How to use an array to solve the following...

[Bob Sneidar]

Take for example retrieving a large data set from an SQL db. You can retrieve it as a cursor, and array or a string. Cursors are read only and I don't see the advantage of working with them. That leaves only arrays and strings. So if you *can* get the data as an array, and sorting is not an issue, I'd say use an array. If the data you are working with can only be gotten as a string, such as a web query, then you gain nothing parsing it into an array first. 

Bob


On Feb 21, 2012, at 8:48 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote:

> Pete wrote:
>> Interesting, and it kinda makes sense.  For elements, there's no
>> positioning required like with lines/words/item, just a case of cycling
>> through the keys - which is what "repeat for each line <x> in the keys of
>> <array> does I suppose.
> 
> As with most things in computing, the truly optimal solution comes with a lot of "depends"; total date size, size of elements, distance from the start of a chunk to the value being obtained in it, how deeply nested are the array keys - all those and more play a role in total performance, which can sometimes yield unexpected results.
> 
> One challenge with arrays is their use in CGIs, where total throughput performance is unusually critical since the app is born, lives, and dies all in the space of satisfying a single request from the user.
> 
> The problem with arrays in that context is that they don't exist with the routine begins, since the engine itself needs to be loaded.
> 
> Arrays offer blinding speed for random access, but they're able to do this because they rely on memory-specific structures, leaving us with the question:  how do we load the array from a cold start?