I need a better name (topology?)

[1/5] from: tim:johnsons-web at: 19-Sep-2001 12:57

I've written a rebol function that takes as arguments a series and a number (for columns) and remaps the original series to a row/column format: example:

>> c: columnize "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" 3

== ["ajs" "bkt" "clu" "dmv" "enw" "fox" "gpy" "hqz" "ir"]

>> repeat part c[print part]

ajs bkt clu dmv enw fox gpy hqz ir ; now this is pretty handy, but it needs a better name than ; 'columnize, and I'm not just being trivial here, I believe ; there is a mathematical term that is more appropriate. ; but for the life of me, I can't recall it. ; knowing that term would help me to do non-rebol-specific ; research on algorithms Any ideas? I don't think it is "topology" Thanks Tim

[2/5] from: joel:neely:fedex at: 19-Sep-2001 15:35

Hi, Tim, Tim Johnson wrote:

> I've written a rebol function that takes as arguments a series > and a number (for columns) and remaps the original series to

<<quoted lines omitted: 14>>

> ; now this is pretty handy, but it needs a better name than > ; 'columnize, ...

You're right; it's not topology! ;-) Actually, I suggest staying with something like "make-columns" because (although not fancy and academic sounding) it's very clear what you're doing regardless of the reader's level of mathematical sophisitication. [just my $0.02] -jn- -- This sentence contradicts itself -- no actually it doesn't. -- Doug Hofstadter joel<dot>neely<at>fedex<dot>com

[3/5] from: gchiu:compkarori at: 20-Sep-2001 11:03

On Wed, 19 Sep 2001 15:35:48 -0500 Joel Neely <[joel--neely--fedex--com]> wrote:

> Actually, I suggest staying with something like > "make-columns"

to-matrix? -- Graham Chiu

[4/5] from: tim::johnsons-web::com at: 19-Sep-2001 16:10

Graham On Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 11:03:36AM +1200, Graham Chiu wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Sep 2001 15:35:48 -0500 > Joel Neely <[joel--neely--fedex--com]> wrote: > > > Actually, I suggest staying with something like > > "make-columns" > > to-matrix?

Yes! That's what I was looking for. And with Joel's idea: make-columns: :to-matrix! (Tip #5 Designer's Tip Sheet: Names are Critical) Thank you Graham and Joel :>) tj

> -- > Graham Chiu > -- > To unsubscribe from this list, please send an email to > [rebol-request--rebol--com] with "unsubscribe" in the > subject, without the quotes.

-- Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]> http://www.johnsons-web.com

[5/5] from: joel:neely:fedex at: 19-Sep-2001 16:13

Graham Chiu wrote:

> > to-matrix? >

Ummmm... I suggest not. The term "matrix" has specific connotations in a mathematical context that have nothing to do with the functionality that Tim posed. One of the more obvious ones is that matrices are always rectangular (even so-called "triangular matrices" just have all zero entries on one side of a diagonal), whereas Tim seemed to be describing columnar arrangements of entries which don't necessarily have all columns of the same length (a common thing in text processing, which also is totally different from matrices). Just my $0.03... -jn- -- ------------------------------------------------------------ Programming languages: compact, powerful, simple ... Pick any two! joel'dot'neely'at'fedex'dot'com

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