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Z-combinator in elixir: recursive anonymous functions.

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exyz lib exyz.ex
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lib/exyz.ex

defmodule Exyz do
@moddoc """
Exyz provides a z-combinator (but no y-combinator) macro and function so that
you can use recursion in anonymous functions with ease!
"""
defmacro __using__(_) do
quote do
import Exyz, only: :macros
require Exyz
end
end
@doc ~s"""
Z combinator macro, reference the function with `this`
## Examples
iex(1)> factorial = Exyz.z fn
...(1)> (1) -> 1
...(1)> (n) -> n * this.(n - 1)
...(1)> end
iex(2)> factorial.(5) == 120
true
"""
defmacro z g do
quote do
Exyz.z_combinator fn var!(this) ->
unquote(g)
end
end
end
@doc ~s"""
Z combinator, support recursion inside anonymous functions!
defined as:
λf. (λx. f (λy. x x y)) (λx. f (λy. x x y))
## Examples
iex(1)> factorial = Exyz.z_combinator fn(f) ->
...(1)> fn
...(1)> (1) -> 1
...(1)> (n) -> n * f.(n - 1)
...(1)> end
...(1)> end
iex(2)> factorial.(5) == 120
true
"""
def z_combinator f do
combinator = fn(x) ->
f.(fn(y) -> x.(x).(y) end)
end
combinator.(combinator)
end
end