Could someone provide some proofs, whether Ruby recalculates array size every time when you call array.size, array.length or array.count?
Thanks in advance.
Update
To make things clearer, by recalculate I mean, whether Ruby needs to loop through the whole array again and again to calculate the number of its elements every time when we call array.size.
Pragmatically Speaking, Array#length is Dynamic in Ruby
Your question can't really be answered canonically, because the lookup and storage implementations of arrays is often platform- and VM-specific. However, as a practical matter, from the Ruby interpreter's persepctive the answer is yes because each call sends a message to an Array object, asking it to return its current length.
Some languages store the current length of the array as an element of the array itself. Other approaches exist, too. In Ruby 2.7.1:
static VALUE
rb_ary_length(VALUE ary)
{
long len = RARRAY_LEN(ary);
return LONG2NUM(len);
}
the C implementation appears to retrieve the stored length of the array at the time of the call, but you'd have to dig deeper into the source code if you want to understand all the ins-and-outs of how the VM optimizes this (or not).
I have a query regarding a concept.
Are dynamic arrays in c# also called list? Or they are totally different?
C# does not have a dynamic array type. However, you can use a List as a dynamic array, given that it supports indexed access:
List<string> list = new List<string>();
list.Add("Hello");
list.Add("Goodbye");
Console.WriteLine(list[1]);
Take a look at Generic Lists.
Since it's the first link I found out when looking for this difference I would like to contribute a little.
The Nitin Bisht response is not entirely wrong, but by most of programming definitions a dynamic array is a type of array that can be set when the program is already running, simply put, it's size is set during run time not in compilation.
In C# this is written as:
string[] myDynamicArray;
myDynamicArray = SomeMethodThatReturnsAnCollection().ToArray();
Other way would be a method which returns an existing array like:
string[] myDynamicArray;
myDynamicArray = SomeMethodThatReturnsAnArray();
Those are Dynamic Arrays, you don't tell your program which size it has but inside the logic of that context this will be decided.
Those Arrays in C# has the Resize method, which enables the programmer to grow the array, which I believe it was the Nitin Bisht and so many others interpretation around that question, but this is a wrong assumption, resizable is different than dynamic.
Instead of using Resize in your Array, you could just use a List type, List in C# implements an Array in it's core, which can be seen here, but it also has the ability to grow in an easier approach than the Array implementation enables us with the Add(T item) List method.
List in C# would be a native Dynamic Resizable Array, some languages call similarly implementations of this structure as Vector, which are not a LinkedList with nodes and pointers for example.
Summarizing the difference in code:
var myList = new List<string> { "initial value" };
myList.Add("New value"); // After add, myList has this new value
var myArray = new string[] { "initial value" };
myArray.Append("New value") // after Append myArray doesnt have a new value
With Append() method what happens is another IEnumerable collection is created with the new value, so if you iterate through both collections you will see that the list prints out the new value but the array doesn't, in that case one way you can fix that is doing this:
string[] myArray;
myArray = myArray.Append("New value").ToArray(); // now it will work
The difference here is that myArray variable is being rewritten with the new array generated by .Append().ToArray() line, in the List example the Add() method will resize and then add the new value.
Important to note that this resize is done in a similar manner than what we did with the Append() "fixed" code, the List creates a new Array with increased size and copies it's original contents to this new Array.
You can use the resources given by the Array class to get to the same result as the Add() method implemented by List, but off course if you need that method you should just use an List instead of writing your own implementation, very rarely you would have to do it and to be honest your implementation would be probably less efficient than the already built ones.
In summary that is the difference between them, as you can see they have similarities but I would still treat them very differently.
Usually you wanna use an array when you do not expect to grow any further, if that is your case then an array is more useful since it's has less implementations and that brings a performance gain which can be good in a lot of scenarios.
If not, just use lists.
In an implementation of the Game of Life, I need to handle user events, perform some regular (as in periodic) processing and draw to a 2D canvas. The details are not particularly important. Suffice it to say that I need to keep track of a large(-ish) number of variables. These are things like: a structure representing the state of the system (live cells), pointers to structures provided by the graphics library, current zoom level, coordinates of the origin and I am sure a few others.
In the main function, there is a game loop like this:
// Setup stuff
while (!finished) {
while (get_event(&e) != 0) {
if (e.type == KEYBOARD_EVENT) {
switch (e.key.keysym) {
case q:
case x:
// More branching and nesting follows
The maximum level of nesting at the moment is 5. It quickly becomes unmanageable and difficult to read, especially on a small screen. The solution then is to split this up into multiple functions. Something like:
while (!finished {
while (get_event(&e) !=0) {
handle_event(state, origin_x, origin_y, &canvas, e...) //More parameters
This is the crux of the question. The subroutine must necessarily have access to the state (represented by the origin, the canvas, the live cells etc.) in order to function. Passing them all explicitly is error prone (which order does the subroutine expect them in) and can also be difficult to read. Aside from that, having functions with potentially 10+ arguments strikes me as a symptom of other design flaws. However the alternatives that I can think of, don't seem any better.
