Re: st: MATA function modifies global variables

[Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com>]

That's right. See the chapter "The by-address calling convention" in
the mata manual and a quote:

"Arguments are passed to functions by address, not by value. If you
change the value of an argument,
you will change the caller’s argument."

Here are some simpler examples:
mata mata clear
mata
    Y=1,2,3,4,5
    real matrix foobar(real matrix y) {
      y=y'
      return(y)
    }

    Y
    foobar(Y)
    foobar(Y)


    S="abcdefg"
    strlen(S)
    string foobars(string s) {
      s=substr(s,1,strlen(s)-1)
      return(s)
    }

    S
    foobars(S)
    foobars(S)


    N=17
    real foobarn(real n) {
      n=n-1
      return(n)
    }

    foobarn(N)
    foobarn(N)


end



Best, Sergiy

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 4:23 PM, George Vega Yon <g.vegayon@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry, I forgot to change that, blop_vec() is "myfun" and neig is "X".
> I'll just rewrite the code with the corrections. Thank you!
>
> __________________________
> mata:
> /* Function definition */
> real colvector myfun(real colvector y, real matrix x) {
>
> real matrix z
>
> y = y'
> x = x'
>
> ... some code lines (no poiter to Y or X)...
>
> return(z)
> }
>
> X = (
>         0,0 \
>         1,0 \
>         1,1 \
>         0,1 \
>         1/2,1/2\
>         .9,1/2 \
>         .2,.5 \
>         .8,.3
>         )
> Y = runiform(rows(X),1)
>
>
> /* Testing */
> timer_clear()
> for(i=1;i<=100;i++) {
>         timer_on(1)
>         YC = myfun(Y,X)
>         timer_off(1)
> }
> timer()
>
> end
> __________________________
> George Vega Yon
> 7 647 2552
> http://cl.linkedin.com/in/georgevegayon
>
>
> 2013/6/6 Sergiy Radyakin <serjradyakin@gmail.com>:
>> Can you tell us what neig is? what blop_vec is?
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 4:10 PM, George Vega Yon <g.vegayon@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Dear Statalisters,
>>>
>>> I'm having a weird problem on variables' scope. I have a function that
>>> takes two objects (a real colvector and a matrix) wich, once inside
>>> the function, are transposed. This function returns a matrix (builded
>>> inside of the function of course). The problem is that the function
>>> seems to actually transpose the global objects (not only the copies
>>> within the function), thing that, as far as I know, should not be
>>> happening as I'm not using pointers to the global objects.
>>>
>>> My code looks something like this
>>> __________________________
>>> mata:
>>> /* Function definition */
>>> real colvector myfun(real colvector y, real matrix x) {
>>>
>>> real matrix z
>>>
>>> y = y'
>>> x = x'
>>>
>>> ... some code lines (no poiter to Y or X)...
>>>
>>> return(z)
>>> }
>>>
>>> Y = runiform(rows(neig),1)
>>> X = (
>>>         0,0 \
>>>         1,0 \
>>>         1,1 \
>>>         0,1 \
>>>         1/2,1/2\
>>>         .9,1/2 \
>>>         .2,.5 \
>>>         .8,.3
>>>         )
>>>
>>>
>>> /* Testing */
>>> timer_clear()
>>> for(i=1;i<=100;i++) {
>>>         timer_on(1)
>>>         YC = blop_vec(Y,X)
>>>         timer_off(1)
>>> }
>>> timer()
>>>
>>> end
>>> __________________________
>>>
>>>
>>> I get the error
>>>
>>> __________________________
>>> myfun:  3203  Y[1,8] found where colvector required
>>>                  <istmt>:     -  function returned error
>>> __________________________
>>>
>>> Thanks in advanced,
>>>
>>> George Vega Yon
>>> 7 647 2552
>>> http://cl.linkedin.com/in/georgevegayon
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