NAME

List::Compare::SeenHash - Compare elements of two or more lists

VERSION

This document refers to version 0.18 of List::Compare::SeenHash. This version was released June 1, 2003.

SYNOPSIS

What Is a Seen-Hash?

A seen-hash is a hash where the value for a given element represents the number of times the element's key is observed in a list. For the purposes of List::Compare::SeenHash, what is crucial is whether an item is observed in a list or not; less crucial is how many times the item occurs in a list.

Regular Case: Compare Two Lists

Create a List::Compare::SeenHash object. Build seen-hashes corresponding to two lists, then pass references to the seen-hashes to the constructor.

my %Llist = (
   abel     => 2,
   baker    => 1,
   camera   => 1,
   delta    => 1,
   edward   => 1,
   fargo    => 1,
   golfer   => 1,
);

my %Rlist = (
   baker    => 1,
   camera   => 1,
   delta    => 2,
   edward   => 1,
   fargo    => 1,
   golfer   => 1,
   hilton   => 1,
);

$lcsh = List::Compare::SeenHash->new(\%Llist, \%Rlist);

Get those items which appear at least once in both lists (their intersection).

@intersection = $lcsh->get_intersection;

Get those items which appear at least once in either list (their union).

@union = $lcsh->get_union;

Get those items which appear (at least once) only in the first list.

@Lonly = $lcsh->get_unique;
@Lonly = $lcsh->get_Lonly;    # alias

Get those items which appear (at least once) only in the second list.

@Ronly = $lcsh->get_complement;
@Ronly = $lcsh->get_Ronly;            # alias

Get those items which appear at least once in either the first or the second list, but not both.

@LorRonly = $lcsh->get_symmetric_difference;
@LorRonly = $lcsh->get_symdiff;       # alias
@LorRonly = $lcsh->get_LorRonly;      # alias

An alternative approach to the above methods: If you do not immediately require an array as the return value of the method call, but simply need a reference to an array, use one of the following parallel methods:

$intersection_ref = $lcsh->get_intersection_ref;
$union_ref        = $lcsh->get_union_ref;
$Lonly_ref        = $lcsh->get_unique_ref;
$Lonly_ref        = $lcsh->get_Lonly_ref;                 # alias
$Ronly_ref        = $lcsh->get_complement_ref;
$Ronly_ref        = $lcsh->get_Ronly_ref;                 # alias
$LorRonly_ref     = $lcsh->get_symmetric_difference_ref;
$LorRonly_ref     = $lcsh->get_symdiff_ref;               # alias
$LorRonly_ref     = $lcsh->get_LorRonly_ref;              # alias

Return a true value if L is a subset of R.

$LR = $lcsh->is_LsubsetR;

Return a true value if R is a subset of L.

$RL = $lcsh->is_RsubsetL;

Return a true value if L and R are equivalent, i.e. if every element in L appears at least once in R and vice versa.

$eqv = $lcsh->is_LequivalentR;
$eqv = $lcsh->is_LeqvlntR;            # alias

Pretty-print a chart showing whether one list is a subset of the other.

$lcsh->print_subset_chart;

Pretty-print a chart showing whether the two lists are equivalent (same elements found at least once in both).

$lcsh->print_equivalence_chart;

Determine in which (if any) of the lists passed to the constructor a given string or strings can be found. Get a reference to a hash of arrays where an element's key is the string being tested and the element's value is a reference to an anonymous array holding a list of the indices in the list of arguments passed to the constructor corresponding to lists holding that key.

$memb_hash_ref = $lcsh->member_which(qw| abel baker fargo hilton zebra |);

Instead of passing a list to member_which(), you may also pass a reference to an array.

$memb_hash_ref = $lcsh->member_which([ qw| abel baker fargo hilton zebra | ]);

In the two examples above, the result will be:

{
     abel     => [ 0    ],
     baker    => [ 0, 1 ],
     fargo    => [ 0, 1 ],
     hilton   => [    1 ],
     zebra    => [      ],
};

Similar to the above, but testing only one string at a time. Determine in which (if any) of the lists passed to the constructor a single given string can be found. In list context, get an array holding a list of the indices in the list of arguments passed to the constructor corresponding to lists holding that key.

