stan-dev / stan-dev/stanc3

[FR] UDFs taking another UDF as argument

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feature
Dominant language
OCaml
Stars
160
Forks
59
Avg merge
21h 45m
Merged PRs (30d)
26

Description

A bit of a nice-to-have for simplifying more complex models would be the ability to pass a functions as an argument to another function.

With suggested signatures like:

functions {
  real mult(int x, real y) { return x * y; }
  real div(int x, real y) { return x / y; }
 
  real calc((int, real): real functor, int x, real y) {
    return functor(x, y);
  }
}

And usage:

int a = 1;
real b = 2;

real calc_mult = calc(mult, a, b);
real calc_div = calc(div, a, b);

And if it's not too tricky an additional request, being able to declare/assign functions would be great as well:

(int, real): real functor;

if (operation == 1) {
  functor = mult;
} else {
  functor = div;
}

real result = calc(functor, a, b);

Note that the above is a highly contrived and simplified example

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by locating how stanc3 parses and represents user-defined functions and function signatures, then determine the scope needed for passing and assigning functions. Done means the proposed examples are accepted and compile with the intended behavior, with tests covering both forms.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
ocaml
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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