Python Generators in Numerical Study of Discrete Dynamical Systems¶

In this IPython Notebook we present generators as an excelent tool provided by Python for computational mathematics in general, and for the numerical study of discrete dynamical systems in particular.

Generators functions form a special class of functions. In order to understand objects that are returned by these functions we recall a few details about iterable objects and iterators in Python.

A container in Python is an object that contains other objects (example of containers are lists, tuples, strings, files, etc).

A container, container, is iterable if it is allowed to run over its items with a for statement:

for item in  container:
print(item)

The lists, strings and tuples are iterable objects. Dictionaries and files are also iterable.

Iteration is the process of accessing and returning one item at a time from a container.

Examples:

In [1]:
L = [2, 5, 1]#list
for k in L:
print(k)

2
5
1

In [2]:
S = "string"
for c in S:
print(c)

s
t
r
i
n
g

In [3]:
T=(4, 9, 7)#tuple
for t in T:
print(t)

4
9
7


The iteration over a dictionary d returns its keys:

In [4]:
d={'lst': [4,7,1], 'today': 'monday', 'nr': 10}

for item in d:
print(item)

lst
today
nr


An iteration over a file object returns the file's lines:

In [5]:
f = open("toyfile.txt")# f is a file object i.e.  a container for the file's lines
for line in f:
print(line)

this is the first line

second line

final line



The above examples are built-in iterable objects in Python.

Iterators¶

Intuitively, an iterator is an object that produces a stream of items, according to a prescribed protocol.

From the programming language point of view an iterator is an object of a class that has the methods __iter__, and __next__. By the iterator protocol these methods act as follows:

The __iter__ method returns the iterator object itself, and the __next__ method returns the next item of the stream.

How does a container, that is an iterable object, relate with an iterator?

The built-in function iter takes a container and returns an iterator.

In all the above examples, for item in container launches the iterator protocol. The for statement calls iter() on the container object.

• it=iter(container) is an iterator object and by calling next(it) are accessed the container's items, one at a time.

• When there are no more items, next(it) raises a StopIteration exception, which forces the for loop to terminate.

Let us explicitly call iter() on the list, L, and file object f, defined above:

In [6]:
it_list=iter(L)
print (next(it_list), next(it_list), next(it_list))

2 5 1

In [7]:
it_file = iter(f) # iterator associated  to the file object f
print(next(it_file))

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
StopIteration                             Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-7-03a1a05b3409> in <module>
1 it_file = iter(f) # iterator associated  to the file object f
----> 2 print(next(it_file))

StopIteration: 

We notice that calling three times the next() method for the iterator associated to the list, L, all three items are successively returned, while a single call next(it_file) for the iterator associated to the file object, raises the StopIteration exception. This means that the stream of lines was exhausted when we called for line in f, and no line can be accessed again.

If we reopen the file its lines are also accessible:

In [8]:
it_f = iter(open('toyfile.txt'))
for _ in range(3):
print(next(it_f))

this is the first line

second line

final line



Hence the iterators associated to built-in containers can exhibit different behaviours. While the lists can be iterated as many times as we want, a file can be iterated only once after it was open.

The reader can experiment the behavior of the iterators iter(S), iter(T), and iter(d), associated to the string S, tuple, T, and dictionary, d, defined above.

We conclude that:

Iterables are objects that define an iterator when they are passed to the iter() built-in function.

Generators¶

Generators functions provide a powerful tool for creating iterators.

A generator function is defined as any function in Python using def.

A function is a generator function if it contains one or more yield statements within its body.

The generator function below will generate multiple of 3 of positive integer numbers, less than $n$:

In [9]:
def gen_mult3(n):
k = 0
while k < n:
yield 3*k
k += 1


The first call of the generator function defines a generator, i.e. a particular iterator object:

In [10]:
G = gen_mult3(5)
print(G)

<generator object gen_mult3 at 0x000001F0ED292CF0>


After this call the numbers 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 are not yet generated as we could expect.

Iterating the generator G (which is an iterator), by calling successively next(G), these numbers are produced one at atime, and at the sixth call a StopIteration exception is raised, because the generator exhausted:

In [11]:
for _ in range(6):
print(next(G))

0
3
6
9
12

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
StopIteration                             Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-11-c1bc37cd3a93> in <module>
1 for _ in range(6):
----> 2     print(next(G))

StopIteration: 

A generator makes a lazzy evaluation, meaning that it yields a value (an object) only on demand (when it is needed).