@memb_arr = $lcsh->single_member_which('abel');

In the example above, @memb_arr will be:

( 0 )

In scalar context, get a reference to an anonymous array holding a list of the indices in the list of arguments passed to the constructor corresponding to lists holding that key.

$memb_arr_ref = $lcsh->single_member_which('baker');

In the example above, $memb_arr_ref will be:

[ 0, 1 ]

Return current List::Compare::SeenHash version number.

$vers = $lcsh->get_version;

Accelerated Case: When User Only Wants a Single Comparison

If you are certain that you will only want the results of a single comparison, computation may be accelerated by passing '-a' as the first argument to the constructor.

my %Llist = (
   abel     => 2,
   baker    => 1,
   camera   => 1,
   delta    => 1,
   edward   => 1,
   fargo    => 1,
   golfer   => 1,
);

my %Rlist = (
   baker    => 1,
   camera   => 1,
   delta    => 2,
   edward   => 1,
   fargo    => 1,
   golfer   => 1,
   hilton   => 1,
);

$lcsha = List::Compare::SeenHash->new('-a', \@Llist, \@Rlist);

All the comparison methods available in the Regular case are available to the user in the Accelerated case as well.

@intersection     = $lcsha->get_intersection;
@union            = $lcsha->get_union;
@Lonly            = $lcsha->get_unique;
@Ronly            = $lcsha->get_complement;
@LorRonly         = $lcsha->get_symmetric_difference;
$intersection_ref = $lcsha->get_intersection_ref;
$union_ref        = $lcsha->get_union_ref;
$Lonly_ref        = $lcsha->get_unique_ref;
$Ronly_ref        = $lcsha->get_complement_ref;
$LorRonly_ref     = $lcsha->get_symmetric_difference_ref;
$LR               = $lcsha->is_LsubsetR;
$RL               = $lcsha->is_RsubsetL;
$eqv              = $lcsha->is_LequivalentR;
                    $lcsha->print_subset_chart;
                    $lcsha->print_equivalence_chart;
$memb_hash_ref    = $lcsha->member_which(
                              qw| abel baker fargo hilton zebra |);
$memb_hash_ref    = $lcsha->member_which(
                              [ qw| abel baker fargo hilton zebra | ]);
@memb_arr         = $lcsha->single_member_which('abel');
$memb_arr_ref     = $lcsha->single_member_which('baker');
$vers             = $lcsha->get_version;

All the aliases for methods available in the Regular case are available to the user in the Accelerated case as well.

Multiple Case: Compare Three or More Lists

Create a List::Compare::SeenHash object. Put each list into an array and pass references to the arrays to the constructor.

%Al = (
    abel    => 2,
    baker   => 1,
    camera  => 1,
    delta   => 1,
    edward  => 1,
    fargo   => 1,
    golfer  => 1,
);

%Bob = (
    baker   => 1,
    camera  => 1,
    delta   => 2,
    edward  => 1,
    fargo   => 1,
    golfer  => 1,
    hilton  => 1,
);

%Carmen = (
    fargo   => 1,
    golfer  => 1,
    hilton  => 1,
    icon    => 2,
    jerky   => 1,
    kappa   => 1,
);

%Don = (
    fargo   => 1,
    icon    => 1,
    jerky   => 1,
);

%Ed = (
    fargo   => 1,
    icon    => 2,
    jerky   => 1,
);

$lcshm = List::Compare::SeenHash->new(\%Al, \%Bob, \%Carmen, \%Don, \%Ed);

Multiple Mode Methods Analogous to Regular and Accelerated Mode Methods

Each List::Compare::SeenHash method available in the Regular and Accelerated cases has an analogue in the Multiple case. However, the results produced usually require more careful specification.

Get those items found in each of the lists passed to the constructor (their intersection):
```
@intersection = $lcshm->get_intersection;
```
Get those items found in any of the lists passed to the constructor (their union):
```
@union = $lcshm->get_union;
```
To get those items which appear only in one particular list, pass to get_unique() that list's index position in the list of arguments passed to the constructor. Example: @Carmen has index position 2 in the constructor's @_. To get elements unique to @Carmen:
```
@Lonly = $lcshm->get_unique(2);
```
If no index position is passed to get_unique() it will default to 0 and report items unique to the first list passed to the constructor.

