dmdz

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 03/18/2010 06:00 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>> On 03/18/2010 05:11 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
>>> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>>> The basic interface is:
>>>
>>> Another thing needed for the interface is an associative array that maps
>>> a string to a member of the archive. Object code libraries do this (the
>>> string is the unresolved symbol's name, the member is of course the
>>> corresponding object file).
>>
>> Emphatically NO. Archives work with streams. You can build indexing on
>> top of them.
>
> Such an interface won't work with .lib or .a archives. Both have an
> embedded table of contents that is such an associative array - it's not
> a list of file names, either, that's separate.

Now I understand why linkers thrash the disk.

Anyway, my point is: indexing the archive should be not part of the 
basic interface. Such capabilities should be in an enhanced interface 
that builds upon the basic one.

Andrei