Delete an Array Entry?

[Richard Gaskin]

Dave wrote:
>>> delete global myArray[17]
> 
> does not delete the 17th element, unless the key "17" just happens to  
> the 17th element. The documentation is confusing on this point. Also  
> the whole name "Array" for this datatype is confusing, a better name  
> would be "table", since it doesn't behave like an array at all.

It behaves perfectly well as the associative array it is.

True, most programming languages focus on numerically indexed arrays, so 
unless you're familiar with associative arrays Rev's implementation can 
be confusing at first.

But the flexibility of associative arrays makes them well suited for a 
much broader range of tasks than numeric arrays, since the keys aren't 
limited to numbers but can be any string.

It might be helpful if Rev also supported numeric arrays, but in my own 
experience I've not found a true need for them that associative arrays 
couldn't handle.

And having one type of array that does it all means there's only one 
rule to remember:  they key is a string.

If that string happens to be a number, you can use it pretty much like 
you would use a numeric array:

   repeat with i = 1 to 10
      put someData() into MyArray[i]
   end repeat

But being a string, you can also use non-numeric keys just as easily:

   repeat for each item tUser in "Dave,Ken,Richard"
     put SomeData() into MyArray[tUser]
   end repeat

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
  _______________________________________________________
  Rev tips, tutorials and more: http://www.revJournal.com