Speed Bump

[Scott Rossi]

Greetings List Folks:

I'm wondering if there's any possible way to trim down the processing time
required by the following function which takes two sets of data with the
same number of items, compares the value of each item, and returns a max set
of data:

on mouseUp
  repeat 50000
    put random(255) & "," after set1
    put random(255) & "," after set2
  end repeat
  answer "Ready to compare"
  put the seconds into tStart
  get compareData(set1,set2)
  put the seconds - tStart
  answer "Done"
end mouseUp

function compareData set1,set2
  repeat for each item V in set1
    put max(V,item 1 of set2) after tData
    delete item 1 of set2
  end repeat
  return tData
end compareData

On my 600mHz machine this takes about 8 or 9 seconds.  Increasing the item
count to 100,000 requires 41 seconds.  Ideally, it would be nice to do
100,000 items in a few seconds.  Impossible?  Any thoughts?

Thanks & Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director
Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
-----
E: scott at tactilemedia.com
W: http://www.tactilemedia.com