chris@trantor.umd.edu (Chris Torek) (02/17/88)
>In article <28200092@ccvaxa> aglew@ccvaxa.UUCP writes: >>I have often wanted an optimizing compiler that could [rearrange] >>struct { long a; int b; long c; char d; } >>... and make it into AAAACCCCBBDx. In article <496@ecrcvax.UUCP> johng@ecrcvax.UUCP (John Gregor) writes: >I would like that also, but don't call it a struct. Rearranging the order >breaks lots of code and violates K&R p. 196. Yes. In fact, I have the perfect name for it, stolen from Craig Stanfill's thesis hacking days here at U of MD. If you take a bunch of data items and arrange them in an order, you have a structured collection of data: a `struct'. But if you throw the data items in a carry-sack and shake well, you have an unordered tangle of data. Hence the proper name for an unordered aggregate type: a `bag'. Next week: the `blender' datatype :-) . -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Computer Science, +1 301 454 7163 (hiding out on trantor.umd.edu until mimsy is reassembled in its new home) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: not easily reachable