Tag Archive

Table of Contents

Chapter Four – Predicates

Key Ideas

A predicate is an operation whose output is always either the word true or the word false.
For example:

? print listp [ hello ]
true
? print listp "hello
false
? print listp [ hello ]
true
? print listp [ ]
true
? print wordp "hello
true

By convention, predicates often end in ‘p’ or ‘?’. Here’s an example of defining your own predicate using a built-in predicate:

to vowel? :letter
  output memberp :letter [a e i o u]
end

? print vowel? "i
true
? print vowel? "y
false

if is a command with two inputs. The first input must be either the word true or the word false. The second input must be a list containing Logo instructions. If the first input is true, the instructions are evaluated.

ifelse is a procedure that requires three inputs. The first input must be either the word true or the word false. The second and third inputs must be lists of Logo instructions. If the first input is true, the list in the second input is evaluated; otherwise, the list in the third input is evaluated. ifelse is unusual in that it can be used as a command or operation.

test is a command that takes one input that is either true or false. test stores its input in special variable that is local to the procedure from which test is invoked. iftrue (abbreviated ift) is a command with one input – a list of Logo instructions which are evaluated if the most recent test command stored true. iffalse (abbreviated iff) is similar except that the list of instructions are evaluated if the recent test was false.

and is a predicate with two inputs each of which must be true or false. The ouput is true if both inputs are true; otherwise, it is false.

or is a similar predicate whose output is true if either input is true.

not is a predicate with one input (true or false) whose output is the opposite of the input.

When ifelse is used as an operation, the output is the result of evaluating the list of instructions in either the second or third inputs depending on whether the first input was true or false respectively. For example:

? print sentence "It's ifelse 2=3 ["correct] ["incorrect]
It's incorrect

to abs :number
  output ifelse :number < 0 [-:number] [:number]
end

? print abs -7
7
? print abs 7
7

stop is a command that takes no inputs that finishes the evaluation of the procedure in which it is used. An output command also finishes the evaluation of the procedure in which it occurs. If you’re writing an operation, which should have an output, you use output; if you’re writing a command, which doesn’t have an output, you use stop.

repeat is a command with two inputs. The first input is a non-negative whole number. The second input is a list of Logo instructions which will be evaluated the number of times given as the first input.

Questions

1) What type of operation always outputs either the word true or the word
   false?

2) Do names of predicates have to end in the letter p? Is it a good idea
   to name your predicates with names ending in the letter p? What would
   be another good way to name a predicate?

3) List eleven primitive predicates that are named in this chapter:

4) What is another way to say the same thing as the following?
   equalp "hello last [goodbye hello]

5) Fill in the blank so the command prints true:
   print memberp ______ [barnes noble]

6) Fill in the blank so the command prints true:
   print memberp _____ "chitty

7) Create a predicate, even?, that returns true if the input is even.

8) Write a procedure that will print the specified output when given
   the specified input:
   input: Brian
   output: [Hello Brian]

   input: [Brian Adkins]
   output: [Hello Mr. Adkins]

   input: [Brian Xavier Adkins]
   output: [Xavier is a nice middle name.]

9) Write integerp, as described on p. 66

10) Write the procedure converse that's described on the bottom of p. 67.

11) Read the section entitled "About Those Brackets" on the top of p. 69 again to
    make sure you understand it.

12) Which primitive predicates takes only one input?

13) Use the operation form of ifelse to output the input word backwards if it has
    an odd number of characters or output it normally if it has an even number of
    characters.

    to evenword? :value
      output equal? 0 (remainder count :value 2)
    end

    to condreverse :value
      output ifelse ______________________________________________
    end

    print condreverse "hello   -> olleh
    print condreverse "hi      -> hi
    print condreverse "daddy   -> yddad

14) How are output and stop similar? How are they different?

15) Write a predicate, palindrome?, that outputs true if a word is a
    palindrome. A word is a palindrome if it is the same forward and backward.

    print palindrome? "hello  -> false
    print palindrome? "mom    -> true
    print palindrome? "wow    -> true

16) Write a procedure that uses the palindrome? predicate you wrote in #15 to
    accept a list and output a list containing only the words that are
    palindromes.

    print palindromes [hello mom daddy wow doogood] -> mom wow doogood

Table of Contents

Part 3 was written with the help of my daughter.

Chapter Three – Variables

Key Ideas

To have a procedure accept input parameters, provide the names of the input parameters preceded by a colon. The colon provides a distinction between the procedure name and input parameters. Some versions of Logo don’t require the colon.

to greet :person

Thing is an operation that takes an input which is the name of a container and outputs the contents of the container.

? to greet :person
> print sentence "Hello, thing "person
> end
greet defined
? greet "Brian
Hello, Brian

An abbreviation for thing “person is to simply use a colon.

:person

Sometimes you can even leave the colon off, but you shouldn’t depend on that.

Readlist is an operation that waits for you to type a line, then outputs what you type.

output is a command that has the effect of making its input available as the output of the procedure it’s within.

Logo uses dynamic scope for its variables; however, it’s good style to minimize referencing variables in calling procedures.

make is a command that accepts two inputs. The first input is a word that is the name of a variable; the second input is a value to assign to the variable.

