I've changed my mind.
If we have a linear list for which we need fast access, we can do
another thing: Instead of substituting the list with an array
structure, we can keep the list and use an array as a helper of the
original list.
That means that instead of storing the elements of a linear list in
the buckets of the array and getting rid of the list, we can store
the cdr's of the list and keep the list.
So we can get rid of the 'get: and 'set: functions, that are very
rigid, and break the Lisp programming style, as you said, and have only
a 'nth: accessor.
This has two advantages:
1. First (the big advantage) is that we retain all the usual list
functions at our disposal, restoring Lisp programming style.
2. The patch to the garbage collector gets simpler:
for (int i=1; i<=current; i++) # loop thru each array
if (void **p=arrays[i]) # only if array hasn't been disposed of
markAll(p[1]); # we only need to traverse the first bucket
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So, recapitulating we would have only 3 functions:
(setq *Ram (array (need 131072 0)))
(nth: *Ram 50000)
(dispose *Ram)
This use of arrays as helpers associated with some lists, instead of
substitutes of lists, makes arrays even more segregated from the core
of the language. I think that makes them more acceptable.
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