delete an element from an array

[spir]

On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 14:47:43 -0400
bearophile <bearophileHUGS at lycos.com> wrote:

> Manfred_Nowak:
> 
> > arrays are computational not well suited for deleting elements, nor are 
> > lists.

Sequences of all kinds are the worst possible kind of collection for this operation (not only linear search, but shift all elements placed after the one found & removed). But...

> On the other hand dynamic arrays are handy for many other purposes. So if you have just 20 items, like some buttons of your GUI, you may want to use a dynamic array to add and remove them, especially if you have handy standard functions/methods to add and remove items. The runtime, even in Python, will never show you any slowdown. Python lists are arrays dynamic to the right, similar to D dynamic arrays, and they are handy.
> 
> So computational complexity considerations aren't the only things to keep in account when you write code.

... Agreed. Typically, remove and such costly ops happen once in a while, when indexing, traversal, slicing for which sequences are handy and super-efficient happen all the time.

Bearophile, what do you mean with "arrays dynamic to the right"? (that they extend/compress (only) on the right side?)

> Bye,
> bearophile


Denis
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