Calling NIF in Erlide IDE - erlang

Is it possible to call NIF functions from an Erlang program using Erlide if so is there any tutorial,article to help me run my first example

I'm not sure what you mean. An Erlang program running under erlide is no different than any Erlang program, so calling NIFs works as usual.
If you mean that you have a C project where you develop a NIF and you want to test it, then there is no direct support. I would believe that what might be missing is configuration so that the NIF .so is found, but I haven't been writing NIFs so I'm not sure.
If you mean something else, please give a little more details. What did you try and what didn't work?

Related

ESP8266 - Is it possible to just run Lua from C (not the full NodeMCU environment)?

I'm working with ESP8266 and I don't want to use Lua for the whole project, I just want to run a few snippets of Lua code, received from wifi/sd card. I'd need to start a Lua environment and run the scripts, which would then eventually call some native functions for low level tasks. In other words, I just want to use Lua as simple scripting language (as it's intended to be) to implement some dynamic behavior. Is it possible? Is there any build of lualib for arduino?
Thanks in advance!
You can simply embed Lua in a extlibs/ folder for example and link to it when compiling your program.
There is existing Lua binaries but building it yourself is easy and better (as it's multiplatform).
OK, I know both answers told me I can just embed the code into my project, however, I found out I need to make some small changes. I made an example working project available here and the following list of changes had to be made:
The flags LUA_32BITS and LUA_USE_LONGJMP (C exception handling) were enabled
The following libraries were excluded: io, os, package, coroutine
The following functions were removed from C API: luaL_fileresult, luaL_execresult, luaL_loadfile, luaL_loadfilex, luaL_dofile, luaB_loadfile, luaB_dofile
Lua output messages are redirected to the Serial interface, check tinylua.h, tinylua.cpp and lauxlib.h to change this behavior
Hope this helps!
The ESP8266 has up to 4MB of program storage. Theoretically you can get up to 16MB as the datasheet specifies.
As I remember, compiling an amalgamated version of Lua (all sources in one file), occupies less than 100kb.
So, you can compile the Lua library and use it as needed on esp8266, even using Arduino IDE.
But you will get NAKED Lua if you do so... No nifty libraries to control Wifi, serial, SD, ports... You would have to provide that in C, or use NodeMCU code as you need.
You can try LuaJIT and access C code directly from Lua, cutting out the need for writing libraries. I have no idea of how you would compile it to Esp8266, or if anyone have tried this before, but you can do it "for science" and tell us how it turned out.

Is there something like Python help function in Fsharp interactive?

Using Python in command line you can write help(function) to see docstring.
Is there something similar in Fsharp for fsi?
Do you have any tips and tricks for working in fsi anyway?
What is even possible to find out without using IDE? Just from interactive session.
EDIT:
This question is actually addressed to Python guys who know Fsharp as well. I guess MS guys relying on their VS might find my question pretty strange :)
So far it seems that my question has simple answer: NO.
EXAMPLE:
Lets say you are logged to remote computer via console. I dont know whether this is typical or even possible scenario. For some reason I started fsi and now what? Am I lost or do I have some chances to get some help from fsi directly
DISCLAMER:
I know Scott Wlaschins fsharpforfunandprofit.com pretty well. But his example is dedicated to C# users. Pythonists have different workflow.
If you are used to interactive python, and you like the approach, you may have a look at this F# engine for iPython Notebook:
https://github.com/fsprojects/IfSharp
Yes.
Simple introspection can be done by typeof <_> or typedefof<_>.
For example:
typeof<System.Console>;;
In fsi you can use TAB completation, but apperantly just from command line. It is not working in my Xamarin.
Neat trick is to run:
fsi --use:yourfile.fsx
which run your file and let you test it interactively.
For more info you can use in command line fsi.exe --help.

Dart: Possible to exchange source code on the fly in a running system?

In this article it says: "The Dart VM reads and executes source code, which means there is no compile step between edit and run.". Does that mean that you can exchange source-code on the fly in a running Dart system like in Erlang? Maybe the compiler is removed from the runtime system and then this is no longer possible. So that's why I'm asking.
Dart is run "natively" only in Dartium, which is a flavour of Chrome with DartVM. When you develop an application you still need to compile it it to JavaScript. This way you get fast development lifecycle and in the end you can compile code to JS. Because it's compiled code there is lots more room for compiler to run optimisations on the code. So from my perspective, the compiler is still there and I don't think you would be able to replace code at runtime.
You can send around source code and run it, but it would need to be in a separate isolate. Isolates do have some relationship to Erlang concepts.
The Dart VM doesn't support hot swapping (Called live edit in V8). However, based on mailing list discussions, it sounds like this is something that the authors do want to support in the future.
However, as the others have mentioned, it is possible to dynamically load code into another isolate.

Is it possible to run erlang without compilation?