To summarise:
Accept deep nesting in the game loop.
Define functions with very many arguments.
Collate (somewhat) related arguments into structs - This really only hides the problem, especially since the arguments are only loosely related.
Define variables that represent the application state with file scope (static int origin_x; for example). If it weren't for the fact that it has been drummed into me that global variable are usually a terrible idea, this would be my preferred option. But if I want to display two views of the same instance of the Game of Life in the future, then the file scope no longer looks so appealing.
The question also applies in slightly more general terms I suppose: How do you pass state around a complicated program safely and in a readable way?
EDIT:
My motivations here are not speed or efficiency or performance or anything like this. If the code takes 20% longer to run as a result of the choice made here that's just fine. I'm primarily interested in what is less likely to confuse me and cause the least headache in 6 months time.
I would consider the canvas as one variable, containing a large 2D array...
consider static allocation
bool canvas[ROWS][COLS];
or dynamic
bool *canvas = malloc(N*M*sizeof(int));
In both cases you can refer to the cell at position i,j as canvas[i][j]
though for dynamic allocation, do not forget to free(canvas) at the end. You can then use a nested loop to update your state.
Search for allocating/handling a 2d array in C and examples or tutorials... Possibly check something like this or similar? Possibly this? https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/nested-loops-in-c-with-examples/
Also consider this Fastest way to zero out a 2d array in C?
I was reading an article about array vs list, and the author says that an array is worse than a list, because (among other things) an array is a list of variables, but to me a list is also a list of variables. I mean, I can still do list[3] = new Item().
Actually, I have always somehow saw a List<T> like a wrapper for an array that allows me to use it easily without caring about handling its structure.
What are the internal differences between a T[] and a List<T> in terms of heap/stack memory usage?
Since an array is a static structure, after the initialization, it allocates the memory that you've demanded.
int arr[5];
For example here there are 5 int objects created in memory. But when you use lists, according to its implementation, it gives you first an array with predefined capacity. And while you are adding your elements, if you exceed the capacity then it scales up. In some implementations it just doubles its size, or in some implementations it enlarges itself when the granted capacity is half full.
The author's point about a "list of variables" wasn't about memory. It's that an array contains your internal variables, and returning it allows them to be reassigned by the caller. It comes down to this:
Only pass out an array if it is wrapped up by a read-only object.
If you pass out an internal List<T>, you have the same problem, but here's the key:
We have an extensibility model for lists because lists are classes. We
have no ability to make an “immutable array”. Arrays are what they are
and they’re never going to change.
And, at the time the article was written, the IReadOnlyList interface didn't exist yet (.NET 4.5), though he probably would have mentioned it if it had. I believe he was advocating implementing an IList<T> that would simply throw an exception if you tried to use the setter. Of course, if the user doesn't need the ability to access elements by index, you don't need a list interface at all -- you can just wrap it in a ReadOnlyCollection<T> and return it as an IEnumerable<T>.
My project has classes which, unavoidably, contain hundreds upon hundreds of variables that I'm always having to keep straight. For example, I'm always having to keep track of specific kinds of variables for a recurring set of "items" that occur inside of a class, where placing those variables between multiple classes would cause a lot of confusion.
How do I better sort my variables to keep from going crazy, especially when it comes time to save my data?
Am I missing something? Actionscript is an Object Oriented language, so you might have hundreds of variables, but unless you've somehow treated it like a grab bag and dumped it all in one place, everything should be to hand. Without knowing what all you're keeping track of, it's hard to give concrete advice, but here's an example from a current project I'm working on, which is a platform for building pre-employment assessments.
The basic unit is a Question. A Question has a stem, text that can go in the status bar, a collection of answers, and a collection of measures of things we're tracking about what the user does in that particular type of questions.
The measures are, again, their own type of object, and come in two "flavors": one that is used to track a time limit and one that isn't. The measure has a name (so we know where to write back to the database) and a value (which tells us what). Timed ones also have a property for the time limit.
When we need to time the question, we hand that measure to yet another object that counts the time down and a separate object that displays the time (if appropriate for the situation). The answers, known as distractors, have a label and a value that they can impart to the appropriate measure based on the user selection. For example, if a user selects "d", its value, "4" is transferred to the measure that stores the user's selection.
Once the user submits his answer, we loop through all the measures for the question and send those to the database. If those were not treated as a collection (in this case, a Vector), we'd have to know exactly what specific measures are being stored for each question and each question would have a very different structure that we'd have to dig through. So if looping through collections is your issue, I think you should revisit that idea. It saves a lot of code and is FAR more efficient than "var1", "var2", "var3."
If the part you think is unweildy is the type checking you have to do because literally anything could be in there, then Vector could be a good solution for you as long as you're using at least Flash Player 10.
So, in summary:
When you have a lot of related properties, write a Class that keeps all of those related bits and pieces together (like my Question).
