Cdr and car of a pair

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Problem
Solution

Problem

This problem was asked by Jane Street.

cons(a, b) constructs a pair, and car(pair) and cdr(pair) returns the first and last element of that pair.

For example

car(cons(3, 4)) returns 3,

cdr(cons(3, 4)) returns 4.

Given this implementation of cons:

def cons(a, b):
    def pair(f):
        return f(a, b)
    return pair

Implement car and cdr.

Solution

It seems that the problem definition is not correct. cons returns a function which receives a function that can build a pair.

So a fixed version of cons

def cons(a, b):
    return a, b

So cdr and car:

def car(pair):
    """Get the first element"""
    if isinstance(pair[0], tuple):
        return car(pair[0])
    return pair[0]

def cdr(pair):
    """Get the last element"""
    if isinstance(pair[1], tuple):
        return car(pair[1])
    return pair[1]