Predicate macros

Predicate macros allow you to arbitrarily compose together other predicates. Predicate macros are defined when input or output vars are explicitly defined using :> or :< within the declared variables of a query.

When a predicate macro is used, it expands to one or more predicates.

For example, here's the how you can compose together sum and count to create average:

(def average 
  (<- [!val :> !avg] 
      (c/count !c)
      (c/sum !val :> !s)
      (div !s !c :> !avg))) 

Here's an example of how average is expanded within a query:

(<- [?avg-age] 
    (age _ ?a)
    (average ?a :> ?avg-age))

expands to:

(<- [?avg-age]
    (age _ ?a)
    (count !c_1)
    (sum ?a :> !s_1)
    (div !s_1 !c_1 :> ?avg-age))

Any non-declared variables used in a predicate macro, like !s and !c in average, are given unique names so as not to conflict with other variables when expanded.

Another example of a predicate macro is "distinct count", which will count the number of unique occurrences of a value. distinct-count secondary sorts the values and then does the computation in a single scan of the values through a custom aggregator:

(def distinct-count 
  (<- [!v :> !c] 
      (:sort !v) 
      (distinct-count-agg !v :> !c)))