When objects have 0-n "things" that are all of the same or very similar, use a collection of some sort, such as an Array or Vector, to allow you to iterate through them as a group and perform the same operation on each (for example, each Question is part of a larger grouping that allows each question to be presented in turn, and each question has a collection of distractors and another of measures.
These two concepts, used together, should help keep your information tidy and organized.
While I'm certain there are numerous ways of keeping arrays straight, I have found a method that works well for me. Best of all, it collapses large amounts of information into a handful of arrays that I can parse to an XML file or other storage method. I call this method my "indexed array system".
There are actually multiple ways to do this: creating a handful of 1-dimensional arrays, or creating 2-dimensional (or higher) array(s). Both work equally well, so choose the one that works best for your code. I'm only going to show the 1-dimensional method here. Those of you who are familiar with arrays can probably figure out how to rewrite this to use higher dimensional arrays.
I use Actionscript 3, but this approach should work with almost any programming or scripting language.
In this example, I'm trying to keep various "properties" of different "activities" straight. In this case, we'll say these properties are Level, High Score, and Play Count. We'll call the activities Pinball, Word Search, Maze, and Memory.
This method involves creating multiple arrays, one for each property, and creating constants that hold the integer "key" used for each activity.
We'll start by creating the constants, as integers. Constants work for this, because we never change them after compile. The value we put into each constant is the index the corresponding data will always be stored at in the arrays.
const pinball:int = 0;
const wordsearch:int = 1;
const maze:int = 2;
const memory:int = 3;
Now, we create the arrays. Remember, arrays start counting from zero. Since we want to be able to modify the values, this should be a regular variable.
Note, I am constructing the array to be the specific length we need, with the default value for the desired data type in each slot. I've used all integers here, but you can use just about any data type you need.
var highscore:Array = [0, 0, 0, 0];
var level:Array = [0, 0, 0, 0];
var playcount:Array = [0, 0, 0, 0];
So, we have a consistent "address" for each property, and we only had to create four constants, and three arrays, instead of 12 variables.
Now we need to create the functions to read and write to the arrays using this system. This is where the real beauty of the system comes in. Be sure this function is written in public scope if you want to read/write the arrays from outside this class.
To create the function that gets data from the arrays, we need two arguments: the name of the activity and the name of the property. We also want to set up this function to return a value of any type.
GOTCHA WARNING: In Actionscript 3, this won't work in static classes or functions, as it relies on the "this" keyword.
public function fetchData(act:String, prop:String):*
{
var r:*;
r = this[prop][this[act]];
return r;
}
That queer bit of code, r = this[prop][this[act]], simply uses the provided strings "act" and "prop" as the names of the constant and array, and sets the resulting value to r. Thus, if you feed the function the parameters ("maze", "highscore"), that code will essentially act like r = highscore[2] (remember, this[act] returns the integer value assigned to it.)
The writing method works essentially the same way, except we need one additional argument, the data to be written. This argument needs to be able to accept any
GOTCHA WARNING: One significant drawback to this system with strict typing languages is that you must remember the data type for the array you're writing to. The compiler cannot catch these type errors, so your program will simply throw a fatal error if it tries to write the wrong value type.
One clever way around this is to create different functions for different data types, so passing the wrong data type in an argument will trigger a compile-time error.
public function writeData(act:String, prop:String, val:*):void
{
this[prop][this[act]] = val;
}
Now, we just have one additional problem. What happens if we pass an activity or property name that doesn't exist? To protect against this, we just need one more function.
This function will validate a provided constant or variable key by attempting to access it, and catching the resulting fatal error, returning false instead. If the key is valid, it will return true.
function validateName(ID:String):Boolean
{
var checkthis:*
var r:Boolean = true;
try
{
checkthis = this[ID];
}
catch (error:ReferenceError)
{
r = false;
}
return r;
}
Now, we just need to adjust our other two functions to take advantage of this. We'll wrap the function's code inside an if statement.
If one of the keys is invalid, the function will do nothing - it will fail silently. To get around this, just put a trace (a.k.a. print) statement or a non-fatal error in the else construct.
public function fetchData(act:String, prop:String):*
{
var r:*;
if(validateName(act) && validateName(prop))
{
r = this[prop][this[act]];
return r;
}
}
public function writeData(act:String, prop:String, val:*):void
{
if(validateName(act) && validateName(prop))
{
this[prop][this[act]] = val;
}
}
Now, to use these functions, you simply need to use one line of code each. For the example, we'll say we have a text object in the GUI that shows the high score, called txtHighScore. I've omitted the necessary typecasting for the sake of the example.
//Get the high score.
txtHighScore.text = fetchData("maze", "highscore");
//Write the new high score.
writeData("maze", "highscore", txtHighScore.text);
I hope ya'll will find this tutorial useful in sorting and managing your variables.
(Afternote: You can probably do something similar with dictionaries or databases, but I prefer the flexibility with this method.)