Re: Case statement and Integers.

[Wannabe h4x0r <chris@dont.spam.me>]

On Sat, 20 Apr 2002 14:31:04 -0400, tmoran wrote:

>   The items after the "when" must be constant values of "numbers(j)".
> This code has dynamic boolean expressions.  "case" is not just another
> syntax for "if then".  When the compiler sees a "case" statement it
> should, at least conceptually if not in implementation, be able to
> create a jump table indexed by the value of "numbers(j)".  It clearly
> can't do that here.
> If you had a comparison function
>   type Compare_Results is (LT, EQ, GT); function Compare(Left, Right :
>   Numbers_Type) return Compare_Results;
> then you could say
>   case Compare(numbers(j), pivot) is
>     when LT =>
>     when GT =>
>     when EQ =>
>   end case;
> because the compiler could create a three-entry jump table.
> 

This technique works but ...

>> Using an if..else statement wouldn't be original.
>   Bicycling to Hawaii is original - but it won't work either.  In
> Software Engineering, the point is to make something that works, not
> necessarily something original.  In fact, since you will abandon most of
> your code to your maintenance successors (one hopes you move on to new
> things!), and originality will just confuse them, originality itself is
> a downright *negative* aspect of code, to be used only when the negative
> is outweighed by the positive benefits of the novel technique.

... your point is well taken. I suppose I do have a tendency to go
overboard.
I'll keep your technique in mind, but will for the time being defer to
the if...then...else method of doing the sort.

Thanks

Chris