hanging at odd place, can still input but see nothing on screen (newbie)

etherC has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hey, sorry to post so much code, but I have no idea where the problem could be. Basically, this program is being designed to generate a number of grammatically correct sentences using random word data (btw, count is not a counter, it's a noun type). I'm new to subroutines and I'm not entirely sure I understand the passing process and return process. The issue however is not so much with those things which I do not understand about passing/returning, but currently why the program is hanging where it is. It's hanging before it even gets to "You entered such and such number", which I put it there to debug. I thought the program execution was linear from top to bottom - so why does it hang there? When it's hung, you can still enter data, but nothing happens until ctrl+C, and then it just goes on the command line. I omitted data from the word lists to save space. Oh, and when it was working before (not hanging I mean), it mentioned problems with uninitiated strings and/or concatenations so I passed data to the subroutines and now it just hangs... These were found in the createNP and createVP subroutines. I'm currently running WinXP (will be switching to a Linux environment soon). Sorry about the messy and incomplete code... (can anyone please give me a clue?)

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my @det;            #determiner
my @pro;            #pronoun
my @properNoun;        #proper noun
my @conj;            #conjunction
my @prep;            #preposition
my @intrans;        #intransitive verb
my @ditrans;        #ditransitive verb
my @trans;            #transitive verb
my @adv;            #adverb
my @adj;            #adjective
my @mass;            #mass noun
my @count;            #count noun
my @aux;            #auxilliary
my @noun;            #regular noun
my @pluralNoun;        #plural noun


@det =     (
    'the', 
    'a',

    'ninety'
        );

@pro =    (
    'it',
    'I',
    
    'ya',
    'theirs'
        );
        
@properNoun =    (
    'Alpesh',
    'Ann',
    
    'China',
    'Beijing'
                );
                
@conj =    (
    'and',
    'that',

    'provided that'
        );
                
@prep =    (
    'of',
    'in',
    
    'underneath',
    'relative to'
        );
        
@intrans =    (
    'die',
    'sleep',
    
    'paint',
    'travel'
            );
        
@trans =    (
    'edit',
    'hold',
    
    'make',
    'like'
            );
            
@ditrans =    (
    'advise',
    'ask',
    
    'tell',
    'urge'
            );
        

@adv =    (
    'accidentally',
    'afterwards',
    
    'yearly',
    'yesterday'
        );

@adj =    (
    'average',
    'big',
    
    'voiceless',
    'whispering'
        );

@noun =    (
    'assistance',
    'attempt',
    
    'breadwinner',
    'breakfast'
        );
        
@pluralNoun =    (
    'afternoons',
    'airmail',
    
    'breadwinners',
    'breakfasts'
                );
        
        
@mass =    (
    'wood',
    'cloth',
    
    'homework',
    'advice'
        );
        
@count =    (
    'pen',
    'table',
    
    'taboo',
    'rest'
            );
        
@aux =    (
    'will',
    'would',
    
    'could',
    'must'
        );
    

print "How many sentences would you like to generate? ";
chomp(my $num_to_gen = <STDIN>);

print "\nYou entered: $num_to_gen";


my $randnum;
my @np;
my @vp;
my @pp;
my $adjp;
my $sentence;


sub createADJP{                            
    $randnum = int(rand(2)+1);
        if ($randnum == 1)
        {
            $adjp = $adv[int(rand($#adv + 1))] . ' ' . $adj[int(rand($
+#adj + 1))];
            return $adjp;
        }
        else
        {
            $adjp = $adj[int(rand($#adj + 1))];
            return $adjp;
        }
}




