Re: [PHP4BETA] no reverse fetch of arrays is BAD!

: > But still it will be string in nature (that 10, I assume), and you'd lookup: : > $array [10] in a linked list or whatever through strcmp (or some : > custom function, memcmp perhaps...) which will be slower compared : > to numeric lookup as in a plain, old-fashioned array.... wouldn't it? : > You can do the same thing in perl with associative arrays, but there : > are plain arrays too, which are alot faster! : : No, PHP arrays are implemented using hashtables which are very fast. : Trust me. I would have to see it to believe it, I'll run some benchmarks against Perl. : : > Can't we have a nice type which makes an array truly numerical? And : > would give an error when you try add a non-numerical (actually positive : > integer) : > value? (as I see that rewriting another model for plain arrays can : > break A LOT of things!) : > : > Suggestion: settype ( $MYARRAY , "numericarray" ) : : Why? What is the advantage of having numeric only array? If you claim that it doesn't cause any overhead, I would believe you, and then there is no need for 'numeric-only' arrays.... Only if you could provide local variable-scoping, I would be more than happy! (hey, this kid is asking for more and more everytime!) ;-) Enjoy! Faisal