To get those items which appear in any list other than one particular list, pass to get_complement() that list's index position in the list of arguments passed to the constructor. Example: @Don has index position 3 in the constructor's @_. To get elements not found in @Don:
```
@Ronly = $lcshm->get_complement(3);
```
If no index position is passed to get_complement() it will default to 0 and report items found in any list other than the first list passed to the constructor.

Get those items which do not appear in more than one of the lists passed to the constructor (their symmetric_difference);
```
@LorRonly = $lcshm->get_symmetric_difference;
```
An alternative approach to the above methods: If you do not immediately require an array as the return value of the method call, but simply need a reference to an array, use one of the following parallel methods:
```
$intersection_ref = $lcshm->get_intersection_ref;
$union_ref        = $lcshm->get_union_ref;
$Lonly_ref        = $lcshm->get_unique_ref(2);
$Ronly_ref        = $lcshm->get_complement_ref(3);
$LorRonly_ref     = $lcshm->get_symmetric_difference_ref;
```
To determine whether one particular list is a subset of another list passed to the constructor, pass to is_LsubsetR() the index position of the presumed subset, followed by the index position of the presumed superset. A true value (1) is returned if the left-hand list is a subset of the right-hand list; a false value (0) is returned otherwise. Example: To determine whether @Ed is a subset of @Carmen, call:
```
$LR = $lcshm->is_LsubsetR(4,2);
```
If no arguments are passed, is_LsubsetR() defaults to (0,1) and compares the first two lists passed to the constructor.

To determine whether any two particular lists are equivalent to each other, pass their index positions in the list of arguments passed to the constructor to is_LequivalentR. A true value (1) is returned if the lists are equivalent; a false value (0) otherwise. Example: To determine whether @Don and @Ed are equivalent, call:
```
$eqv = $lcshm->is_LequivalentR(3,4);
```
If no arguments are passed, is_LequivalentR defaults to (0,1) and compares the first two lists passed to the constructor.

Pretty-print a chart showing the subset relationships among the various source lists:
```
$lcshm->print_subset_chart;
```
Pretty-print a chart showing the equivalence relationships among the various source lists:
```
$lcshm->print_equivalence_chart;
```
Determine in which (if any) of the lists passed to the constructor a given string or strings can be found. Get a reference to a hash of arrays where an element's key is the string being tested and the element's value is a reference to an anonymous array holding a list of the indices in the list of arguments passed to the constructor corresponding to lists holding that key.
```
$memb_hash_ref = $lcshm->member_which(qw| abel baker fargo hilton zebra |);
```
Instead of passing a list to member_which(), you may also pass a reference to an array.
```
$memb_hash_ref = $lcshm->member_which([ qw| abel baker fargo hilton zebra | ]);
```
In the two examples above, the result will be:
```
{
     abel     => [ 0    ],
     baker    => [ 0, 1 ],
     fargo    => [ 0, 1 ],
     hilton   => [    1 ],
     zebra    => [      ],
};
```
Similar to the above, but testing only one string at a time. Determine in which (if any) of the lists passed to the constructor a single given string can be found. In list context, get an array holding a list of the indices in the list of arguments passed to the constructor corresponding to lists holding that key.
```
@memb_arr = $lcshm->single_member_which('abel');
```
In the example above, @memb_arr will be:
```
( 0 )
```
In scalar context, get a reference to an anonymous array holding a list of the indices in the list of arguments passed to the constructor corresponding to lists holding that key.
```
$memb_arr_ref = $lcshm->single_member_which('baker');
```
In the example above, $memb_arr_ref will be:
```
[ 0, 1 ]
```
Return current List::Compare::SeenHash version number:
```
$vers = $lcshm->get_version;
```
Multiple Mode Methods Not Analogous to Regular and Accelerated Mode Methods

