====== 2. Introduction to Haskell ======
===== 2.1. Functions in Haskell =====
In mathematics, functions have a domain an codomain. In Haskell, functions have **types** or **signatures**. They often can be omitted in Haskell, but can
also be explicitly written as in:
f :: Integer -> Integer -> Integer
f x y = x + y
or:
f :: Bool -> Bool
f True = False
f False = True
The previous example illustrates that we can define functions by specifying a behaviour for given values.
2.1.1. Write a function together with its signature, which implements boolean AND:
myand :: Bool -> Bool -> Bool
...
===== 2.2. If and conditionals (guards) =====
2.2.1. Write an implementation for a function ''ifp'' which takes a boolean, expressions $math[e_1] and $math[e_2] and returns $math[e_1] if the boolean is true and $math[e_2] otherwise.
ifp = ...
2.2.2. Write a function which takes three integers and returns the largest. Hint - sometimes parentheses are **important in function calls**.
f :: Integer -> Integer -> Integer -> Integer
In Haskell, we can use the if construct, in a manner almost identical to the above implementation, e.g.
f x = if x == 0 then 1 else 0
The previous function returns 1 if x is equal to 0 and 0 otherwise. A more elegant way is to use **guards**:
f x
| x == 0 = 1
| otherwise = 0
More generally, guards can be used as follows:
| =
| =
...
| otherwise =
2.2.3. Solve the previous exercise using guards.
===== 2.3. Lists =====
The following code examples illustrate the usage of lists:
-- defining a new list
l = [1,2,3]
-- adds x to the beginning of a list l. The operator : is called 'cons' and it is infix (just like +)
cons x l = x:l
-- the previous list can be defined also as:
lp = 1:2:3:[]
-- function head returns the first element of a list
first_of_l = head l
-- function tail removes the first element of a list and returns the result
remove_first_of_l = tail l
-- the infix operator ++ concatenates lists.
lpp = l ++ lp
2.3.1. Implement reversal
2.3.2. Write a function which extracts the third to last integer from a list and returns ''True'', if that number is odd (hint: the function ''mod'' may be useful), and false otherwise. If the list has fewer than three elements, the function should also return false.
V
f [3,4,5,2,3,9] = False
f [3,4,2,1,4,4] = True
Using ''head'' and ''tail'' can become tedious if we need to extract specific inner elements of a list. Alternatively, we can use **list patterns** in function definition, in order to explore the structure of a list. A few examples are given below.
-- this function uses patterns to test if a list is empty. The pattern 'x:xs' refers to a list where the first element is x and the rest of the list is xs
is_empty [] = True
is_empty (x:xs) = False
2.3.3. Implement the previous exercise using patterns
2.3.4. Implement a function which returns the sum of integers from a list.
2.3.5. Implement a function which takes a list of booleans and returns false if **at least** one boolean from the list is false.
2.3.6. Implement a function which filters out all odd numbers from a list.
2.3.7. Implement a function which takes a list of booleans and returns a list of integers. In the latter, (''True'' becomes ''1'' and ''False'' becomes ''0''). Example: ''f [False, True, False] = [0,1,0]''.
We can construct more complicated patterns from simpler ones:
-- this function returns true if the list given as parameter has at least tree elements.
f (x:y:z:xs) = True
f _ = False
===== 2.4. Strings =====
The following example illustrates the usage of ''Char'' and ''String''. In Haskell, ''String'' is a type-alias for ''[Char]'' (strings are lists of chars and can be introspected using pattern matching as well).
-- this function returns true if the parameter is the character 'a'
f 'a' = True
f _ = False
-- this function returns true if the given string has the SECOND character equal to 'b' and false otherwise (or if the string has less than two characters)
g (_:'b':xs) = True
g _ = False
2.4.1. Write a function which removes all empty strings from a list.
2.4.2. Write a function which removes all strings of size smaller than 3. Do **not** use the builtin function ''length''.
2.4.3. Write a function which removes all strings having the third letter equal to 'a'.
2.4.4. Write a function which:
* removes all strings which are not **names**. A **name** always starts with an uppercase.
* removes the last name from the resulting list of names. A name always comprises of the first name followed by the last name.