Combinatorics in a functional way

[Erik de Castro Lopo <mle+ocaml@mega-nerd.com>]

Hi all,

I'm currently working on something where I need to to generate a
set of permutations that fit a set of rules. Currently I am doing
something like:

    let find_combi p0 p1 =
        let out = ref [] in
	for i0 = 1 to p0 do
            for i1 = 1 to p0 do
                for i2 = 1 to p0 do
                    for i3 = 1 to p1 do
                        for i4 = 1 to p1 do
                            for i5 = 1 to p1 do
                                for i6 = 1 to p1 do
                                    for i7 = 1 to p1 do
                                        if test_combi i0 i1 i2 i3 i4 i5 i6 i7 then
                                            lst := (i0, i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7) :: lst
                                    done ;
                                done ;
                            done ;
                        done ;
                    done ;
                done ;
            done ;
        done ;
        !lst

This works, but I find it excessively ugly. It feels like I'm coding
in C again!

Can anyone come up with a cleaner, more functional way of solving 
problems like this? I'm thinking that something like lazy lists
might be a solution.

Any tips appreciated.

Cheers,
Erik
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  Erik de Castro Lopo
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
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