Re: multidim. containers

[John Porter]

Dan Sugalski wrote:
> >
> >I'm thinking that a n-dim array could just be a list of lists (of lists of
> >lists of...) with the n-dim notation just being syntactic sugar (and perhaps
> >helping with optimisation too).
> 
> If you want efficiency, n-dimensional arrays really need to be a concrete 
> data type all of their own. That way one big block of memory can be 
> allocated and, if it's a typed array, properly sized.
> 
> That doesn't mean that n-dimensional arrays won't be just sugar over the 
> standard list-o-list structure to start, but they won't have to stay that way.

Yah, I did exactly this in Tie::Multidim... and it is *hairy*.  And slow.

-- 
John Porter

        We're building the house of the future together.