Data.* collections maintenance

[Bulat Ziganshin]

Hello Jean-Philippe,

Friday, October 28, 2005, 6:56:25 PM, you wrote:

>> i propose the following class hierarchy:
>>
>> Collection
>>   Sequential (lists, arrays)
>>     UpdatableSequential (updatable arrays)
>>   NonSequentional
>>     KeyVal (AVLTree, Map)
>>       UpdatableKeyVal (HashTable)
>>     KeyOnly (Set)
>>       UpdatableKeyOnly

JPB> If anything, arrays can be seen as a KeyVal map too... We don't
JPB> necessarily want a tree-like hierarchy. In any case, please post your
JPB> suggestions on the list, preferably with the corresponding source
JPB> code. The problem is not straightforward, and we certainly want to
JPB> hear a few more opinions before deciding anything. ;)

well, i am as user of libraries just wants consistency of using
different data structures for the same tasks. for example, i want to
have one indexing operator instead of !, !! and find. so, it's my
hope-list:

1) all collections are divided into 3-4 classes: arrays/lists, maps
and sets. arrays/lists have sequential indexes in some range while
maps have sparse indexes. also each class have an Updatable subclass

2) collections in one class can be collected to each other with one
(better universal) operator, such as:

let list = cvt array
let tree = cvt map

3) collections can be converted to/from Updatable subclass with help
of usual freeze/thaw operators

4) all operations which are currently implemented in Data.List,
Array.*, Map, Set, HashTable modules must be bound to one of these
classes, with duplicates (such as !/!!) removed. now i see the
following class hierarchy:

Collection (map, size, values)
  SetLike (union, diff)
    Set
    Map
  Indexed (indexes, !)
    Map
    Sequential (reverse, head)
      Array
      List (tail)

i give in parentheses examples of operations which are supported on
each level of hierarchy


this will give possibility to write datastructure-independent
algorithms and easily convert data to the data type which are best
for each part of the program, smthg like:

a :: Map Int String <- read str
algorithm1 a
let b :: Hash Int String <- cvt a
algorithm2 b
c :: HashTable Int String <- thaw b
algorithm3 c

-- 
Best regards,
 Bulat                            mailto:bulatz at HotPOP.com