A fluent-interface for chaining algorithms, iterating, and performing REGEX over slices.

Installation

Installation

You can install the library by adding it to the build.zig.zon file, either manually like so:

.{
    ...
    .dependencies = .{
        .Fluent = .{
            .url = "https://github.com/andrewCodeDev/Fluent/archive/refs/tags/release_2.3.3.tar.gz",
            .hash = "...",
        }
    }
    ...
}

The hash can be found using the builtin command:

zig fetch https://github.com/andrewCodeDev/Fluent/archive/refs/tags/release_2.3.3.tar.gz

Or you can also add it automatically like so:

zig fetch --save https://github.com/andrewCodeDev/Fluent/archive/refs/tags/release_2.3.3.tar.gz

Then in the build.zig, you can add the following:

const Fluent = b.dependency("Fluent", .{
    .target = target,
    .optimize = optimize,
});

exe.root_module.addImport("Fluent", Fluent.module("Fluent"));

The name of the module (Fluent) can be changed to whatever you want.

Finally in your code you can import the module using the following:

const Fluent = @import("Fluent");

Examples

Use REGEX to find all substrings starting with a, b, or c followed by digits in a string:

var itr = Fluent.match("[abc]\\d+", "_ab112_c987b123_d16_");

while (itr.next()) |substr| { // ...

Use REGEX to split a string on any whitespace:

var itr = Fluent.split("\\s+", "This is a string");

while (itr.next()) |substr| { // ...

Form complex REGEX statement to extract email addresses:

const string = "myname.myfirstname@gmail.com";

var itr = Fluent.match("[a-zA-Z0-9_!#$%&.-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+", string);

while (itr.next()) |str| { ...

Trim punctuation or whitespace by combining REGEX and the Fluent Interface:

const trimmed = Fluent.init(string).trim(.all, .regex, "[\\s.?!,]+");

Concatenate, trim, and title string:

const result = Fluent.init(str_a)   // initialize our interface on str_a
        .concat(str_b, buf[0..])    // concatenate str_b into buffer
        .trim(.left, .scalar, ' ')  // trim spaces on left side
        .title();                   // python title function

REGEX statements can be run at comptime:

fn foo(string: []const u8) bool {
    comptime {
        return Fluent.init(string).contains(.regex, "\\w+");
    }
}
// later...
const x: if (foo("a")) usize else u8 = 1;

Fuse map-functions to calculate sigmoid to buffer:

const x = Fluent.init(buf[0..])
    .copy(&[_]f32{ -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 })
    .map(.{
        Fluent.negate,
        std.math.exp,
        Fluent.bind(.{ 1.0 }, Fluent.add),
        Fluent.bind(.{ 1.0 }, Fluent.div),
    });

Copy the reverse of a list using a reverse iterator:

const count = Fluent.iterator(.reverse, items_a[0..]).write(items_b[0..]);

Sum up the square of all elements that are even:

const rdx = Fluent
    .iterator(.forward, items[0..])
    .filter(isEven) // user-defined function
    .map(sqr)       // user-defined function
    .reduce(i32, Fluent.add, 0);

Set stride and iteratively produce slice-windows:

var itr = Fluent
    .iterator(.forward, items[0..])
    .strided(2);

while (itr.window(4)) |window| { // ...

Fuse multiple unary functions and filters:

var itr = Fluent
    .iterator(.forward, items[0..])
    .map(.{
        Fluent.negate,
        std.math.exp,
    }).filter(.{
        skipNans,
        skipInfs,
    });

while (itr.next()) |value| { // ...

Fluent Explained

What makes it "fluent"?

The fluent interface is a programming pattern that centers around method chaining.

// without method-chaining...
const y = trim(.all, x, " ");
const z = sort(y, .asc);

// with method-chaining...
const y = x.trim(.all, " ").sort(.asc);

This pattern can encourage brevity and reduce intermediate variables.

Chainable and Terminal methods:

There are two kinds of methods in fluent: Chainable and Terminal

• Chainable methods return another fluent interface.
• Terminal methods return various types such as usize

Chainable methods include algorithms like sort, rotate, and map.

Terminal methods include algorithms like count and max.

Function composition:

To reduce the number of intermediate calls, fluent enables composing unary functions.

Any method starting with the word map allows applying a function or a function tuple. This includes map and mapReduce.

The iterator function filter applies filters sequentially to determine if an element will be returned by next.

Iterators (standard and REGEX)

Fluent iterators come in Scalar and REGEX versions.

