Remote Find Questions Revisited

[Rob Cozens]

>I think it's not necessarily a function of the number of cards,
but the fact that you have "mark any card"

Ken, et al:

on mouseUp
   put empty into field "Test Results"
   answer file "Select the stack:"
   if the result is "cancel" then exit mouseUp
   put it into targetStack
   push card
   lock messages
   go invisible to card 1 of stack targetStack
   put the number of cards into cardCount
   put cardCount-40 into cardToMark
   put 0 into totalMark1Time
   put 0 into totalClear1Time
   put 0 into totalMarkTime
   put 0 into totalClearTime
   set cursor to watch
   set the numberFormat to "#.00000"
   repeat 1000
     subtract the ticks from totalMark1Time
     set the mark of card card2Mark to true
     add the ticks to totalMark1Time
     subtract the ticks from totalClear1Time
     unmark all cards
     add the ticks to totalClear1Time
     subtract the ticks from totalMarkTime
     mark any card
     add the ticks to totalMarkTime
     subtract the ticks from totalClearTime
     unmark all cards
     add the ticks to totalClearTime
   end repeat
   close stack targetStack
   pop card
   set cursor to hand
   put (targetStack&":"&return&cardCount&&"cards"&return& \
   (totalMark1Time/1000)&&(totalClear1Time/1000)&& \
   (totalMarkTime/1000)&&(totalClearTime/1000)) into \
   field "Test Results"
end mouseUp

Results:	Cards	Mark1	Unmark1		Mark Any	Unmark Any

		147	.001	.000		.000		.001
		6177	.086	.084		.114		.070
		43046	.473	.667		.662		.642

(Running the test multiple times produces results within a range of 
about +_.005)

Looks to me like the impact of stack size is lessened by selecting a 
specific card, but the time still varies directly by stack 
size...just at a different ratio.  If these results are consistent, 
it takes 400-500 times as long to mark a specific card in a 43K+ card 
stack as it does to mark a specific card in a 147 card stack.

Perhaps one might ask, "What is the effect of marking the 41st card 
from the end rather than marking the same card (ie: 1-147 in this 
test)?"  My answer, "Try it and see: I've found out what I wanted to 
know."

...though I'm still left with the issue of whether it is more 
efficient to take the time to mark & unmark cards within my search 
range or let a find command potentially search the entire database 
stack when I'm only interested in 5% of the cards or less.  That 
calls for more tests at another time--perhaps even conditional logic 
that does or doesn't mark depending on the scope of the search.

Final note:  My original query asked whether there was an efficient 
means of searching a database stack remotely (ie: without actually 
going to the stack).  Since, AFAIK, one can only deal with the mark 
property of a card in the current stack ("get the mark of card x of 
stack y" produces compiler errors here), the answer to my original 
question seems to be "No."
-- 

Rob Cozens
CCW, Serendipity Software Company
http://www.oenolog.net/who.htm

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)