Re: Uniform vectors, user survey

[Peter Christopher <pchristo@chem.utoronto.ca>]

Hi there,

	Just thought I'd weigh in. I used the uniform vectors to 
construct what amounts to a guile version of NumericPython. I.e. I used 
uniform vectors of double precision numbers. I found the interface to be 
fairly usable. I do have one HUGE pet peeve though. I grant you that this 
is just a peeve and not a major difficulty but ... I HATE the way you 
select what type of elements will be stored in the vector. For instance 
as it says at  
http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/docs/guile-ref/Uniform-Arrays.html#Uniform%20Arrays
you create a vector with (make-uniform-array <prototype> 3) where 
<prototype> is one of 
#t             boolean (bit-vector)                    b
#\a            char (string)                           a
#\nul          byte (integer)                          y
's             short (integer)                         h
1              unsigned long (integer)                 u
-1             signed long (integer)                   e
'l             signed long long (integer)              l
1.0            float (single precision)                s
1/3            double (double precision float)         i
0+i            complex (double precision)              c
()             conventional vector
I don't like the left most column. I think that it's ugly because it's 
not necessarily obvious to the reader of the code what type you are 
storing in the vector. IMHO it would be better to use symbols as the 
prototype arguments, for example
'bool             boolean (bit-vector)                    b
'char             char (string)                           a
'byte             byte (integer)                          y
'short            short (integer)                         h
'ulong            unsigned long (integer)                 u
'long             signed long (integer)                   e
'longlong         signed long long (integer)              l
'float            float (single precision)                s
'double           double (double precision float)         i
'complex          complex (double precision)              c
This way it is obvious what kind of uniform vector you're constructing. 
Ok ... yea I know this isn't a killer problem, but it has always annoyed 
me.

Also, I want to stress that *I* think that uniform vectors are a very 
important guile feature. They may not be used a lot, BUT they allow 
developers to (conveniently) make some applications that would 
otherwise be very performance hindering.

And there are my 2 cents. 

Best, 
Pete


On 25 Oct 2004, Stephen Compall wrote:

> Marius Vollmer <marius.vollmer@uni-dortmund.de> writes:
> 
> > I have close to zero experience with using uniform vectors myself,
> > so I appreciate your input.  Do you use uniform vectors?  What for?
> > Did you try but couldn't make them work for you?  What do you wish
> > would be different about them?  Etc.
> 
> I have used bit-vectors in my class.
> 
> --
> Stephen Compall or s11 or sirian
> 
> Within a computer, natural language is unnatural.
> 
> Perl-RSA subversive Merlin SCUD missile MP5K-SD militia ANC national
> information infrastructure Firefly passwd MILSATCOM lynch HAMASMOIS
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> 
> 
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