Filter is lightning fast. I have the list of all 40,000+ cities in the US and have a predictive search field. I tried DBs, in memory DB and other methods until I stumbled on to the filter operator. Load a text file into a var and the start filtering. There is no perceptible delay when typing the first few letters of a city name. I even carry some meta data along for the ride. I don't know if it can be used here. I have not had the time to look at the code or the problem presented.
Ralph DiMola IT Director Evergreen Information Services rdim...@evergreeninfo.net -----Original Message----- From: use-livecode [mailto:use-livecode-boun...@lists.runrev.com] On Behalf Of hh via use-livecode Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2018 4:39 PM To: use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Cc: hh Subject: Re: Optimization can be tricky The scenario Geoff described is roughly to get the top ten (a handful) of 2000 records comparing a certain numeric value of each. To get that unknown value of each one has to go once through all the records *and then sort* for that ranking. (LiveCode is very fast with a simple numeric sort!) Any other method of ranking while going through the data will generously waste CPU time. > Curry wrote: > Put yourself in the computer's shoes, and also clarify what you need > to accomplish. You are asking it to sort the entire list of 2000 > records, but (if I understand) you only want a handful of those. > > And it has already gone through all the records once before the sort. > If you asked a human to do that, it would be a risky interaction. > There might be raised voices when they present the neatly arranged > file cabinet with files in a special order, and you deliver the punch > line that you only need to pull a few. If you only need to pull 5 > records, most people don't want to go through all 2000 files - twice. > > So generally, don't use a sort after doing a complete loop on a big > text list, use another method. Do unto your computer as you hope it > will do unto you when they run the world. :) _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
