Re: PDL-P: Re: Hooks for array notation (was Re: Ramblings on "baseclass" for SV etc.)

[Jeremy Howard]

> At 07:07 PM 8/9/00 -0400, Karl Glazebrook wrote:
> >Dan Sugalski wrote:
> > >
> > > At 11:27 PM 8/9/00 +1000, Jeremy Howard wrote:
> > > >5- Compact array storage: RFC still coming
> > >
> > > I hope this RFC will be "Arrays should be sparse when possible, and
> > > compact" and just about nothing else. :)
> > >
> >
> >Why?
>
> Because it's awfully premature to be thinking about how arrays should be
> sparsely stored. I feel bad looking at a well thought-out RFC and going
> "Nope, doesn't fit".
>
Sure. Is this obvious enough that it doesn't need an RFC at all? Basically
the RFC would say:
- If we have arrays, and
- If we allow strong typing, then
- Arrays of strongly typed variables should be sparse when possible, and
compact

or something similar. Without some sort of ability to tell Perl the type,
we'd really have to revert to the approach of creating an object to hold
this information (as PDL does now).