On 02 Jan 2001 22:45:01 -0600, Dave Thomas wrote:
 
>      planets = Array.new(1000)
>      planets.size.times do |i|
>          planets[i] = Planet.new
>      end

looks like this will be more efficient...i was kinda stuck on the 'a..z'
names of the planets (and keeping it consistent with the other platform
versions)

> large number of these planet objects. Why not just store them in a
> hash or an array. If you need to access them by name, then a hash
> would be better:

it's not so much of a 'why not' anymore as much as a 'have to'. i didn't
have to in python, it's a little disappointing to have to in ruby...

> I can't imagine _any_ program needing 1000 variables to point to 1000
> different objects of the same class.

just my early understanding of oop i think...

the original c version used arrays for everthing. i wanted to avoid
excessive use of pointers, and have it very portable. except for the gui
functions, the c code is completely portable/readable for even the novice c
programmer