In order to understand the difference between a Python generator function and a regular function, we recall how behaves a regular function that contains at least a return statement.

At each call of a regular function a private namespace is associated. When a return line is reached in execution, the local variables are destroyed and the computed object (value) is returned.

In the case of a generator, after each yielded value (with yield) the function freezes, i.e. stops its execution. When it is called again, it resumes its execution at the point where it stopped (it "remembers" the last yielded value, and the last executed statement).

To illustrate this behaviour, we insert a few print lines in the definition of the generator function above:

In [12]:
def Gen_mult3(n):
print('this is the first line of the generator function')
k = 0
while k < n:
print('line before yield')
yield 3*k
print ('line after yield')
k+=1
print( 'this is the last line of the generator function')


Define the generator:

In [13]:
gen = Gen_mult3(3)


Running the above cell no string was printed. Hence at the first call the generator is only created and no line of the function's body is executed.

Now we iterate the generator gen:

In [14]:
print(next(gen))

this is the first line of the generator function
line before yield
0

In [15]:
print(next(gen))

line after yield
line before yield
3

In [16]:
print(next(gen))

line after yield
line before yield
6

In [17]:
print(next(gen))

line after yield
this is the last line of the generator function

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
StopIteration                             Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-17-be0d7584d73f> in <module>
----> 1 print(next(gen))

StopIteration: 

Note that Python generators do not give access to previously generated items, unless the user explicitly stored them in some container (for example in a list).

If we want to iterate again over data produced by a generator we have to re-call the generator function, i.e to re-define the generator.

Here is an example of storing the generated values in a list:

In [18]:
ge = gen_mult3(6)
L = [next(ge) for _ in range(6)]
print(L)

[0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15]


A natural question is whether the builtin range function is a generator or not:

In [19]:
R = range(-4, 6, 2)
print(type(R))

<class 'range'>


R can be converted to a list:

In [20]:
list(R)

Out[20]:
[-4, -2, 0, 2, 4]

or to an iterator:

In [21]:
it_r = iter(R)
print(next(it_r), next(it_r))

-4 -2


Hence range is not a generator. It is a class of immutable iterable objects.

Python generators in Computational Mathematics¶

Generators allow to deal with infinite streams of "mathematical objects".

For example, a sequence of real or complex numbers is an infinite mathematical object.

Let $a_n=\left(1+\displaystyle\frac{1}{n}\right)^n$, $n\geq 1$, be the sequence that is known as being convergent to the number e.

Its terms can be generated by the folowing generator function:

In [22]:
def genseq_e():
n = 1
while True:
yield (1.0+1.0/n)**n
n += 1


Suppose we want to see how far is $a_{1000}$ from the sequence's limit, $e$. To generate $a_{1000}$ we simply can iterate the generator G=genseq_e():

In [23]:
G = genseq_e()
for _ in range(1, 1000):
next(G)
# the last generated value is a999
a1000 = next(G)
print(a1000)

2.7169239322355936

In [24]:
import math

In [25]:
print (a1000, math.exp(1), math.fabs(a1000-math.exp(1.0)) )

2.7169239322355936 2.718281828459045 0.0013578962234515046


A more elegant solution is to slice the infinite generator, using itertools.islice https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html.

itertools is a Python module that contains functions for creating iterators. In particular it allows to work effectively with generators.

When a generator G is iterated, the values returned by next(G) are counted like the items in any Python sequence.

A slice:

itertools.islice(generator, start, stop, step),

(where start, stop, and step have the same significance as for the range(start, stop, step)) is an iterator that produces the generator values (objects) counted from index equal to start.

The iterator itertools.islice(generator, n) is supposed to have start=0, stop=n, and step=1.

Hence to get the term $a_{1000}$ of the sequence $a_n$, we proceed as follows:

In [26]:
from itertools import islice

In [27]:
gg = genseq_e()
list(islice(gg, 1000, 1001)) #start=1000, stop=1001

Out[27]:
[2.716925287534764]

Hence the slice contains just an element: a1000. To get it we could proceed as follows:

In [28]:
gg = genseq_e()
a1000 = next(islice(gg, 1000, 1001)) # i.e. the next element of the iterator is its unique element a1000
print(a1000, math.exp(1), math.fabs(a1000-math.exp(1.0)) )

2.716925287534764 2.718281828459045 0.0013565409242812798


Python generators can be defined in many contexts of the Computational Math, but here we show how they can be defined and manipulated to study a discrete dynamical system.

