Erlang

Implementation of programming language Erlang

Erlang is the native implementation of Erlang programming language.

Links:

Examples:

Hello, World!:

Example for versions erl 5.7.3

First line notes that this module must be placed in file called prog.erl. Second line exports function main, of arity 0 (takes no parameters). Third line defines the function: all it does is output “Hello, World!”. 

-module(prog).
 
-export([main/0]).
 
main() -> io:format("Hello, World!~n").

Factorial:

Example for versions erl 5.7.3

This example uses recursive factorial definition. Note that Erlang has no built-in loops, so the example uses a recursive function which starts with larger values of N, but calls itself for N-1 before printing N!. loop(_) is a clause that defines evaluation of loop() when its argument is not an integer or is negative; it is necessary for a proper function definition. 

-module(prog).
 
-export([main/0, loop/1]).
 
fact(0) -> 1;
fact(N) -> N * fact(N-1). 
 
loop(N) when is_integer(N), N>=0 -> 
    loop(N-1),
    io:format("~B! = ~B~n",[N,fact(N)]);
loop(_) -> ok.
 
main() -> loop(16).

Fibonacci numbers:

Example for versions erl 5.7.3

This example uses iterative definition of Fibonacci numbers, expressed as tail recursion (each number is calculated only once). 

-module(prog).
 
-export([main/0]).
 
fib(1,_,Res) -> 
    io:format("~B, ",[Res]);
fib(N,Prev,Res) when N > 1 -> 
    io:format("~B, ",[Res]),
    fib(N-1, Res, Res+Prev).
 
main() -> 
    fib(16,0,1),
    io:format("...~n").

Fibonacci numbers:

Example for versions erl 5.7.3

This example uses Binet’s formula to calculate Fibonacci numbers. The doubles have to be printed with at least one decimal digit, so the output looks like this:

1.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 8.0, 13.0, 21.0, 34.0, 55.0, 89.0, 144.0, 233.0, 377.0, 610.0, 987.0, ... 

-module(prog).
 
-export([main/0]).
 
fib(0) -> ok;
fib(N) -> 
    fib(N-1),
    SQ5 = math:sqrt(5),
    T1 = math:pow(0.5*(1 + SQ5),N),
    T2 = math:pow(0.5*(1 - SQ5),N),
    io:format("~.1f, ", [(T1-T2)/SQ5]).
    
main() ->
    fib(16),
    io:format("...~n").

Quadratic equation:

Example for versions erl 5.7.3

fread function can return several values: eof to mark that the input stream has ended, tuple {ok, value} if the read succeeded, and tuple {error, message} if it failed for any other reason. Thus, when a number is read, it has to be extra processed to stripe it of these things. 

-module(prog).
 
-export([main/0]).
 
solve(A, B, C) -> 
    D = B*B - 4*A*C,
    if (D == 0) -> io:format("x = ~f~n", [-B*0.5/A]);
    true -> 
        if (D > 0) -> 
                SQ = math:sqrt(D),
                io:format("x1 = ~f~nx2 = ~f", [(-B+SQ)/2/A, (-B-SQ)/2/A]);
        true -> SQ = math:sqrt(-D),
                io:format("x1 = (~f,~f)~nx2 = (~f,~f)", [-0.5*B/A, 0.5*SQ/A, -0.5*B/A, -0.5*SQ/A])
        end
    end
.
    
main() -> 
    case io:fread("A = ", "~d") of
    eof -> true;
    {ok, X} ->
        [A] = X,
        if (A == 0) -> io:format("Not a quadratic equation.");
        true -> 
        case io: fread("B = ", "~d") of
            eof -> true;
            {ok, Y} ->
                [B] = Y,
                case io: fread("C = ", "~d") of
                eof -> true;
                {ok, Z} -> 
                     [C] = Z,
                     solve(A, B, C)
                end
            end
        end
    end.