>>>>> Michael Chirico
>>>>> on Sun, 20 Jun 2021 15:20:26 -0700 writes:
> Currently, substring defaults to last=1000000L, which
> strongly suggests the intent is to default to "nchar(x)"
> without having to compute/allocate that up front.
> Unfortunately, this default makes no sense for "very
> large" strings which may exceed 1000000L in "width".
Yes; and I tend to agree with you that this default is outdated
(Remember : R was written to work and run on 2 (or 4?) MB of RAM on the
student lab Macs in Auckland in ca 1994).
> The max width of a string is .Machine$integer.max-1:
(which Brodie showed was only almost true)
> So it seems to me either .Machine$integer.max or
> .Machine$integer.max-1L would be a more sensible default. Am I missing
> something?
The "drawback" is of course that .Machine$integer.max is still
a function call (as R beginners may forget) contrary to <nnnnn>L,
but that may even be inlined by the byte compiler (? how would we check ?)
and even if it's not, it does more clearly convey the concept
and idea *and* would probably even port automatically if ever
integer would be increased in R.
Martin
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