intfiction.org

The short version:

Are there arrays in TADS 3.1? Or is there a dynamic data structure I can use like an array, to call up a datum by two or more indices?

The long version:



Any way of accessing a datum on two (or more) indices?


Conrad.

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Possibly making a list of lists?

I guess that would be a tree, right?

NPCgameObject.player1moveNode.player2moveNode... I seem to recall doing something like that for a different application some time ago. Probably could do it again.

Thanks, Jim.


Conrad.

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TADS provides three types for this: ByteArray, Vector and List. ByteArray is a basic datatype, Vector and List are classes. You can find information about them in the system manual. Pick your poison:

http://tads.org/t3doc/doc/sysman/toc.htm

Like Jim mentioned, they work similarly to C-like languages. To get a 2D array, you do an array of arrays (or vector/list of vectors/lists).

Edit:
Correction to the above: ByteArray is also a class, not a basic type.

Well, ByteArray is worrisome in that it only stores bytes. In the Lists v. Vectors lineup, it seems Vectors would allow the code to tinker with the data more easily.

So I guess Vectors it is!

Thanks, RealNC & Jim.


Conrad.

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Alright... I've been trying to figure this out for a while, kind of like the Mutual of Omaha footage with a lion trying to figure out a porcupine.

Currently, I'm considering setting this up as a LookupTable. They're designed for stowing away data on a key, which is what I'm doing.

The catch is that I need to stow data away based on TWO keys. Now rather than create an index table of index tables, as I had thought to do with lists / vectors, I'm considering creating an index table of a special object that takes two parameters (=two keys), and indexing on that. Each parameter would be an enumerated, er, thingy. (Symbol? Token?)

The other way to use a two-key system would be to concatenate two strings together. For example, I could create a function that would smash together two player's moves like this:



Thus the lookupTable would operate on strings like 'ROCK-vs-PAPER'.

I can't help but notice that the lookupTable key examples in the docs all seem to be strings. I expect lookupTables can key on objects of any kind, but I just want something simple and easily doable.

Any thoughts on which approach will be simplest and easiest, for extension into as-yet-unthought-of game move keys?


Conrad.

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...is there a data class that functions like a set in TADS? Like a list, but without ordering? Or like enum, but with grouping?

C.

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Why don't you use a two element list as the index value? The ordering is actually useful since the expected result from (Rock, Paper) is not the same as (Paper, Rock).

Yeah, but how do I assign content to a filled-out two-item list?

--Or do you mean, use a two-item list as the key?


C.

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Yes, use a two-item list as a key.



You might also want to have the table's result be a two-item list, so that for example the result for player 1 is at position 1, and the result for player 2 is at position 2.



This would allow you to mix up the output - you could print "Player 1 wins!" as often as "Player 2 loses!", without having to negate the result from the table.