Is there any VM for Erlang that allows you to do compilation on the fly instead of compiling before?
There is a possibility to compile from the shell, thanks Martin.
Now, from the Erlang shell (or some other module!):
1> compile:file("mymod.erl").
{ok,mymod}
2> mymod:myfun().
Hello Joe
Is there any pros or cons with doing this?
Will you still be able to hot swap code?
Is it the regular use-case to handle code?
What benefits does the compiler give you in the end then?
From the Erlang shell, you can compile a module on the fly using c("path/to/module.erl"). You can also access this functionality through the compile module, specifically the compile:file/{1,2} functions.
For example, suppose we have a file mymod.erl:
-module(mymod).
-export([myfun/0]).
myfun() -> io:format("Hello Joe~n").
Now, from the Erlang shell (or some other module!):
1> compile:file("mymod.erl").
{ok,mymod}
2> mymod:myfun().
Hello Joe
See Erldocs on the compile module for more information.
You can do a great deal with the Erlang compiler in runtime. For example, you can dynamically generate code for a module (use erl_syntax!) and then compile it without even writing it to a file using compile:forms/{1,2}.
(Insert standard speech on great power and great responsibility.)
Will you still be able to hot swap code?
Yes.
Is it the regular use-case to handle code?
No. Normally Erlang code is compiled ahead of time into BEAM bytecode. Depending on whether Erlang was started in embedded or interactive mode, the modules are either loaded on startup, or dynamically as they are referenced. If you are building a release, you basically have to compile ahead of time.
What benefits does the compiler give you in the end then?
Well, for one thing, we can build compact releases without unnecessary components like the compiler. Of course, we also get all the traditional benefits of ahead-of-time compilation, particularly that of not having to waste time compiling all the time.
To sum it up, unless you fully understand the implications and have a very good reason not to compile your code ahead of time, please follow the standard practices.
The Erlang VM can only run compiled code! If you want to interpret Erlang code then you need an interpreter. The module erl_eval implements an Erlang interpreter and is part of the standard Erlang/OTP distribution. It is used by the Erlang shell to interpret the expressions entered.
All code handling in the Erlang VM, whether compiling, loading or updating, is done at the module level so it is impossible to compile or load a just one function. The Erlang compiler is written in Erlang and always available and can compile to either a file or a binary which can be immediately loaded into the system. As #MartinTörnwall has pointed out compiling a module from the shell using c(module) is in essence compiling on the fly.
So there would be no problems in automatically compiling code on the fly when it is used, at the module level. It is just that the current system is not designed to work that way and by default when it tries to load a module it only looks for the pre-compiled object file, the .beam file.
Erlang has an interpreter escript. Entire Erlang archive can be written in script. Almost all features are available.
By default, the script will be interpreted. You can force it to be compiled by including the -mode(compile). in the script.
Though it depends on the way you design your application, regular practice is to have .erl files which are compiled and run than having escript files.
So now you have many options.
Compile .erl file to .beam using c(my_module) this auto loads the .beam file. So the existing VM can run it on the fly. On in code you can use compile module functions like file, purge and load to load and run it on the fly.
Compile and keep the .erl files using erlc, erl -make, rebar, etc (Erlang has rich support) and then run it. You can build archives, boot scripts, rel etc to manage running and release of the Erlang software. This usually is the practice for production.
Use escript and run everything in interpreted mode.
Use escript and give -mode(compile) option to tell Erlang VM that at runtime (when starting to run escript) compile the code and run the compiled code (in memory)
Is there any pros or cons with doing this?
Compiled code is faster than interpreted code. I dont see any other right now in Erlang as pretty much everything is supported in both. Erlang even supports combination (Calling compiled code from interpreted code)
Will you still be able to hot swap code?
Yes in all cases. Your code also should be able to handle this.
Is it the regular use-case to handle code?
Option 2 for production. Option for 1 for learning / simple development. Option 3 and 4 in need basis for specific requirements (May be one time running).
What benefits does the compiler give you in the end then?
To make it clear, erlc program provides a common way to run all compilers in the Erlang system and compile module gives an interface to Erlang compilers. Compiler gives intermediate binary .beam file which helps in running Erlang code faster than interpreted counterpart. They also catch syntax errors (compilation errors).

Signal Processing Algorithm Psola or Wsola in Delphi

I'm trying a long-time to find algorithm PSOLA (Pitch Synchronous Overlap Add) or WSOLA (Waveform Similarity Overlap Add) which are Acoustic or Signal Processing Algorithms.
I found it in c++, but I have no experience in c++ and is difficult to pass it to Pascal. Anyone have this code in Pascal or know where to find it to copy?
Something like this example that is in c++
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mffmtimescale/files/v3%20stable/v3.9/WSOLA.v.3.9.zip/download?use_mirror=ufpr
Try the SoundTouch DLL, it comes with a Delphi import unit, so you can use the DLL directly. It should not be too hard to compile it. Just download the free VC++ Express from the MS download site and compile it with that or ask someone with VC++ to compile it for you.
FWIW, who knows, with a few modifications, it might also compile with C++Builder.
About one decade ago, I've used praat in FSeqEdit (Delphi program) to do these type of calculations, but I think the same approach would still work fine today.
I wrote some praat-scripts and execute them via praatcons.exe (console version of praat). You can download the console version from this page:
http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/download_win.html
That works pretty good.
I usually take this approach:
I manually check what type of conversions and calculations need to be done via the GUI version of praat. Once I find what I need, I create a script for it, and run that with the console version.
Praat is very powerful, so if you didn't know about it yet, make sure to check it out.
There's a page that shows how to work with PSOLA resynthesis here:
http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~kyoon/praat-tut/praat-tut2.html
Let me know if you want to see some example code on how to integrate it into your Delphi application (it's pretty straightforward actually).

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