avatarUlf Wolf

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Abstract

er">17</span>]</pre></div><blockquote id="c020"><p>Compact Map()</p></blockquote><p id="b1c2"><code>compactMap</code> function is similar to <code>map</code>, but it also includes an additional step, it filters out any <code>nil</code> values that result from applying the transformation closure. This is particularly useful when you have an array of optional values and you want to transform them while simultaneously filtering out the <code>nil</code> elements.</p><div id="9cf9"><pre><span class="hljs-keyword">extension</span> <span class="hljs-title class_">Array</span> { <span class="hljs-keyword">func</span> <span class="hljs-title function_">compactMap</span><<span class="hljs-type">T</span>>(<span class="hljs-keyword">_</span> <span class="hljs-params">transforms</span>: (<span class="hljs-type">Element</span>) -> <span class="hljs-type">T</span>?) -> [<span class="hljs-type">T</span>] { <span class="hljs-keyword">var</span> result <span class="hljs-operator">=</span> <span class="hljs-type">T</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">for</span> element <span class="hljs-keyword">in</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">self</span> { <span class="hljs-keyword">if</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">let</span> element <span class="hljs-operator">=</span> element { result.append(transform(element)) } } <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> result } }</pre></div><p id="fe9c">Here the only change from <code>Map</code> and <code>Compact Map</code> is avoiding the nil value with a condition.</p><p id="3b42">In the above code</p><ul><li>It takes a closure <code>transform</code> as an argument, which specifies how each element should be transformed.</li><li>Inside <code>compactMap</code>, a new array <code>result</code> is created to store the transformed non-nil elements.</li><li>It then iterates over each element of the original array (<code>self</code>), applies the transformation closure to each element, and checks if the result is non-nil.</li><li>If the result is non-nil, it appends the transformed element to the <code>result</code> array.</li><li>Finally, it returns the <code>result</code> array containing all the non-nil transformed elements.</li></ul><blockquote id="9909"><p>How to consume it?</p></blockquote><div id="41f1"><pre><span class="hljs-keyword">let</span> mapArray <span class="hljs-operator">=</span> [<span class="hljs-number">23</span>, <span class="hljs-number">43</span>, <span class="hljs-number">56</span>, <span class="hljs-literal">nil</span>, <span class="hljs-number">75</span>, <span class="hljs-number">9</span>, <span class="hljs-number">14</span>] <span class="hljs-keyword">let</span> result<span class="hljs-operator">=</span> mapArray.compactMap { <span class="hljs-variable">$0</span> } <span class="hljs-built_in">debugPrint</span>(result) output: [<span class="hljs-number">23</span>, <span class="hljs-number">43</span>, <span class="hljs-number">56</span>, <span class="hljs-number">75</span>, <span class="hljs-number">9</span>, <span class="hljs-number">14</span>]</pre></div><blockquote id="854c"><p>Flat Map()</p></blockquote><p id="b656">FlatMap is typically the same as <code>map</code> does, only difference is that it always return flatten array joining all elements. Typically used to collect specific data in n