Get those items found in any of the lists passed to the constructor which do not appear in all of the lists (i.e., all items except those found in the intersection of the lists):
```
@nonintersection = $lcshm->get_nonintersection;
```
Get those items which appear in more than one of the lists passed to the constructor (i.e., all items except those found in their symmetric difference);
```
@shared = $lcshm->get_shared;
```
If you only need a reference to an array as a return value rather than a full array, use the following alternative methods:
```
$nonintersection_ref = $lcshm->get_nonintersection_ref;
$shared_ref = $lcshm->get_shared_ref;
```

DESCRIPTION

General Comments

List::Compare::SeenHash is an object-oriented implementation of very common Perl code (see "History, References and Development" below) used to determine interesting relationships between two or more lists at a time. A List::Compare::SeenHash object is created and automatically computes the values needed to supply List::Compare::SeenHash methods with appropriate results. In the current implementation List::Compare::SeenHash methods will return new lists containing the items found in any designated list alone (unique), any list other than a designated list (complement), the intersection and union of all lists and so forth. List::Compare::SeenHash also has (a) methods to return Boolean values indicating whether one list is a subset of another and whether any two lists are equivalent to each other (b) methods to pretty-print very simple charts displaying the subset and equivalence relationships among lists.

In its current implementation List::Compare::SeenHash generates its results by means of hash look-up tables ('seen hashes'). Hence, multiple instances of an element in a given list count only once with respect to computing the intersection, union, etc. of the two lists. In particular, List::Compare::SeenHash considers two lists as equivalent if each element of the first list can be found in the second list and vice versa. 'Equivalence' in this usage takes no note of the frequency with which elements occur in either list or their order within the lists. List::Compare::SeenHash asks the question: Did I see this item in this list at all? List::Compare::SeenHash does not ask the question: How many times did this item occur in this list?

List::Compare::SeenHash Modes

In its current implementation List::Compare::SeenHash has three modes of operation.

Regular Mode

List::Compare::SeenHash's Regular mode is based on List::Compare v0.11 -- the first version of List::Compare::SeenHash released to CPAN (June 2002). It compares only two lists at a time. Internally, its initializer does all computations needed to report any desired comparison and its constructor stores the results of these computations. Its public methods merely report these results.

This approach has the advantage that if the user needs to examine more than one form of comparison between two lists (e.g., the union, intersection and symmetric difference of two lists), the comparisons are already available. This approach is efficient because certain types of comparison presuppose that other types have already been calculated. For example, to calculate the symmetric difference of two lists, one must first determine the items unique to each of the two lists.
Accelerated Mode

The current implementation of List::Compare::SeenHash offers the user the option of getting even faster results provided that the user only needs the result from a single form of comparison between two lists. (e.g., only the union -- nothing else). In this Accelerated mode, List::Compare::SeenHash's initializer does no computation and its constructor stores only references to the two source lists. All computation needed to report results is deferred to the method calls.

The user selects this approach by passing the option flag '-a' to the constructor before passing references to the two source lists. List::Compare::SeenHash notes the option flag and silently switches into Accelerated mode. From the perspective of the user, there is no further difference in the code or in the results.

Benchmarking suggests that List::Compare::SeenHash's Accelerated mode (a) is faster than its Regular mode when only one comparison is requested; (b) is about as fast as Regular mode when two comparisons are requested; and (c) becomes considerably slower than Regular mode as each additional comparison above two is requested.
Multiple Mode

List::Compare::SeenHash now offers the possibility of comparing three or more lists at a time. Simply store the extra lists in arrays and pass references to those arrays to the constructor. List::Compare::SeenHash detects that more than two lists have been passed to the constructor and silently switches into Multiple mode.

As described in the Synopsis above, comparing more than two lists at a time offers the user a wider, more complex palette of comparison methods. Individual items may appear in just one source list, in all the source lists, or in some number of lists between one and all. The meaning of 'union', 'intersection' and 'symmetric difference' is conceptually unchanged when we move to multiple lists because these are properties of all the lists considered together. In contrast, the meaning of 'unique', 'complement', 'subset' and 'equivalent' changes because these are properties of one list compared with another or with all the other lists combined.

List::Compare::SeenHash takes this complexity into account by allowing the user to pass arguments to the public methods requesting results with respect to a specific list (for get_unique() and get_complement()) or a specific pair of lists (for is_LsubsetR() and is_LequivalentR()).

