permutation-way

About

This is a module to deliver asynchronously one unique permutation of the input array.

You can get permutations of any objects into an array. If you want to get permutation of complex object you should provide a comparator function.

Examples

Declaration

The module permutation-way has one function: permutationOf( inputArray[, comparator][, options] ).

Where parameters are

• inputArray an array of any type element
• comparator a function used to compare each element of the inputArray. This is optional
• options an object to give extra options to the permutation engine.
  • options.max is a number that give the maximum number of permutation to receive. This is usefull if you want only 4 permutations for an inputArray of 10 elements.

The inputArray is always returned first. So if you want to receive 4 fresh new permutation at maximum for a big array, you must set the options.max to 5.

Simple Example

We see how to get permutation of simple javascript types.

var p = require( 'permutation-way' );

var input = [ 1, 2, 3 ];

p.permutationOf( input ).on( 'data', function ( data ) {
  // display one permutation
  console.log( data );
} ).on( 'end', function () {
  // end of permutation
  console.log( 'end' );
} ).on( 'error', function ( err ) {
  // Error object.
  // Error types: invalid input or all permutation not found (which should never happen)
} );

This will output into the console:

[ 1, 2, 3 ]
[ 1, 3, 2 ]
[ 3, 1, 2 ]
[ 3, 2, 1 ]
[ 2, 3, 1 ]
[ 2, 1, 3 ]

Even the input array match one permutation and hence is emmitted too.

Events

• 'data' event is emmitted for each permutation array found
• 'end' event is emmitted once all permutation were found without error
• 'error' event is emmitted if an error is met like invalid input or not all permutation found

Permutation of objects

You need to pass a comparator function to to the second argument of the fuunction permutationOf

var p = require( 'permutation-way' );

var input = [ {code:1}, {code:2}, {code:3} ];
/**
 * compare two objects and tells about the order of one object relative to the second object.
 */
function comparator ( a, b ) {
  if ( a.code > b.code ) {
    // after
    return 1;
  } else if ( a.code < b.code ) {
    // before
    return -1;
  } else {
    // equals
    return 0;
  }

p.permutationOf( input, comparator ).on( 'data', function ( data ) {
  // display one permutation
  console.log( data );
} ).on( 'end', function () {
  // end of permutation
  console.log( 'end' );
} ).on( 'error', function ( err ) {
  // Error object.
  // Error types: invalid input or all permutation not found (which should never happen)
} );

Much more permutations.

If you want to play with a high volume of permutation, you can start with an array of 10 elements.

Limit the number of permutation to receive

You have to set the options.max to a positive number. If the value of options.max is not a number of is a negative number, then an 'error' event is emitted. If this value is set to 0, then, no 'data' event is emitted.

if you set options.max the permutation found will be compared with the options.max value set. An error will be emitted if both value are not the same.

var p = require( 'permutation-way' );

var input = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ];
var options = {
  max: 6
};

p.permutationOf( input, options ).on( 'data', function ( data ) {
  // display one permutation
  console.log( data );
} ).on( 'end', function () {
  // end of permutation
  console.log( 'end' );
} ).on( 'error', function ( err ) {
  // Error object.
  // Error types: invalid input or all permutation not found (which should never happen)
} );

Interrupt the permutation count

Let's say you have a big array and you do not want to handle all its permutation. You can either set the options.max value or you can interrupt the permutation search based on an external condition

var p = require( 'permutation-way' );

var input = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ];
var actualCount = 0;

function checkError ( data ) {
  var hasError = false;
  // do something and set hasError...
  return hasError;
}

var pengine = p.permutationOf( input ).on( 'data', function ( data ) {
  // display one permutation
  actualCount++;
  console.log( data );
  if ( actualCount >= 4 ) {
    pengine.interrupt();
  }  else if ( checkError( data ) ) {
    pengine.interrupt( new Error( 'Error found' ) );
  }

} ).on( 'end', function () {
  // end of permutation
  console.log( 'end' );
} ).on( 'error', function ( err ) {
  // Error object.
  // Error types: invalid input or all permutation not found (which should never happen)
} );