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ested array, dictionary or set</p><div id="6431"><pre><span class="hljs-keyword">extension</span> <span class="hljs-title class_">Array</span> { <span class="hljs-keyword">func</span> <span class="hljs-title function_">flatMap</span><<span class="hljs-type">T</span>>(<span class="hljs-keyword">_</span> <span class="hljs-params">transform</span>: (<span class="hljs-type">Element</span>) -> [<span class="hljs-type">T</span>]) -> [<span class="hljs-type">T</span>] { <span class="hljs-keyword">var</span> result <span class="hljs-operator">=</span> <span class="hljs-type">T</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">for</span> element <span class="hljs-keyword">in</span> <span class="hljs-keyword">self</span> { result.append(contentsOf: transform(element)) } <span class="hljs-keyword">return</span> result } }</pre></div><p id="75fa">In the above code</p><ul><li>It takes a closure <code>transform</code> as an argument, which specifies how each element should be transformed into a sequence.</li><li>Inside <code>flatMap</code>, a new array <code>result</code> is created to store the flattened elements.</li><li>It then iterates over each element of the original array (<code>self</code>), applies the transformation closure to each element, and concatenates the resulting sequences into the <code>result</code> array.</li><li><code>append(contentsOf: )</code> will add the elements of a sequence to the end of the array.</li><li>Finally, it returns the <code>result</code> array containing all the flattened elements.</li></ul><blockquote id="2285"><p>How to consume it?</p></blockquote><div id="117f"><pre><span class="hljs-keyword">let</span> arrayOfArrays <span class="hljs-operator">=</span> [[<span class="hljs-number">1</span>, <span class="hljs-number">2</span>, <span class="hljs-number">3</span>], [<span class="hljs-number">4</span>, <span class="hljs-number">5</span>, <span class="hljs-number">6</span>], [<span class="hljs-number">7</span>, <span class="hljs-number">8</span>, <span class="hljs-number">9</span>]] <span class="hljs-keyword">let</span> transformedArray <span class="hljs-operator">=</span> arrayOfArrays.flatMap { <span class="hljs-variable">$0</span> } <span class="hljs-built_in">print</span>(transformedArray) output: [<span class="hljs-number">1</span>, <span class="hljs-number">2</span>, <span class="hljs-number">3</span>, <span class="hljs-number">4</span>, <span class="hljs-number">5</span>, <span class="hljs-number">6</span>, <span class="hljs-number">7</span>, <span class="hljs-number">8</span>, <span class="hljs-number">9</span>]</pre></div><h1 id="3bda">Conclusion</h1><p id="057c">There are plenty of other use cases for higher-order functions. This is a gist of what we have discovered today:</p><ul><li>If you need to simply transform a value to another value, then use <code>map</code>.</li><li>If you need to remove nil values, then use <code>compactMap</code>.</li><li>If you need to flatten your result one level down, then use <code>flatMap</code>.</li></ul><p id="0a10">Thank you for your time and attention! 👏👏👏</p><p id="33e6">Do clap👏 if you like this and comment your suggestions!!! <i>Happy coding</i>!!!</p><blockquote id="1e0c"><p>Source Code: <a href="https://github.com/Vikassingamsetty/HigherOrderFunctions.git">GitHub</a></p></blockquote></article></body>

Re-Death

Following Re-Birth

Photo by Sabine Schulte on Unsplash

The gravest problem proposes R. Gombrich with rebirth is re-death

Richard Gombrich breezed into my reading universe like a wind of fresh air.

By not being a Buddhist (though expressing the deepest reverence for the Buddha — in fact, calling him one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of all time) — but an historian very well versed in Pali (and Sanskrit for that matter), he asked questions of the Pali Canon that would strike the Buddhist as perhaps not all that polite, impertinent perhaps, a not quite loyal to the Buddha as it were; still, some of his questions were ones I myself had asked now and then.

He asks these questions and then answers them, brilliantly.

Also, as an historian he opens up a much wider vista surrounding the Buddha: the social-political climate, the religious milieu — to me it feels like having a well-educated and observant agent on the ground 2,500 years ago, reporting in regularly.

As a result, reading Gombrich has given me a much realer sense of the Buddha, and of the northern India that he traversed during his forty-year ministry.

He’s also given me the unmitigated delight of the wholly unexpected and new thought — this with the great word re-death. I have a feeling that he made it up, but how fitting:

The gravest problem with rebirth, he says, is re-death. Yes, this is me paraphrasing a little; and I should add (as an illustration of how the muse works at times) that the initial Wolfku began, “The greatest problem…” which, all on its own mind you, changed to “The gravest problem…” since, after all, we’re talking death here — get it?

I just finished his study of Theravāda, its history “Theravāda Buddhism: A social history from ancient Benares to modern Colombo,” and came away even further grounded in the development of this wonder we call Buddhism.

A bit dry in places, perhaps, but what lengthy history isn’t? The bottom line, though, that you cannot help arriving at: This Happened! This historical Buddha did exist, he saw the truth that had evaded so many through time, (and still evades so many) then shared his findings with as many people as he could before he, at eighty, said “Over to you” and took off.

Another thing that strikes me, and which has struck me on and off for a while now, is how many scholars and researchers have studied the early days of Buddhism (some in amazing, immaculate detail). One could be forgiven to think that this was not a fertile field for academic endeavor but one would be oh, so wrong. Dozens, perhaps even hundreds of scholars have excavated this field and even though many of them quote each other, among them they have come up with an amazing outline of what actually happened.

As a result, I stand on firmer ground. Not worrying so much about re-death anymore.

© Wolfstuff

Rebirth
Redeath
Buddhism
Gombrich
Meditation
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