Experimenting Recursion in DataWeave - Fibonacci Series

  In various programming languages, recursion is a process in which a method or function calls itself to simplify a complicated problem. Understanding recursive solution sometimes become difficult. Let's try to solve a mathematical problem through recursion with a twist by using DataWeave. The Fibonacci series is a generic use case that recursion can solve. This is a very generic question in programming interviews.

Photo by Natalya Letunova on Unsplash

What is Fibonacci Series?

A Fibonacci series is a set of integers starting with 0 followed by 1, and a series continuing with the sum of the preceding two integers in the sequence. For example,

Fn =0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34...

Mathematically,

F0=0

F1=1

Fn=F(n-1) + F(n-2)

Now transforming the above logic in the form of a recursive function to find the nth digit in the Fibonacci series.

DataWeave Recursive Function:

%dw 2.0
output application/json
fun fib_r(n)=
if (n<=0) 0
else if (n==1) 1
else
fib_r(n-1) + fib_r(n-2)
---
{
    recursive:fib_r(9)
}

Output

{
  "recursive": 34
}


Testing on dataweave playground and increasing the value of n. The moment we increase the value beyond 27, we get an ERROR. 

ERROR?

The error shows the execution time taken by dataweave is more than 2.5 seconds. But how do we know how much time is taken by the recursive function? Is there a way to capture the execution time within DataWeave without any custom code/java modules? It's a yes, The DataWeave has a utility module Timer, which can be used to capture execution time as well as the result of the functions.

%dw 2.0
import * from dw::util::Timer
output application/json
fun fib_r(n)=
if (n<=0) 0
else if (n==1) 1
else
fib_r(n-1) + fib_r(n-2)
---
{
    recursive:time(()->fib_r(27)),
    recursive_d:duration(()->fib_r(27))    
}

Output

{
  "recursive": {
    "start": "2023-06-13T16:33:29.053017Z",
    "result": 610,
    "end": "2023-06-13T16:33:29.059367Z"
  },
  "recursive_d": {
    "time": 6,
    "result": 610
  }
}

Duration gives us the time taken by function execution in milliseconds and the time function output the start and end timestamp of the execution. With this, the execution time can be measured easily.

Now, the real issue is if we need to find the nth digit(greater than 27) in the Fibonacci series by optimizing space and time. How can that be done?


Going back to programming days, there is a way of using Tail Recursion. Now what exactly is tail recursion?

Tail recursion is using the recursive function as the last statement of the function. The benefit of this approach is it optimises the space as the function doesn't need to keep the track of last 2 execution results. Since the result is populated as part of the last execution statement of the function. Putting the coding hats again for the DataWeave.

With the new function let's find out the 500th digit in the Fibonacci series.

%dw 2.0
import * from dw::util::Timer
output application/json
fun fib_r(n)=
if (n<=0) 0
else if (n==1) 1
else
fib_r(n-1) + fib_r(n-2)
//tail recursion
fun fib_tr(n, x=0, y=1)=
if(n<=0)
x
else if (n==1)
y
else
fib_tr(n-1,y,x+y)
---
{
    recursive:time(()->fib_r(5)),
    tailRecursive:time(()->fib_tr(500))
}

Output

{
  "recursive": {
    "start": "2023-06-13T16:48:46.007784Z",
    "result": 5,
    "end": "2023-06-13T16:48:46.007897Z"
  },
  "tailRecursive": {
    "start": "2023-06-13T16:48:46.007902Z",
    "result": 139423224561697880139724382870407283950070256587697307264108962948325571622863290691557658876222521294125,
    "end": "2023-06-13T16:48:46.010339Z"
  }
}

In nearly 4 milliseconds, the new tail recursive function can give results for the 500th digit in the series.

Can we improve the timings further?


In dataweave, we have a "reduce" function, which can be used to get output for the Fibonacci series even faster. Re-writing the logic with the "reduce" function is kind of challenging. After multiple trials and errors, one way is as below.

%dw 2.0
import * from dw::util::Timer
output application/json
fun fib_r(n)=
if (n<=0) 0
else if (n==1) 1
else
fib_r(n-1) + fib_r(n-2)
//tail recursion
fun fib_tr(n, x=0, y=1)=
if(n<=0)
x
else if (n==1)
y
else
fib_tr(n-1,y,x+y)
//with reduce
fun fib_rr(n)=
if(n<=0)
0
else
if(n==1)
1
else
([2 to n][0] reduce ((i,acc=[0, 1]) -> acc + (acc[i-1] + acc[i-2])))[n]
---
{
    recursive:time(()->fib_r(5)),
    tailRecursive:time(()->fib_tr(500)),
    reduce:time(()->fib_rr(500))
}

Output

{
  "recursive": {
    "start": "2023-06-13T17:04:41.724469Z",
    "result": 5,
    "end": "2023-06-13T17:04:41.72455Z"
  },
  "tailRecursive": {
    "start": "2023-06-13T17:04:41.724555Z",
    "result": 139423224561697880139724382870407283950070256587697307264108962948325571622863290691557658876222521294125,
    "end": "2023-06-13T17:04:41.726913Z"
  },
  "reduce": {
    "start": "2023-06-13T17:04:41.726923Z",
    "result": 139423224561697880139724382870407283950070256587697307264108962948325571622863290691557658876222521294125,
    "end": "2023-06-13T17:04:41.729307Z"
  }
}

The above DataWeave script is one of the many ways to solve the problem. On comparing all three approaches, the solution using reduce function performs best of all.


Please share your valuable feedback 😊😊😊



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