[Haskell] How to make sure that a function is evaluated only once?

[Axel Jantsch]

Thanks to all who replied. I still haven't figured out a solution. I
thought about memoizing the result, as several of you have suggested,
but I am scared by the huge argument space.

Lemmih <lemmih at gmail.com> wrote:

> Do you have a minimal test case showing the undesirable behaviour?


gf (actCnt,sndCnt, sizex, sizey, locx, locy) iPack 
  = (newSndCnt sndCnt outPack, outPack)
    where 
    outPack = fWrapper sizex sizey locx locy actCnt iPack
    newSndCnt n (Abst,_) = n
    newSndCnt n (Prst _,_) = n + 1

This is a simplified context for the call to the C function, which is
wrapped by fWrapper.
I figured out that one reason for double evaluation is that outPack is
used twice in the return expression of gf.

So my question now is, can I force the evaluation machine to evaluate
fWrapper once and use the same result value in both places where outPack
is used?

I tried the NOINLINE pragma both on outPack and on fWrapper, but to no
avail.

Again, I am grateful for any hint to a work-around.

Cheers,
Axel

> On 12/21/06, Axel Jantsch <axel at kth.se> wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have a function with type
> >
> > f :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> Int -> NRup -> NRdown
> >
> > and I want to make sure it is evaluated only once for the same set of
> > arguments but I observe that it is always evaluated several times.
> >
> > f is implemented in C and called via the FFI. The C function may or may
> > not be pure. In principle it is but it is convenient to keep some state
> > for debugging and monitoring.
> > Anyway, even if it is pure, I want it to evaluate only once for a set of
> > arguments because of performance.
> >
> > How can I enforce this?
> > Is there a GHC option for that?
> > Is there a way to write the Haskell code to achieve this?
> >
> >
> > I have asked the same question in the context of FFI, but now it seems to
> > me this question is not directly related to the FFI.
> 
> Haskell implementations are free to evaluate expressions as many times
> as they feel like. If you want to be absolutely sure, use the IO
> monad. On the other hand, you might get the same effect with a few
> cleverly placed {-# NOINLINE #-} pragmas.
> Do you have a minimal test case showing the undesirable behaviour?
> 
> -- 
> Cheers,
>   Lemmih
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Phone: +46 8 790 4124, Email: axel at kth.se, Web: www.it.kth.se/~axel