Python generators in the study of discrete dynamical systems¶

A discrete dynamical system on the space $\mathbb{R}^m$, is defined usually by a one-to-one differentiable or only a continuous map, $f:\mathbb{R}^m\to\mathbb{R}^m$. If $x_0\in\mathbb{R}^m$ is the initial state, its orbit or trajectory is the sequence $(x_n)_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$, $x_n=f^n(x_0)$, where $f^n$, $n\geq 1$, is the $n^{th}$ iterate of the map.

The goal of the dynamical system theory is to understand the asymptotic behaviour of the systems' orbits.

In the case of a two-dimensional dynamical system we can plot a set of orbits, and the visual representation we get is called the phase portrait of that system.

In order to illustrate the asymptotic behaviour of an orbit or to draw the phase portrait of a two-dimensional dynamical system, it is very useful to define a generator for an orbit.

The generator will produce one point at a time or if it is necessary, we can take a slice in the infinite generator and store its points in a list or a numpy.array.

Experimenting with generator functions that generate points on an orbit, we deduced that there is a trick in the process of creation of a list of points resulted by iterating a slice in that generator.

To illustrate how we were lead to that trick we define a generator of an orbit for a version of the Hénon map:

$$(x,y)\mapsto(y, 1-1.4 y^2+0.3x)$$
In [29]:
def gen_Henon(pt0): #pt0 is the initial point given as 2-list
if not isinstance(pt0, list):
raise ValueError("pt0 must be a tuple")
pt = pt0[:] # a copy of the initial point
while True:
yield pt
tmp = pt[0]
pt[0] = pt[1]
pt[1] = 1 - 1.4 * pt[1]**2 + 0.3*tmp


In [30]:
pt0 = [0.0, 0.0]
G = gen_Henon(pt0)


Let us iterate a slice in this generator:

In [31]:
for pt in islice(G, 5, 8):
print (pt)

[-0.7408864000000001, 0.554322279213056]
[0.554322279213056, 0.3475516150752599]
[0.3475516150752599, 0.9971877085659265]


Usually to plot an orbit of some length we store its points in a list, and plot it with a single call of plt.scatter, instead of plotting one point at a time as it is generated.

Trying to store the above three points in a list created by comprehension, we notice that the list contains only the last point, displayed three times:

In [32]:
print(pt0)
G = gen_Henon(pt0)# to reiterate the slice we have to call the generator function again
L1 = [pt for pt in  islice(G, 5, 8)]
print(L1)

[0.0, 0.0]
[[0.3475516150752599, 0.9971877085659265], [0.3475516150752599, 0.9971877085659265], [0.3475516150752599, 0.9971877085659265]]


Why does the iteration work well when we only iterate the generator, but it fails when trying to create a list from items resulted from the iteration?

The same drawback is manifested when we define the generator function with the argument pt0 given as a numpy.array, and replace the line pt=pt0[:] with pt=pt0.copy().

After trial and error experimentation we got a correct list of items in the following way:

In [33]:
pt0 = [0.0, 0.0]
G = gen_Henon(pt0)
L3 = [list(pt) for pt in islice(G, 5, 8)]
print(L3)

[[-0.7408864000000001, 0.554322279213056], [0.554322279213056, 0.3475516150752599], [0.3475516150752599, 0.9971877085659265]]


This behaviour is really strange, because each pt was a list object and this conversion appears to be redundant.

A similar right result we get converting each pt to a numpy.array:

In [34]:
import numpy as np

In [35]:
G = gen_Henon(pt0)
L4 = [np.array(pt) for pt in islice(G, 5, 8)]
print(L4)

[array([-0.7408864 ,  0.55432228]), array([0.55432228, 0.34755162]), array([0.34755162, 0.99718771])]


A third solution is to explicitly set the type of the object to be yielded by the generator:

In [36]:
def gen_Henon_new(pt0):
if not isinstance(pt0, list):
raise ValueError("pt0 must be a list")
pt = pt0[:]
while True:
yield pt
tmp = pt[0]
pt = [pt[1], 1-1.4*pt[1]**2+0.3*tmp]#pt is explicitly set as list

In [37]:
G = gen_Henon_new(pt0)
L5 = [pt for pt in islice(G, 5,8)]
print (L5)

[[-0.7408864000000001, 0.554322279213056], [0.554322279213056, 0.3475516150752599], [0.3475516150752599, 0.9971877085659265]]


We note that when the yielded object is explicitly set as list, no conversion is needed when we create the list of items resulted from the iteration.