Scalar iterators have the following characteristics:

• Direction - can be forward or reverse.
• Filters - a single (or tuple) of unary predicates to determine if an element will be included.
• Transforms - a single (or tuple) of unary mapping functions applied to elements.
• Stride - the distance an iterator steps on each iteration (default 1).

These characteristics can be chained to construct a scalar iterator:

// create an iterator with filters, transforms, and stride
var itr = Fluent
    .iterator(.forward, slice)
    .map(.{
        // ...
    }).filter(.{
        // ...
    }).strided(N);

REGEX iterators take an expression and a string and return substrings.

These iterators include:

• Match - returns substrings that match an expression.
• Split - splits a string based on an expression.

Algorithms

General Backend:

Immutable:

all           - check if all elements of the acquired slice are true by given predicate
concat        - appends the aquired slice to a given slice into a given buffer
contains      - check if contains a given scalar, sequence, or any
containsFrom  - check if contains a given scalar, sequence, or any after a given index
count         - counts all, left, right given a scalar, sequence, or any
endsWith      - checks if the acquired slice ends with a scalar, sequence, or any
equal         - returns true if lexicogrpahical order is equal to a given slice
find          - returns first index of scalar, slice, or any
findFrom      - returns first index after a given position of scalar, slice, or any
getAt         - returns an element for given positive or negative index
join          - appends the aquired slice to a given range of slices into a given buffer
mapReduce     - applies unary function and reduces on intial value and binary function
max           - returns an optional maximum value from the acquired slice
min           - returns an optional minimum value from the acquired slice
none          - check if no elements of the acquired slice are true by given predicate
product       - returns the product of all elements or zero if slice is empty
print         - prints the acquired slice based on a given format string
order         - returns the lexicographical order compared to a given slice
reduce        - returns a reduction based on an intial value and binary function
slice         - chainable slicing operation for acquired slice
startsWith    - checks if the acquired slice starts with a scalar, sequence, or any
sample        - randomly samples a range from the acquired slice given a size
sum           - returns the sum of all elements or zero if slice is empty
trim          - trims left, right, or all based on any, sequence, or scalar
write         - writes the acquired slice to a given buffer

Mutable:

copy          - copy a given slice into the acquired slice
fill          - fills the acquired slice with a scalar value
map           - transforms every elment in the acquired slice with a given unary function
reverse       - reverses the acquired slice
rotate        - rotates the array by both negative and positive amounts
setAt         - sets a given position with a provided value using index wrapping
shuffle       - randomly shuffles the acquired slice
sort          - sorts the range in ascending or descending order

String Backend:

Immutable:

count          - counts all, left, right given a scalar or regex
digit          - returns integer (or error) parsed from string
differenceWith - returns set diference between acquired slice and given slice
float          - returns floating-point number (or error) parsed from string
intersectWith  - returns set intersection between acquired slice and given slice
isDigit        - check if string only contains digits
isAlpha        - check if string only contains alphabetic characters
isSpaces       - check if string only contains whitespace
isLower        - check if string only contains alphabetic lower case
isUpper        - check if string only contains alphabetic upper case
isHex          - check if string only contains hexidecimal characters
isASCII        - check if string only contains ASCII characters
isPrintable    - check if string only contains printable characters
isAlnum        - check if string only contains alpha numeric characters
trim           - trims left, right, or all based on scalar or regex
unionWith      - returns set union between acquired slice and given slice

Mutable:

lower          - transform all alphabetic characters to lower case
upper          - transform all alphabetic characters to upper case
capitalize     - transform first character to upper case and rest to lower case
title          - capitalize each sequence separated by spaces

Iterator Support:

Fluent iterator (forward/reverse):

next            - return an optional value and advance by stride
window          - return a slice and advance by stride
filter          - acquire a unary predicate or a tuple of unary predicates
map             - acquire a unary transform or a tuple of unary transforms
write           - loop and write remaining iterator values to buffer
reduce          - accumulate the range using a binary function and initial value
strided         - set iterator stride (default 1)

Fluent iterator (REGEX):

match           - match substrings based on an expression
split           - splits a string based on a delimiting expression

REGEX - (PCRE Standard)

Special Characters:

^  - begins with
$  - ends with
.  - any character
\d - digits
\D - no-digits
\w - alphanumeric
\W - no-alphanumeric
\s - whitespace
\S - no-whitespace

Quantifiers:

+     - one or more
*     - any quantity
?     - none or one
{n}   - exactly n
{m,n} - between m and n (inclusive)

Operators:

|     - alternation (or clause)
()    - capture group
[]    - character set
[^]   - negated character set
[a-z] - character spans
(?=)  - positive lookahead
(?!)  - negative lookahead