sub createNP{
    my(@adjp);
    while ((my$counter = 0) < 100)
    {
    $randnum = int(rand(5)+1);        
        if ($randnum == 1)
        {
            $randnum = int(rand(2)+1);
                if ($randnum == 1)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $det[int(rand($#det + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $adjp . ' ' . $noun[int(rand($#noun + 1))];
                }
                else
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $det[int(rand($#det + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $noun[int(rand($#noun + 1))];
                }
        }
        elsif ($randnum == 2)
        {
            $np[$counter] = $pro[int(rand($#pro + 1))];
        }
        elsif ($randnum == 3)
        {
            $np[$counter] = $properNoun[int(rand($#properNoun + 1))];
        }
        elsif ($randnum == 4)
        {
            $randnum = int(rand(4)+1);
                if ($randnum == 1)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $det[int(rand($#det + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $adjp . ' ' . $pluralNoun[int(rand($#pluralNoun + 1))];
                }
                elsif ($randnum == 2)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $det[int(rand($#det + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $pluralNoun[int(rand($#pluralNoun + 1))];
                }
                elsif ($randnum == 3)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $adjp . ' ' . $pluralNoun[int(rand
+($#pluralNoun + 1))];
                }
                else
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $pluralNoun[int(rand($#pluralNoun 
++ 1))];
                }
        }
        else
        {
            $randnum = int(rand(4)+1);
                if ($randnum == 1)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $det[int(rand($#det + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $adjp . ' ' . $mass[int(rand($#mass + 1))];
                }
                elsif ($randnum == 2)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $det[int(rand($#det + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $mass[int(rand($#mass + 1))];
                }
                elsif ($randnum == 3)
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $adjp . ' ' . $mass[int(rand($#mas
+s + 1))];
                }
                else
                {
                    $np[$counter] = $mass[int(rand($#mass + 1))];
                }
        }
    
    $counter += 1;
    }

    return @np;
}
    



sub createVP{
    my(@np);
    while ((my$counter = 0) < 100)
    {
    $randnum = int(rand(3)+1);
        if ($randnum == 1)
        {
            $vp[$counter] = $intrans[int(rand($#intrans + 1))];
        }
        elsif ($randnum == 2)
        {
            $vp[$counter] = $trans[int(rand($#trans + 1))] . ' ' . $np
+[int(rand($#np + 1))];
        }
        else
        {
            $vp[$counter] = $ditrans[int(rand($#ditrans + 1))] . ' ' .
+ $np[int(rand($#np + 1))] . ' ' . $np[int(rand($#np + 1))];
        }
        
    $counter+= 1;
    }
        
    return @vp;
}
        



sub createPP{
    my(@np);
    while ((my $counter = 0) < 100)
        {
            $pp[$counter] = $prep[int(rand($#prep + 1))] . ' ' . $np[i
+nt(rand($#np + 1))];
            $counter += 1;
        }
        
    return @pp;
}




sub createSentence{
    $randnum = int(rand(2)+1);
    my(@np,@vp);
        if ($randnum == 1)
        {
            $sentence = ($np[int(rand($#np + 1))] . ' ' . $vp[int(rand
+($#vp + 1))]);
            return $sentence;
        }
        else
        {
            $sentence = ($np[int(rand($#np + 1))] . ' ' . $vp[int(rand
+($#vp + 1))] . ' ' . $conj[int(rand($#conj + 1))] . ' ' . $np[int(ran
+d($#np + 1))] . ' ' . $vp[int(rand($#vp + 1))]);
            return $sentence;
        }
}


&createADJP;
&createNP($adjp);
&createVP(@np);
&createPP(@np);
&createSentence(@np, @vp);


my$counter;

while (($counter = 0) < 100)        # adds PPs to NP array, every 7th 
+one
{
    $np[$counter] = $np[$counter] . ' ' . createPP($pp[int(rand($#pp +
+ 1))]); ; # 
    $counter +=7;
}


while (($counter = 1) < 100)        # adds CONJs to NP array, every 7t
+h one
{
    $np[$counter] = $np[$counter] . ' ' . $conj[int(rand($#conj + 1))]
+ . ' ' . $np[int(rand($#np + 1))];
    $counter +=7;
}


while (($counter = 0) < 100)        # adds AUXs to VP array, every 5th
+ one
{
    $vp[$counter] = $aux[int(rand($#aux + 1))] . ' ' . $vp[$counter];
    $counter +=5;
}


while (($counter = 1) < 100)        # adds PPs to VP array, every 5th 
+one
{
    $vp[$counter] = $vp[$counter] . ' ' . createPP($pp[int(rand($#pp +
+ 1))]);
    $counter +=5;
}
    



if (int(rand(1)))
{
    print &createSentence;
}
else
{
    print "\n" . $sentence . ' ' . $conj[int(rand($#conj + 1))] . ' ' 
+. $sentence;
}
<STDIN>
[download]

