Arrays: new and old keys, i

[Colin Holgate]

On Sep 14, 2008, at 1:25 AM, Ken Ray wrote:

> "What benefit is it to the Rev developer (not the engine) to have  
> the keys
> NOT sorted?"

I can't think of a really good everyday example, but here's a made up  
one: Suppose you're asking people for a list of possessions, and want  
them to pick off the things they own, and to then enter some details  
too. If the list was this:

books
dvds
cds
records
cassettes
xbox games
playstation games
wi games
cd-roms

Not sure what the whole survey would be about! If you wanted a truly  
sorted array you wold need to have an entry to each of the above for  
every person, or if you were ok with an array that had holes in it,  
but the order was the same, the user would need to pick off the ones  
they own in the order you've listed them.

By not caring about the sort order, the user can just pick the ones  
they own, and you could even ask them to pick them in a rated order.  
So, for one young user the array might contain possessions of wii  
games: mario galaxy, twilight princess, & books: harry potter. Someone  
a bit older might have records: the white album, dark side of the moon  
& cassettes:bridge over troubled water.

The array would be a lot smaller, and more useful, by not requiring  
all possible entries in an exact order.