Question

So this question is purely for learning purposes and curiosity, but can anyone explain how the function below works?

sub mesh (\@\@;\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@) {
    my $max = -1;
    $max < $#$_ && ( $max = $#$_ ) foreach @_;
    map {
        my $ix = $_;
        map $_->[$ix], @_;
    } 0 .. $max;
}

It’s from the List::MoreUtils module. I’m using it in one of my applications and I happened to see the source code, and it made me feel like I don’t know perl at all! Can anyone explain this craziness? 🙂 Thanks!

Answer 1

I won’t cover the prototypes part (mob said he will).

Here’s a more readable version – ideally, it should be self explanatory

sub mesh (\@\@;\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@) {

    # Calculate the maximum number of elements in each of the array refs 
    # we were passed:

    my $maxLength = 0;
    foreach my $array_ref (@_) { # @_ is all arrey refs passed in
        if ($maxLength < @$array_ref) { 
            # we found an array longer than all previous ones 
            $maxLength = @$array_ref;
        }
    }

    # If you represent the arrays as a matrix:
    #   ARR1 = [ a1e1, a1e2, .... a1eN],
    #   ARR2 = [ a2e1, a2e2, .... a2eN],
    #    ...
    #   ARR2 = [ aMe1, aMe2, .... aMeN];
    # Then, we are simply walking through the matrix;
    # each column top to bottom then move on to next column left to right
    # (a1e1, a2e1, ... aMe1, a1e2, a2e2, ... aMeN)

    my @results;
    for (my $index = 0; $index < $maxLength; $index++) { # Iterate over columns
         foreach my $array_ref (@_) { # Iterate over per-row cells in each column
             push @results, $array_ref->[$index];
         }
    } ;
}

here’s a commented original version

sub mesh (\@\@;\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@) {

    # Calculate the largest index in each of the array refs
    # @_ is an array of all the input arrayrefs
    # $_ will be one of the array refs in a foreach loop
    # $#{$X} is the largest index in arrayref X; thus
    # $#$_ is the largest index in arrayref $_
    my $max = -1;
    $max < $#$_ && ( $max = $#$_ ) foreach @_;

    # Return a list, obtained by looping 
    # over every index from 0 to the maximal index of any of the arrays
    # Then, for each value of the index ($ix), push into the resulting list
    # an element with that index from each of the arrays.
    map {
        my $ix = $_;
        map $_->[$ix], @_;
    } 0 .. $max;
}

---

---

One of the unusual things in this method is the function signature (prototype).

sub mesh (\@\@;\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@\@) {

As @mob and @ikegami wisely noted in the comments,

… It instructs Perl to expect between 2 and 32 named arrays, and to pass them to the function (in @_) as array references. So if you call mesh @a,@b,@c, then @_ in mesh is set to (\@a,\@b,\@c) rather than one “flat” list with all the individual elements of @a, @b, and @c (mob)
… They technically don’t need to be named, just dereferenced. e.g. @$ref and @{[qw( foo bar )]} work just as well as @a. In other words, it has to start with @ (and not be a slice). (ikegami)

In other words, the following 2 calls behave the same

my @a1 = (1);
my @a2 = (2);
sub mesh_prototype(\@\@) { print "$_->[0]\n" }
sub mesh_pass_arrayref() { print "$_->[0]\n" }
mesh_prototype(@a1, @a2);
mesh_pass_arrayref(\@a1, \@a2);

This is done so that you can pass individual arrays (and not arrayrefs) as arguments to functions that will behave like built-ins (e.g. map/sort)

To answer Zaid’s query as to what happens if 1 or 33 arrays are listed as parameters to call to mesh(), it will generate a compile time error:

Not enough arguments for main::mesh at mesh.pl line 16, near "@a1)"
Execution of mesh.pl aborted due to compilation errors.

Too many arguments for main::mesh at mesh.pl line 16, near "@a2)"
Execution of mesh.pl aborted due to compilation errors.