On Sun, 2005-07-24 at 23:45 -0700, Stephane Glondu wrote: > It would surely be interesting. But now, we have moved from "using > Obj.magic for better efficiency" to "modifying to collector"... Well, basically the real topic is how to implement variable length arrays. This is easy enough in C and C++: why should it be very hard or even impossible in Ocaml? > > However that turned what in C is a trivial set of > > library functions into a complex unreliable mess > > and left me wondering whether the encoding was > > properly transparent. > > I agree that strongly-typedness makes things more intricate sometimes, but > it will not make me prefer C... :-) I agree, but C++ has stronger array typing than Ocaml, so this is the wrong place to make such an argument :) The language requirements with respect to initialisation are the difference: Ocaml requires all store to be initialised, C/C++ does not. > BTW, for some purposes can also use another datatype such as a Map or a > Set. They do not involve such problems, are quite efficient, and more > enjoyable than in C... Yes sometimes: I just don't like not having a choice. -- John Skaller