2005-01-19 Janitored by Arunbear - added readmore tags, as per Monastery guidelines

Comment on hanging at odd place, can still input but see nothing on screen (newbie) Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: hanging at odd place, can still input but see nothing on screen (newbie) by g0n (Priest) on Jan 19, 2005 at 11:03 UTC
try running this: `while ((my $counter=0) <100){print $counter++};` $counter is always 0, the syntax of the while is wrong try declaring $counter before the while, or use `for (my $counter=0;$counter<100;$counter++)` and ditch the $counter+=1. Its keeling over in createNP by the way. I found that out by putting in "print "foo\n";" in various places until it didn't get printed. Simple but effective!	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: hanging at odd place, can still input but see nothing on screen (newbie) by etherC (Initiate) on Jan 19, 2005 at 13:19 UTC
thank you Kumar and g0n, this is helping very much! \(^o^)/	[reply]
Re: hanging at odd place, can still input but see nothing on screen (newbie) by osunderdog (Deacon) on Jan 19, 2005 at 15:04 UTC
Whew! I started to refactor this but ran into some things I couldn't translate. So I thought I would point out what I found and let you do the work. (Who knows, it might be homework.) First off, you use the following block over and over. It screams for a subroutine: `$trans[int(rand($#trans + 1))]` [download] At first I wrote this as a sub called pick: `sub pick { my $aref = shift; return $aref->[int(rand(scalar(@$aref)))]; }` [download] Second, rather than having an array for each language element type, I would put this in a hash of arrays (HOA): `my %parts = ( det => [qw{the a ninety}], #determiner pro => [qw{it I ya theirs}], # pronoun properNoun => [qw{Alpesh Ann China Beijing}], # proper noun ...` [download] That way you could access individual items with: `$parts{adj}->[1]` [download] And combine this with the pick function I mentioned up above. To pick one word out of any part: `pick($parts{adj});` [download] Next a couple of observations. In createNP I ran across a problem. You're using a global variable `$randnum` to hold a random number: `sub createNP{ my(@adjp); while ((my$counter = 0) < 100) { $randnum = int(rand(5)+1); if ($randnum == 1) { $randnum = int(rand(2)+1); if ($randnum == 1)` [download] After looking at it, it looks right, but it would be better if you used a local variable to hold the random value that is used within a local scope. Also the problem with the while loop that was mentioned earlier. `sub createNP{ my(@adjp); my $counter = 0; while ($counter < 100) { my $outerRN = int(rand(5)+1); if ($outerRN == 1) { my $innerRN = int(rand(2)+1); if ($innerRN == 1)` [download] Finally, I noticed that you are using an array to accumulate results: `$np[$counter] = $pluralNoun[int(rand($#pluralNoun + 1))];` [download] This can be done without an index by using the `push` function. `push(@np , $pluralNoun[int(rand($#pluralNoun + 1))])` [download] All I've got time for now. HIH. *"Look, Shiny Things!"* is not a better business strategy than compatibility and reuse.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: hanging at odd place, can still input but see nothing on screen (newbie) by sasikumar (Monk) on Jan 19, 2005 at 10:52 UTC
Hi What does this sentence mean. Chk out what do u want here?? i suspect `sub createNP{ my(@adjp); while ((my $counter = 0) < 100)` [download] Update: Change all such while loops `sub createNP{ my(@adjp); my $counter=0; # sometimes $counter=1 as u do so inside the while +loop while (($counter) < 100)` [download] Thanks SasiKumar	[reply] [d/l] [select]