Let us check this observed particularity for another generator.

Namely, we define the generator of pairs of consecutive terms in Fibonacci sequence:

In [38]:
def pair_fibonacci(a=1, b=1):
while True:
yield (a,b)# the yielded object is explicitly set as a tuple
a, b = b, a+b

In [39]:
genp = pair_fibonacci()
L = [pair for pair in islice(genp, 1,15)]
print (L)

[(1, 2), (2, 3), (3, 5), (5, 8), (8, 13), (13, 21), (21, 34), (34, 55), (55, 89), (89, 144), (144, 233), (233, 377), (377, 610), (610, 987)]


The sequence of pairs $(p_n, q_n)$, $p_1=1, q_1=2$, produced by this generator, defines the convergents, $p_n/q_n$, of the continued fraction expansion of the inverse $1/\phi$ for the golden ratio $\phi=(1+\sqrt{5})/2$.

In the study of the dynamics of twist maps, these pairs represent the rotation numbers of the periodic orbits, converging to the invariant 1-dimensional torus (or cantorus) having the rotation number, $1/\phi$.

Now we illustrate the phase portrait of the standard map whose orbits are generated by a generator function.

The standard map, $f$, is defined on the infinite annulus $\mathbb{S}^1\times \mathbb{R}$. $\mathbb{S}^1=\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$ is the unit circle identified with the interval $[0,1)$ or any other real interval of length 1.

$f$ maps $(x,y)$ to $(x', y')$, where:

\begin{align} x'&= x+y'\: (modulo\: 1)\\ y'&= y-\displaystyle\frac{\epsilon}{2\pi}\sin(2\pi x), \quad \epsilon\in\mathbb{R} \end{align}
In [40]:
def stdmap(pt):
global eps
pt[1] -= eps*np.sin(2*np.pi*pt[0])/(2.0*np.pi)
pt[0 ]= np.mod(pt[0]+pt[1], 1.0)
return pt


We define an orbit generator, and a function that returns a numpy.array containing the points of an orbit:

In [41]:
def gen_stdmap(pt0) :
if not isinstance(pt0, list):
raise ValueError("pt0 must be a list")
pt = pt0[:]
while True:
yield pt
pt = stdmap(pt) # here pt is not explicitly defined as a list

In [42]:
def orbit_stdmap(pt0, n):
G = gen_stdmap(pt0)
return np.array([list(next(G)) for _ in range(n)]) #conversion   list(G.next())  is needed for
# a right iteration


Let us check first that the function orbit_stdmap works correctly:

In [43]:
eps = 0.971635#  define the global parameter for the standard map
pt0 = [0, 0.57]
orb= orbit_stdmap(pt0, 10)
print(orb)

[[0.         0.57      ]
[0.57       0.57      ]
[0.20584273 0.63584273]
[0.69295879 0.48711606]
[0.32488936 0.63193057]
[0.81898545 0.49409609]
[0.45342134 0.63443589]
[0.04324307 0.58982173]
[0.59156338 0.54832031]
[0.22402276 0.63245939]]


In the sequel we plot interactively a few orbits of the standard map, corresponding to the fixed parameter $\epsilon$. Each orbit is colored with a color from a list of colors that is cyclically iterated.

If we set the matplotlib backend notebook:

%matplotlib notebook

the phase portrait (i.e. the resulted figure) is inserted inline.

In [44]:
from itertools import cycle

In [64]:
cols= ['#636efa',
'#EF553B',
'#00cc96',
'#ab63fa',
'#19d3f3',
'#e763fa',
'#FECB52',
'#FF6692',
'#B6E880']
colors = cycle(cols)# colors= cyclic iterator


The initial point of each orbit is chosen with a left mouse button click within the pop-up window that opens when running the cell below.

When we have drawn a sufficient number of orbits such that the structure of the phase portrait is evident, we press the right button of the mouse and run the next cell.

In [65]:
%matplotlib notebook
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

In [66]:
def onclick(event):
#If the left mouse button is pressed: draw an orbit
tb = plt.get_current_fig_manager().toolbar
n=3000

if event.button == 1 and event.inaxes and tb.mode == '':
x,y = event.xdata,event.ydata
pt0 = [x,y]
orbit_points = orbit_stdmap(pt0, n)
plt.scatter(orbit_points[:,0], orbit_points[:,1],  s=0.1,  color=next(colors))
plt.draw()
else:
pass

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(6, 6))