[Haskell-cafe] New New newbie question/help

[Balu Raman]

Thanks Paul.
Yes, I was missing a node in the polygon list.
I did  change to equilateralTri :: Float -> Float -> Float -> IO() for
the scalings that you mentioned. Yes, i was doing the snowflake
problem.
thanks,
balu raman

On 6/27/07, Paul Hudak <paul.hudak at yale.edu> wrote:
>       Hi Balu.  It looks like you've gotten some excellent advice from
> others, but permit me to add a further comment regarding the broader
> context, now that I've had a chance to look a little closer.
>
>  It looks like you're trying to solve the "fractal snowflake" exercise.  One
> of the challenges in programming with numbers is deciding what
> representation to use.  Ints are great because they are efficient, but if
> you need to use trigonometric functions such as sine, etc. then you need
> Floats or Doubles.  The problem here is that you need both -- you need Ints
> because polygon is defined in terms of pixels, which are represented as
> Ints, and you need Floats because you need to compute the coordinates of an
> equilateral triangle, which (interestingly) can't be represented using
> integer coordinates.  But also, in the case of the snowflake fractal, you
> will need to scale the size as you recurse.  The reason that the latter is
> important is that it implies that the arguments to equilateralTri should
> perhaps be floats -- otherwise you will once again run into numeric
> conversion problems as you try to scale the arguments (unless you always
> start with a pixel size that is a multiple of six).
>
>  So -- I would still suggest using Window -> Float -> Float -> Float -> IO()
> as the type for equilateralTri.  It's only when you make the call to polygon
> that you need Ints.  And there you can just use "round" to convert the
> Floats to Ints.
>
>  As an aside, looking at your code a bit closer, I see this:
>
>      (polygon [(x,y),(a,b),(x,y)]))
>          where
>              b = y + side * sin(pi/3)
>              a = x + side * cos(pi/3)
>
>  Something is not right here -- you repeat (x,y) as a vertex.  Probably the
> third vertex should be (x+side,y).  Also, note that sin (pi/3) and cos
> (pi/3) are constants (namely 0.866... and 0.5, resp.).
>
>  I hope this helps,
>
>      -Paul
>
>
>  Balu Raman wrote:
> I am for ever obliged to this haskell community. Who would have thought that
> Prof.Hudak would reply instantly, from on-the-road. I am reading his SOE.
> Thanks so much.
>
>  I went with peterv's response after trying so many things.
>  I tried to change to : equilateralTri Window -> Float -> Float -> Float ->
> IO()
>  which bombed because polygon wants list of integer-pairs.
>
>  I read the definitions of fromIntegral and round and they are defined as :
>
>  fromIntegral :: (Num b, Integral a) => a -> b
>  round :: (RealFrac a, Integral b) => a->b
>  Is it proper/ok to defines them as :
>  fromIntegral :: (a::Integral) -> (b::Num)
>  and
>  round :: (a::RealFrac) -> (b::Integral)  ?
>  Is RealFrac is-a Num ?
>  Does the order matters in (Num b,Integral a) => a -> b or
>                                             (Integral a,Num b) => a -> b
>
>  With your encouragements, I'll keep pluuging. Thanks.
>  - br
>
>
> On 6/27/07, peterv <bf3 at telenet.be> wrote:
> I'm also a haskell newbie, but I'll try to help; the experts here will
>  correct me if I'm wrong.
>
>  The compiler cannot in all cases infer the type of a number. pi can be a
>  Float, a Double, or even a complex number.
>
>  Furthermore unlike in C/C++ you cannot just mix integer and floating
>  operations.
>
>  For example, the following works for me:
>
>  f :: Int -> Int
>  f side = round ( (fromIntegral side) * sin ( (pi::Float) / 3 ) )
>
>  or easier
>
>  f side = round ( (fromIntegral side) * sin (pi / 3.0) )
>
>  I'm sure the experts here will have a better solution.
>
>  Peter
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From:  haskell-cafe-bounces at haskell.org
>  [mailto:haskell-cafe-bounces at haskell.org] On Behalf Of Balu Raman
>  Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:25 PM
>  To:  Haskell-Cafe at haskell.org
>  Subject: [Haskell-cafe] New New newbie question/help
>
>  Hi,
>  Hope someone can help me, just starting out with SOE.My code :
>  module Main where
>  import Graphics.SOE.Gtk
>
>  spaceClose :: WIndow -> IO()
>  spaceClose w = do k <- getKey w
>                                     if k == ' ' then closeWindow w
>                                                     else spaceClose w
>
>  equilateralTri :: Window -> Int -> Int -> Int -> IO()
>  equilateralTri w x y side
>                         = drawInWindow w (withColor Red
>                                                             (polygon
>  [(x,y),(a,b),(x,y)]))
>                             where
>                              b = y + side * sin(pi/3)
>                              a = x + side * cos(pi/3)
>  main =
>         runGraphics(
>                                do w <- openWindow "Equilateral
>  Triangle" (400,400)
>                                      equilateralTri w 50 300 200
>                                      spaceClose w
>                              )
>
>  all of the above in file triangle.hs
>  when I do a :l triangle.h in ghci,  I get the following error
>  triangle.hs:17:36:
>          No instance for (Floating Int)
>               arising from use of 'pi' at triangle.hs:17:36-37
>          Probable fix: add an instance declaration for (Floating Int)
>          In the first argument of '(/)', namely 'pi'
>          In the first argument of 'cos', namely '(pi / 3)'
>          In the second argument of '(*)', namely 'cos (pi/3)'
>  Failed, modules loaded: none
>
>  Can someone help me what's going on to a brand new newbie. All I can
>  figure out is that some type mismatch between float and int . I tried
>  various
>  combinations of lets and wheres and I still get the same complaints.
>  I am just linearly studying SOE
>  Thanks,
>  - br
>
>
>