Understanding the gp:FindPointInList Function
The function header in the source code explains how gp:FindPointInList transforms the information it works with. Like the previous function, Gp:FindMovedPoint, this function uses LISP's list manipulation capabilities to perform the work. When operating with lists, you will often see the mapcar and lambda functions used together as they are here. At first, these are strange and confusing functions, with names that do not indicate what they do. Once you learn how to use them, however, you will find them to be two of the most powerful functions within the AutoLISP repertoire. What follows is a brief overview of mapcar and lambda.
The mapcar function applies (maps) an expression to every item in a list. For example, given a list of the integers 1, 2, 3, and 4, mapcar can be used to apply the 1+ function to add 1 to each number in the list:
_$ (mapcar '1+ '(1 2 3 4))
(2 3 4 5)
An initial definition for mapcar is that it maps the function given in the first parameter to the successive items in the second parameter—the list. The resulting value from a mapcar operation is the list transformed by whatever function or expression was applied to it. (Actually, mapcar can do more than that, but for now this definition will suffice.)
In the supplied example, every value in the list '(1 2 3 4) was passed to the 1+ function. Essentially, mapcar performed the following operations, assembling the resulting values in a list:
(1+ 1) -> 2
(1+ 2) -> 3
(1+ 3) -> 4
(1+ 4) -> 5
Here is another example of mapcar, this time using the null function to test whether or not the values in a list are null (not true) values:
_$ (mapcar 'null (list 1 (= 3 "3") nil "Steve"))
(nil T T nil)
What happened in this code was essentially the following:
(null 1) -> nil
(null (= 3 "3") -> T
(null nil) -> T
(null "Steve") -> nil
You can use many existing AutoLISP functions within a mapcar. You can also use your own functions. For example, imagine you have just created a very powerful function named equals2:
_$ (defun equals2(num)(=num 2))
EQUALS2
_$ (mapcar 'equals2 '(1 2 3 4))
(nil T nil nil)
Okay, so equals2 is not all that powerful. But it is in such cases that lambda comes in handy. You can use lambda in cases where you do not want or need to go through the overhead of defining a function. You will sometimes see lambda defined as an anonymous function. For example, instead of defining a function called equals2, you could write a lambda expression to perform the same operation without the overhead of the function definition:
_$ (mapcar '(lambda (num) (= num 2)) '(1 2 3 4))
(nil T nil nil)
What happened in the code was this:
(= 1 2) -> nil
(= 2 2) -> T
(= 3 2) -> nil
(= 4 2) -> nil
With this knowledge, see if the gp:FindPointInList function makes sense. Again, review the comments within the source code.