazy views.

Sergey



> On 29 Dec 2015, at 06:38, Dmitri Gribenko <gribozavr at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 10:29 PM, Sergey Bolshedvorsky via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution at swift.org>> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have created a PR with with a formal proposal for this feature: https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/pull/77 <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/pull/77>
> 
> What are your thoughts?
> 
> Thank you for the proposal!
> 
> What jumps at me immediately is that the APIs are using integers to specify positions in the collection.  I think they should be using collection's indices instead.
> 
> I'm unsure why we need `first` and `last` -- shouldn't the API operate on the whole collection?  We have slices to operate on subsequences.
> 
> It is interesting that you are proposing that the new algorithms should produce lazy views.  I agree this is consistent with the rest of the library, but I'm worried about the performance implications.  Have you thought about this?  One point to keep in mind is that you can implement the `_copyToNativeArrayBuffer()` and `_initializeTo()` entry points in all new lazy collections, using the optimal eager algorithm.  This way, converting them to arrays will be fast.
> 
> Another point to consider is how the call site of these functions looks like:
> 
> collection.rotate(10, middle: 20, last: 30)
> 
> The first number hangs in the air, it is unclear what its meaning is.
> 
> Dmitri
> 
> -- 
> main(i,j){for(i=2;;i++){for(j=2;j<i;j++){if(!(i%j)){j=0;break;}}if
> (j){printf("%d\n",i);}}} /*Dmitri Gribenko <gribozavr at gmail.com <mailto:gribozavr at gmail.com>>*/

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