bachotex2005-david-kastrup-pearl3.tex

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%%% David Kastrup: Iterating with roman numeral
% Appendix D in the \TeX book has the task of defining \verb+\asts+ as a
% macro containing \verb+\number\n+ copies of an asterisk.  The
% solutions in the TeXbook are not really fun.  Here is one that is all
% of fun, efficient and simple:

\def\asts#1{\if#1m*\expandafter\asts\fi}
\edef\asts{\expandafter\asts\romannumeral\number\n 000\relax}

% Now for something more general: we want a macro \verb+\replicate+ that
% gets a number in its first argument and arbitrary tokens in its second
% argument and expands to the given number of repeated token strings.

% It is surprisingly hard to pass \emph{both} the shrinking string of
% \verb+m+ as well as the argument to repeated in a useful way into the
% expanding first macro, and the reader is advised to try it.  What I
% came up with was

\long\def\gobble#1{}
\long\def\xii#1#2{\if#2m#1\expandafter\xii\else\expandafter\gobble\fi{#1}}
\long\def\xiii#1\relax#2{\xii{#2}#1\relax}
\def\replicate#1{\expandafter\xiii\romannumeral\number\number#1 000\relax}

% A somewhat wittier variant that takes its toll on the semantic nest
% size would be

\def\recur#1{\csname rn#1\recur} \long\def\rnm#1{\endcsname{#1}#1}
\long\def\rn#1{}
\def\replicate#1{\csname rn\expandafter\recur
  \romannumeral\number\number#1 000\endcsname\endcsname}

% Of course, if we are leaving the area of \TeX\ compatibility and take
% a look at what we can do with \eTeX, we arrive at the boring

\def\replicate#1#2{\ifnum#1>0 #2%
  \expandafter\replicate\expandafter{\number\numexpr#1-1}{#2}\fi}