Data.IntMap.Strict.findWithDefault is too strict

[Andreas Abel]

Hi Johan,

I think even if you

   - made all keys and values strict that could end up in the map
   - made all keys and values strict that could end up being compared to 
keys/values from a map

then still there would be no reason to make the default argument in 
findWithDefault strict.

Cheers,
Andreas

On 16.12.12 10:10 AM, Johan Tibell wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I thought I'd share some of the subtle nuances in designing the
> strictness properties of the containers API. I currently feel that we
> lack a good guiding principle in making this decisions. There are
> several different points along the lazy-to-strict spectrum. For
> example:
>
> # Everything lazy (including the spine)
>
> We don't use this. I think it's a bad idea. It can make an insert
> finish in O(1) just to have a subsequent null check take O(n*log n)
> time.
>
> # Spine strict
>
> Quite inefficient as keys aren't unboxed in e.g. lookup and insert.
>
> # Strict in keys inserted into the map
>
> Also ineffecient as keys still can't be unboxed as there's usually a
> base case in each loop where the key isn't used.
>
> # Strict in key arguments
>
> This is what that Lazy API uses. Makes it possible to unbox keys. Good
> trade-off between performance and expressibility. Means that you can't
> write:
>
>      lookup undefined empty
>
> which "Strict in keys inserted into the map" would have let you write.
>
> # Strict in values inserted into the map
>
> Minimum required to avoid space leaks for e.g. a map of Int values
> that are modified in a loop.
>
> # Strict in value arguments
>
> This is what the Strict API uses. This allows you to not do any
> external forcing of values passed to the containers API if you want to
> make sure they are evaluated.
>
> Cheers,
> Johan
>
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Theoretical Computer Science, University of Munich
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