CGI question

[Richard Gaskin]

Richard K. Herz wrote:

> Robert Brenstein <rjb at rz.uni-potsdam.de> wrote in response to
> xbury.cs at clearstream.com:
> 
>> If I am not mistaken, MC always load stacks fully in memory.
>> Furthermore, if I recall what I read in docs or on this list (it
>> comes from Scott Raney in either case), MC becomes inefficient when a
>> stack has a very large number of cards. Using a database engine
>> extension is the way to go then.
> 
> Searching stacks with a large number of cards appears much slower in MC than
> in HyperCard.  I exported my HC databases into text (saved in disk files or
> MC stack custom props) with "records" and "fields" marked up with XML. MC
> database-front-end stack then loads text into RAM, searches with MC offset()
> and similar functions, displays hits in one results card.  This works fast
> enough for me for a 7000 record, 6 MB text file.

HyperCard's proprietary find algorithm is indeedd the fastest search in any
xTalk.  But I think you'll find that's one of the very few areas in which MC
isn't at least an order of magnitude faster. ;)

How fast was your offset-based search?

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
 Developer of WebMerge 2.2: Publish any database on any site
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