MIFFS Is Fun For Sums

by rich

Built-in Functions

Use the Source, Luke

There are now too many builtin functions to list all of them here. Open the JAR file in a Zip program and read the *.miffs files in the /rich/miffs directory to see the definitions of the functions in the default environment. Some of the more common functions are still listed below for convenience. You can also use the vals function to list all defined labels, and you might be able to guess the meaning of a function from its name. I hope to introduce some kind of value browser in a future release.

Infix Functions

These are used between their arguments, and have an associated precedence (the higher the number, the 'tighter' the binding)

• 2
• ||, | --- boolean OR (you can also use 'orelse')
• &&, & --- boolean AND (you can also use 'andalso')
• 4
>= --- test for equality
• < --- less than
• > --- greater than
• <= --- less than or equal to
• >= --- greater than or equal to
• 5 - (these associate right-to-left)
• :: --- "cons" - prepend to list
• @ --- concatenate lists
• in --- unit conversion (scalar * unit -> scalar)
• 6
• + --- addition or string concatenation
• - --- subtraction (also a unary negation function)
• 7
• * --- multiplication
• / --- division
• div --- integer division
• mod --- integer modulo
• 8
• ^ --- exponentiation or string concatenation
• % --- the modulo operator

Use

The use function expects a string referring it to a file of MIFFS code. It will then process this file as if you had typed it all in. The "startup.miffs" file is processed every time MIFFS loads, and sets up all the functions listed lower down this page. You can change the functions MIFFS starts with by editing this file, or by putting a replacement "startup.miffs" file in the same folder as the MIFFS.jar file. This file will be used instead of the old one.

Native

The native function is the only other function that is built into MIFFS (not counting those defined in the library files). It is used to access functions defined in the source code of MIFFS from a library file and would not be needed by a regular user.

Libraries

Warning: the following information may be out of date

The following libraries are, by default, loaded by MIFFS on startup, although you can change this if you want (see "use" above).

standard.miffs

Trig

Each of the trig functions work on complex values. This means they take the principle complex branch of the function - which may, in places, be different from the branch usually taken for e.g. asin, but is equally valid.

• cos, cosh, acos, acosh
• sin, sinh, asin, asinh
• tan, tanh, atan, atanh

Rounding

• rint --- rounds to closest integer
• ceil, floor --- round up or down

Exponentials and Sqrt

• exp
• log
• sqrt

Lists

• length
• rev --- reverses the list
• map --- applies a function to all elements of a list
• head
• tail

Other

• not --- inverts a boolean value
• time --- returns the current system time in millis
• abs --- absolute value
• arg --- returns the argument of a complex number
• re, im --- returns the real or imaginary part of a complex number
• random --- a pseudorandom number between 0 and 1
• vals --- If applied to the unit "()", dumps all defined values (not pretty); if applied to a Module, dumps all values in that module.

stats.miffs

Module Stats

• Stats.sum --- sums a list
• Stats.mean --- finds the mean of a list
• Stats.sxx --- finds the squared deviation of a list
• Stats.var --- finds the variance (mean squared deviation) of a list
• Stats.sd --- returns the standard deviation of a list
• Stats.sigma --- returns sigma_n-1 of a list: the square root of the squared deviation over one less than the length of the list

gamma.miffs

Module Gamma

• Gamma.gammaln --- returns the natural log of the Gamma function
• Gamma.gamma --- returns the Gamma function
• Gamma.factln --- the natural log of factorial
• Gamma.fact --- the factorial function
• Gamma.binom --- the binomial coefficient (floating point)
• Gamma.binomexact --- the binomial coefficient (exact)
• Gamma.beta --- the Beta function