From: Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de>
To: Emacs Development <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
Subject: Add a function for building sort predicates
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:06:55 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87msskw1u8.fsf@web.de> (raw)
Hello,
I looked at how "package.el" defines the sort predicates for the used
tabulated list view - for example, `package-menu--status-predicate':
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defun package-menu--status-predicate (A B)
"Predicate to sort \"*Packages*\" buffer by the status column.
This is used for `tabulated-list-format' in `package-menu-mode'."
(let ((sA (aref (cadr A) 2))
(sB (aref (cadr B) 2)))
(cond ((string= sA sB)
(package-menu--name-predicate A B))
((string= sA "new") t)
((string= sB "new") nil)
((string-prefix-p "avail" sA)
(if (string-prefix-p "avail" sB)
(package-menu--name-predicate A B)
t))
((string-prefix-p "avail" sB) nil)
((string= sA "installed") t)
((string= sB "installed") nil)
((string= sA "dependency") t)
((string= sB "dependency") nil)
((string= sA "source") t)
((string= sB "source") nil)
((string= sA "unsigned") t)
...
(t (string< sA sB)))))
#+end_src
This is hard to read and maintain, 0% user configurable, and it's not
easy to add additional "layers", like, "sort packages with equal states
first by archive name, and only then by name".
I want to suggest to add a function for defining sort predicates for
cases like these (especially having tabulated-list-mode in mind, but not
only - sorting is a common task).
Here is what I would imagine:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
;; -*- lexical-binding: t -*-
(defun make-sort-pred (rules)
"Return a sort predicate according to the sort RULES.
The returned predicate will accept two arguments A and B. When
called, it will try RULES in order to decide whether A < B and
return non-nil in that case and nil when B <= A. When no rule can
decide whether A < B, the predicate will also return nil.
RULES is a list of sort specifications using one of the formats
explained below.
The allowed formats of the specification lists in RULES are:
-- (KEYFUN PRED)
This is like
(lambda (a b)
(funcall PRED (funcall KEYFUN a)
(funcall KEYFUN b)))
-- (KEYFUN EQUAL-TEST . KEYLIST)
This spec allows to specify the order of keys explicitly when the
number of possible keys is small by specifying an accordingly
ordered KEYLIST directly.
A test using this rule form will first call KEYFUN with the
arguments A and B to get K-A and K-B. Then, using the equality
test EQUAL-TEST, it is tested to which of the elements in KEYLIST
K-A and K-B are equal. It is decided whether A < B using the
natural order of the KEYLIST elements. Keys not found in KEYLIST
are treated it as if coming after all of its elements. Elements
for that KEYFUN yields `equal' values are considered
indistinguishable.
-- (KEYFUN EQUAL-TEST GET-KEYLIST)
This works exactly like the above spec - the only difference is
that GET-KEYLIST is either a symbol whose `symbol-value' will be
consulted, or a function accepting zero arguments to obtain the
KEYLIST to use, at run-time. In the latter case the function
should be accordingly cheap when called and avoid unnecessary
consing.
Example 1: Sort a list like this:
((\"c\" 2) (\"a\" 3) (\"b\" 1) (\"b\" 3) (\"c\" 3)
(\"c\" 1) (\"a\" 2) (\"b\" 2))
first by the first element, then by the second:
(sort \\='((\"c\" 2) (\"a\" 3) (\"b\" 1) (\"b\" 3) (\"c\" 3)
(\"c\" 1) (\"a\" 2) (\"b\" 2))
(make-sort-pred `((,#'car ,#'string<)
(,#'cadr ,#'<))))
Example 2: Create a sort predicate suitable for sorting the list
of packages for M-x list-packages. We want to have all \"new\"
packages listed first, then all obsolete packages, according to
the following list:
(defvar my-package-menu--status-sorting-order
\\='(\"new\" \"obsolete\" \"held\" \"external\" ...))
Package in the same category should be sorted by archive in a certain
order, and last by name:
(defalias \\='my-package-menu--status-predicate
(make-sort-pred
`((,(lambda (x) (aref (cadr x) 2))
,#'string= my-package-menu--status-sorting-order)
(,(lambda (x) (package-desc-archive (car x)))
,#'equal \"gnu\" \"nongnu\" \"melpa\" nil)
(,#'identity ,#'package-menu--name-predicate))))"
(let ((result (make-symbol "result")))
(cl-flet ((compare-with (test a b)
(cond
((funcall test a b) (throw result t))
((funcall test b a) (throw result nil)))))
(let ((rules
;; translate RULES to test functions
(mapcar
(pcase-lambda (`(,keyfun . ,rule))
(if (cdr rule)
(let* ((test (car rule))
(testfun (lambda (x y)
(funcall test y (funcall keyfun x))))
(keys (cdr rule))
(ckeys (car keys)))
(cl-flet ((keys (cond ((cdr keys) (lambda () keys))
((symbolp ckeys)
(lambda () (symbol-value ckeys)))
(t (lambda () (funcall ckeys))))))
(lambda (a b)
(cl-block nil
(let ((keys (keys)))
(while keys
(let ((key (pop keys)))
(cond ((funcall testfun a key)
(if (funcall testfun b key)
(cl-return)
(throw result t)))
((funcall testfun b key)
(throw result nil))))))))))
(lambda (a b)
(compare-with
(car rule)
(funcall keyfun a) (funcall keyfun b)))))
rules)))
(lambda (a b)
(catch result
;; any rule throws 'result' when a<b is decidable with it
(dolist (rule rules) (funcall rule a b))
;; no rule was able to decide - return nil for stable sorting
nil))))))
#+end_src
Running time is comparable witho the existing code.
Would we want to add something like this? And to which library? I
would like to prepare a patch.
TIA,
Michael.
next reply other threads:[~2024-02-01 17:06 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2024-02-01 17:06 Michael Heerdegen [this message]
2024-02-01 17:19 ` Add a function for building sort predicates Daniel Mendler via Emacs development discussions.
2024-02-01 17:26 ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-02-01 18:10 ` Michael Heerdegen via Emacs development discussions.
2024-02-01 19:09 ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-02-02 20:11 ` Michael Heerdegen
2024-02-03 2:55 ` Emanuel Berg
2024-02-03 7:08 ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-02-03 10:35 ` Michael Heerdegen
2024-02-01 18:04 ` Michael Heerdegen via Emacs development discussions.
2024-02-01 18:23 ` Daniel Mendler via Emacs development discussions.
2024-02-01 19:22 ` Michael Heerdegen
2024-02-01 20:19 ` Daniel Mendler via Emacs development discussions.
2024-02-01 22:48 ` [External] : " Drew Adams
2024-02-02 20:05 ` Michael Heerdegen
2024-02-02 22:30 ` Drew Adams
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