Best data structure for a particle system?

[Damian]

On Friday, 15 November 2013 at 11:52:44 UTC, Mikko Ronkainen
wrote:
> What would be the best data structure for handling particles in 
> a particle system in D2?
>
> Here's some thoughts:
>
> Particles are simple structs.
> Two lists, one for alive particles, one for dead ones.
> Memory allocations should be avoided, preallocate everything, 
> no allocations when moving between lists.
> Keep alive list as short as possible for fast iteration -> move 
> dead particles off  during iteration.
> Removal and addition of single items only, and it should be 
> fast.
>
> Maybe a single-linked list, std.container.SList? Is there any 
> gotchas? Or some better container for this scenario?

Use just one list with a flag in the particle to see whether the
particle is alive or dead, saves swapping between lists and you
can use a simple array for fast access.