You can also generate code on the first reference in dynamic memory and use that generated code to do the compares. Just build a little subroutine at run time and branch to that subroutine to do the actual compares, etc. Several software products do this.
Lloyd >________________________________ > From: Robert A. Rosenberg <a...@rarpsl.com> >To: ASSEMBLER-LIST@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU >Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 5:12 PM >Subject: Re: Linear search vs binary > > >At 12:45 -0400 on 10/24/2013, Tony Thigpen wrote about Re: Linear >search vs binary: > >>All entries will be fixed length. Can't really have variable length and >>use a binary search. > >That depends. If the table you are sorting is a table of pointers to >the actual data (and is ordered by the compare field), the entries >can be variable length so long as the compare field is fixed length >and is preceded by an entry length field. You use the pointer to find >the compare field of an entry and once you find the correct entry, >you back up to the location of the entry length and can then use the >entry. > > >
