>>>>> "RLS" == Randal L Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com> writes:
>>>>> "Uri" == Uri Guttman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Uri> i will let damian handle this one (if he sees it). but an idea would be Uri> to allow some form ofkey extraction via a closure with lazy evaluation Uri> of the secondary (and slower) key. RLS> I still don't see that. I understand about the lazy key RLS> evaluation. However, the sort block in Perl5 contains more than RLS> just two key computations: it also contains the logic to decide RLS> *how* to compare the keys, and *when* more information is needed RLS> (a secondary key step, for example). Not sure how you're going RLS> to replace that with just information about how to compute "a RLS> key". I think you've had your head inside GRT for too long. :) because the key description also specifies the comparison style. and it would even be possible to pass in a closure (with $^a and $^b) to do the actual comparison which gets you the p5 sort style that way. the determination if you need more info would normally be when the previous key sorts the same and that can be handled. the only odd case is when you have a very bizarre set of comparison rules where simple == and cmp don't work for this data. then the custom compare closure can also be used. RLS> So, for the simple case (string sort against some function of each item), RLS> I can see the need for a good shortcut. However, the general case (let RLS> me tell you how to sort two items), you'll still need a very perl5-ish RLS> interface. i don't see why you need that except for the odd cases. but as i said supporting custom compares is fine and can be done in a p6 way with a comparison closure. but even for simple sorting of two items, i would prefer to use a key extraction as that means you don't have redundant code and you describe the comparison as numeric or string which i think it better than cmp or ==. and at least in sort::maker you don't need to do more than say number or string which is simple enough. uri -- Uri Guttman ------ [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------- http://www.stemsystems.com --Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and Coding- Search or Offer Perl Jobs ---------------------------- http://jobs.perl.org
