CC> On 11/9/09, Ralph Shnelvar <ralphs / dos32.com> wrote:
>> Newbie here:
>>
>> I will want/need to create an array of approximately 300K rows and 20
>> columns. The array will be an array of either 32-bit quantities or 64-bit
>> quantities.
>>
>> Does Ruby support native 64-bit quantities?
>>
>> What's a good/best way to to create such an array. Is there a way to
>> tell Ruby, "OK, I'm done with this array."
>>
>> Can one create such an array such that the garbage collector can
>> free the memory in one fast operation?

CC> I'm surprised that no-one has yet mentioned narray; I'd think it's the
CC> ideal data structure for this kind of problem. (I've never used it,
CC> tho.)

CC> I'd like to point out that while the memory cost of a Fixnum is small
CC> (4 or 8 bytes), the memory cost of a Bignum is considerably larger....
CC> something like 32 bytes or so, even if it's only storing a 64bit
CC> value. If you expect a significant number of Bignums to be stored in
CC> this array, you should be aware of this. Yet another reason to
CC> consider narray, to my mind.

Could someone point me at documentation on narray, please.


-- 
Best regards,
 Ralph                            mailto:ralphs / dos32.com