List::Compare::SeenHash further takes this complexity into account by offering the new methods get_shared() and get_nonintersection() described in the Synopsis above.

Miscellaneous Methods

It would not really be appropriate to call get_shared() and get_nonintersection() in Regular or Accelerated mode since they are conceptually based on the notion of comparing more than two lists at a time. However, there is always the possibility that a user may be comparing only two lists (accelerated or not) and may accidentally call one of those two methods. To prevent fatal run-time errors and to caution the user to use a more appropriate method, these two methods are defined for Regular and Accelerated modes so as to return suitable results but also generate a carp message that advise the user to re-code.

Similarly, the method is_RsubsetL() is appropriate for the Regular and Accelerated modes but is not really appropriate for Multiple mode. As a defensive maneuver, it has been defined for Multiple mode so as to return suitable results but also to generate a carp message that advises the user to re-code.

ASSUMPTIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS

The program was created with Perl 5.6. The use of h2xs to prepare the module's template installed require 5.005_62; at the top of the module. This has been commented out in the actual module as the code appears to be compatible with earlier versions of Perl; how earlier the author cannot say. In particular, the author would like the module to be installable on older versions of MacPerl. As is, the author has successfully installed the module on Linux (RedHat 7.2, Perl 5.6.0) and Windows98 (ActivePerl 5.6.1). See the CPAN home page for this module for a list of other systems on which this version of List::Compare::SeenHash has been tested and installed.

HISTORY, REFERENCES AND DEVELOPMENT

The Code Itself

List::Compare::SeenHash is based on code presented by Tom Christiansen & Nathan Torkington in Perl Cookbook http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cookbook/ (a.k.a. the 'Ram' book), O'Reilly & Associates, 1998, Recipes 4.7 and 4.8. Similar code is presented in the Camel book: Programming Perl, by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pperl3/, 3rd ed, O'Reilly & Associates, 2000. The list comparison code is so basic and Perlish that I suspect it may have been written by Larry himself at the dawn of Perl time.

List::Compare::SeenHash is an extension of List::Compare, by the same author. List::Compare's original objective was simply to put this basic code in a modular, object-oriented framework. That framework, not surprisingly, is taken mostly from Damian Conway's Object Oriented Perl http://www.manning.com/Conway/index.html, Manning Publications, 2000.

With the addition of the Accelerated and Multiple modes, List::Compare::SeenHash expands considerably in both size and capabilities. Nonetheless, Tom and Nat's Cookbook code still lies at its core: the use of hashes as look-up tables to record elements seen in lists. This approach means that List::Compare::SeenHash is not concerned with any concept of 'equality' among lists which hinges upon the frequency with which, or the order in which, elements appear in the lists to be compared. If this does not meet your needs, you should look elsewhere or write your own module.

The Inspiration

I realized the usefulness of putting the list comparison code into a module while preparing an introductory level Perl course given at the New School University's Computer Instruction Center in April-May 2002. I was comparing lists left and right. When I found myself writing very similar functions in different scripts, I knew a module was lurking somewhere. I learned the truth of the mantra ''Repeated Code is a Mistake'' from a 2001 talk by Mark-Jason Dominus http://perl.plover.com/ to the New York Perlmongers http://ny.pm.org/. See http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2000/11/repair3.html. The first public presentation of this module took place at Perl Seminar New York http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perlsemny on May 21, 2002. Comments and suggestions were provided there and since by Glenn Maciag, Gary Benson, Josh Rabinowitz, Terrence Brannon and Dave Cross.

The inspiration to extend List::Compare to List::Compare::SeenHash emerged as I was preparing to attend the first Yet Another Perl Conference::Canada conference, held in Ottawa, Ontario, May 15-16, 2003. (See http://yapc.ca.) The placement in the installation tree of Test::ListCompareSpecial came as a result of a question answered by Michael Graham in his talk "Test::More to Test::Extreme" given at that conference.

AUTHOR

James E. Keenan (jkeenan@cpan.org).

Creation date: May 20, 2002. Last modification date: June 1, 2003. Copyright (c) 2002-3 James E. Keenan. United States. All rights reserved. This is free software and may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

To install List::Compare, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm List::Compare

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install List::Compare

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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