BitArray/BitFields - Review

[Era Scarecrow]

On Sunday, 29 July 2012 at 09:30:06 UTC, Dmitry Olshansky wrote:
>
> I have simpler suggestion. Maybe doing it as 2 containers:
>
> BitSet is a plain value type with small array optimization 
> (what you called BitArray in last 2 posts) and no slicing (only 
> as opSlice() I.e. as a whole). Best used for small things under 
> < 1000 bits (as even dup will be cheap enough).
>
> BitArray is class or struct that has reference smenatics and 
> drops small array optimization in favor of having simple & fast 
> slicing Best used for big arrays with no less then 100-200 bits.

  As long as you only use one or the other then it sounds great; 
I'm sure a conversion/constructor would be available to convert 
from one to another. That does seem like the best solution, but 
also feels like we're building it twice (Little code re-use).

  Might be a third option: A template struct that represents a 
BitArray type (with 90% of the code); you then insert a structure 
with key functions that would handle the value/reference & 
duplication part.

  I'll meditate on it for a few days and see if anything pops up.