I am trying to do a quicksort using LISP but I am having trouble with my functions output.
(defun qsort (L)
(cond
((null L) nil)
(t(append
(qsort (list< (car L) (cdr L)))
(cons (car L) nil)
(qsort (list>= (car L) (cdr L)))))))
(defun list< (a b)
(cond
(( or(null a)(null b) nil))
(( < a (car b)) (list< a (cdr b)))
(t(cons (car b) (list< a (cdr b))))))
(defun list>= (a b)
(cond
(( or( null a)(null b) nil))
(( >= a (car b)) (list> a (cdr b)))
(t(cons (car b) (list> a (cdr b))))))
My problem being when list< and list>= finish the list always ends with a .T. For instance:
> (list< '4 '(1 5 3 8 2))
Entering: LIST<, Argument list: (4 (1 5 3 8 2))
Entering: LIST<, Argument list: (4 (5 3 8 2))
Entering: LIST<, Argument list: (4 (3 8 2))
Entering: LIST<, Argument list: (4 (8 2))
Entering: LIST<, Argument list: (4 (2))
Entering: LIST<, Argument list: (4 NIL)
Exiting: LIST<, Value: T
Exiting: LIST<, Value: (2 . T)
Exiting: LIST<, Value: (2 . T)
Exiting: LIST<, Value: (3 2 . T)
Exiting: LIST<, Value: (3 2 . T)
Exiting: LIST<, Value: (1 3 2 . T)
(1 3 2 . T)
Why is (4 NIL) evaluating as T?
Your problem with list<
, and also with list>=
, lies on ((or ( null a)(null b) nil))
, it should be (( or( null a)(null b)) nil)
. Note nil
was moved outside of the condition to be the returned value.
Furthermore, on the definition of list>=
you are calling list>
, but I'm positive you meant list>=
instead.
I would also suggest some indentation to address the legibility of lisp, like follows
(defun qsort (L)
(cond
((null L) nil)
(t
(append
(qsort (list< (car L) (cdr L)))
(cons (car L) nil)
(qsort (list>= (car L) (cdr L)))))))
(defun list< (a b)
(cond
((or (null a) (null b)) nil)
((< a (car b)) (list< a (cdr b)))
(t (cons (car b) (list< a (cdr b))))))
(defun list>= (a b)
(cond
((or (null a) (null b)) nil)
((>= a (car b)) (list>= a (cdr b)))
(t (cons (car b) (list>= a (cdr b))))))
Some testing follows:
(list< '4 '(1 5 3 8 2))
=> (1 3 2)
(list>= '4 '(1 5 3 8 2))
=> (5 8)
(qsort '(1 5 3 8 2))
=> (1 2 3 5 8)
Lisp has different kinds of collections. I think sort a list using quick-sort is not a good choice. In the implementation of STL in C++, the sorting method of list is merge-sort. I have tried to implement a 3-way quick-sort using the collections of array.
(defun quick-sort (arr start end)
"Quick sort body"
(if (< start end)
(let ((n-pair (partition arr start end)))
(quick-sort arr start (car n-pair))
(quick-sort arr (cdr n-pair) end))
))
(defun partition (arr start end)
"Partition according to pivot."
(let ((pivot (aref arr start)) (cur start))
(loop while (<= start end) do
(cond
((< pivot (aref arr start)) ; pivot < arr[start], swap with arr[end]
(swap arr start end) (decf end))
((> pivot (aref arr start)) ; pivot > arr[start], swap with arr[start]
(swap arr cur start) (incf cur) (incf start))
(t ; otherwise
(incf start))))
(cons (decf cur) start)))
(defun swap (arr i j)
"Swap element of arr"
(let ((tmp (aref arr i)))
(setf (aref arr i) (aref arr j))
(setf (aref arr j) tmp)))
(defun quick (list)
(when (< = (length list) 1) (return-from quick list))
(let ((pivot (car list)) (rest (cdr list)) (less nil) (greater nil))
(loop for i in rest do
(if (< i pivot) (push i less) (push i greater)))
(append (quick less) (list pivot) (quick greater))))
There are some errors in the program. The corrected program is:
(defun qsort (L)
(cond
((null L) nil)
(t (append
(qsort (list< (car L) (cdr L)))
(cons (car L) nil)
(qsort (list>= (car L) (cdr L)))))))
(defun list< (a b)
(cond
(( or (null a) (null b)) nil)
(( < a (car b)) (list< a (cdr b)))
(t (cons (car b) (list< a (cdr b))))))
(defun list>= (a b)
(cond
(( or ( null a)(null b)) nil)
(( >= a (car b)) (list>= a (cdr b)))
(t (cons (car b) (list>= a (cdr b))))))
I'd recommend to change the code of liya babu/Will Ness like this:
(defun quick (list)
(if (null list) nil
(let ((pivot (first list)) (less nil) (greater nil))
(dolist (i (rest list))
(if (< i pivot) (push i less) (push i greater)))
(append (quick less) (list pivot) (quick greater)))))
Although just slightly edited I find it both more lispy and more succinct.
This should also work:
(defun qsort (l)
(cond
((null l) nil)
(t (append
(qsort (car(list<> (car l)(cdr l))))
(cons (car l) nil)
(qsort (cadr(list<> (car l)(cdr l))))))))
(defun list<> (a b &optional rl rr)
(cond
((null b) (list rl rr))
((<=(car b)a) (list<> a (cdr b) (cons (car b) rl) rr))
(t (list<> a (cdr b)rl (cons (car b) rr)))))
(setq l (loop for j from 1 to 20 append (list(random 100))))
(qsort l)
;=> (86 99 9 31 66 58 57 43 48 21 51 0 32 69 39 47 59 76 69 23)
;=> (0 9 21 23 31 32 39 43 47 48 51 57 58 59 66 69 69 76 86 99)