? make "name [Brian Adkins]
? print :name
Brian Adkins

The following two lines are equivalent:

make "new  ld
make first [new old] thing last [new old]

If the first input to make refers to a non-existent variable, a new globabl variable is created. To create a variable local to the procedure, use the local command.

make can use computed names in addition to quoted names. For example, the increment procedure below:

? to increment :variable
> make :variable (thing :variable)+1
> end
increment defined
? make "foo 7
? increment "foo
? print :foo
8

A procedure is functional if it always gives the same output when invoked with the same input(s).

Questions

1) Work through all the examples in the chapter to make sure you
   understand them.

2) Every variable has a ____ and a _____.

3) Define "formal parameter" and "actual argument"

4) What is another way to say the following?
    thing "name

5) Take problem #8 from chapter 1 and solve it without using make to
   store a temporary variable. Do you like this solution better or
   worse than your solution in chapter 1?

6) A complete instruction begins with which of the following?
  operation
  command

7) Write the procedure you're asked to write on p. 46 to conjugate
   French verbs.

8) Consider the following command:

  to thang :thing
    print thing :thing
  end

   How would you invoke this procedure to get it print the following?

   thing

9) Write the procedure you're asked to on p. 49:

10) Write the helper procedure you're asked to write on p.54

11) What will the following print?

  make "foo 7
  make last [foo oof] sum thing first [foo oof] 7
  print oof

12) How do you prevent a global variable from being created when using
    make with a name that is not the name of an input?

13) What will the following print?
  make "a "b
  make "b "c
  make "c "d
  make "d 7
  print thing thing thing "a

Table of Contents

Background

It’s been a while since I posted Learning Logo – Part One. I’ve resumed Logo lessons with my kids, so I thought I’d post the chapter questions I’ve created for each chapter to accompany Brian Harvey’s excellent texts (see link above for free PDF files for the textbooks).

Chapter One – Exploration

Key Ideas

Chapter one introduces Logo and some of the vocabulary. Simple procedures are written and you learn how to save and load files.

Questions

1) Write a program to print the following:
   Hello, world!

2) What version of Logo are you using?

3) How many times will hello be printed with the following program?
   repeat 2 [repeat 2 [repeat 2 [print "hello]]]

4) What is the word to clear the screen? What is its abbreviation?

5) Write a program to print your name 10 times.

6) What does the name Logo come from?

7) Name some Logo procedures.

8) How do you save the workspace to a file named my.logo?

9) How do you load a file named my.logo into the workspace?

Chapter Two – Procedures

Key Ideas

Everything in Logo is done with procedures. Initially, Logo knows about 200 procedures. These are called primitive procedures.

Using the output from one procedure as an input to another procedure is called composition of functions.

In Logo there are two kinds of procedures: commands and operations. An operation is a procedure that computes a value and outputs it. A command is a procedure that does not output a value, but instead has some effect such as printing something on the screen, moving a turtle, or making a sound.

To have Logo treat a word as itself instead of evaluating it, you must quote the word by typing a quotation mark (“) in front of it.

You can combine several words to form a list by using square brackets. For example, [Hello world]. The members of a list can also be lists. For example:

[ [North Carolina] Ohio [South Dakota] ]

The brackets in Logo serve two purposes – they delimit a list and they also quote the list so the members are not evaluated as procedures.

Logo provides several operations for taking data apart and putting data together. Words come apart into characters and lists come apart into whatever data are the members of the list. A sentence, which is a list of words, comes apart into words. For example:

? print first "Hello
H
? print first [How are you?]
How

Logo provides infix arithmetic as well as prefix arithmetic. For example:

print 2+3
vs.
print sum 2 3

Certain primitive procedures can be given extra inputs, or fewer inputs than usual, by using parentheses around the procedure name and all its inputs. For example:

? print sum 2 3 4
5
You don't say what to do with 4
? print (sum 2 3 4)
9
? show (list "one)
[one]
? show (list)
[ ]

Sum, product, word, list, sentence, and print can be used with any number of inputs.

Logo allows creating your own procedures. For example:

to hello
  print "Hello
end

Questions

1) What is the word that describes the special punctuation and organization of
   a programming language?

2) About how many procedures does Logo know without you teaching it any? What
   type of procedures are these (e.g. what is a word that describes them)?

3) What is the word that refers to a value that one procedure computes and
   hands on to another procedure?

4) Using the examples of tanks with inputs and outputs as described on p. 15,
   draw a picture of the following, then use the picture to determine what will
   be printed before trying it in Logo:

  print product sum 1 sum 2 3 sum 4 5

5) What are the two kinds of procedures in Logo? What is the difference between
   them?

6) Why doesn't the following code work?
  print Hello

7) Fill in the blanks, "In computer science, to _____ something means to
   prevent it from being ________."

8) What are four ingredients of a proper description of a procedure?

9) What will the following print?
  print first first [Hello world]

10) How many inputs does the sentence operation take?

11) What will each of the following instructions print? Think about why.
  print sentence [one two] [three four]
  print list [one two] [three four]
  print item 2 list [one two] [three four]
  print item 2 sentence [one two] [three four]

12) Use only the following procedures and data (you can use them more than
    once) to print Logo

  first butfirst butlast word print [I Love Pogo]

13) How would you write an instruction to print the sum of 1, 2 and 3?

14) What are three reasons parentheses are used in Logo instructions?