Re: [aspell-devel] Aspell core dump

[Gary Setter]

<snip>
> The void pointer array in WordEntry is simply a generic place
to stick
> some data.   It is a rather common practice so I don't see how
that is
> hard to understand.  The alternative would be to make WordEntry
a virtual
> base class.  This will involve unnecessary allocation of
dynamic memory and
> functions calls.  The way I decided WordEntry was that no extra
dynamic
> memory needs to be allocated, and in the common case of only
one word no
> functions calls are needed.  I am unlikely to change it.
>
> The "(StrVector *)(s - sizeof(StrVector) - 2)" is there because
it
> simplified storing the data in the hash table.  I am open to
patches that
> avoid it with out adding significant performance penalty or
adding a lot
> of extra code.  Of course I expect the changes to self
contained within
> the file writable.cpp.
>
> Don't even think about changing readonly_ws.cpp the data there
is very
> carefully laid out to avoid wasting a lot of space with extra
pointers.
>
Hi Kevin,

I understand your point of view. I started out working in
assembly on a machine with inadequate memory and I've had to
crunch code.

It's been some years since I've had to put efficiency before
maintainability. I thought that the software profession in
general was moving the in maintainability direction. This may be
one area where efficiency trumps maintainability.

Even if you choose not to accept it, I plan to submit a patch to
writable.cpp defines structs for how words and sounds like data
is stored in the WordLookup and SoundslikeLookup. If I never try,
I'll never know if making the change would be worth while.

Puttering around with the code made me ask why you store the
lengths with all word and soundslike data. It does not seem to be
used except as a check against the null terminated length of
strings. Is there a need with some languages or character sets to
store nulls within words. Is there a chance of corruption and you
need to redundancy?

It would reduce the complexity if the soundslike data was not
stored with string length. How do you feel about that change?

Best regards,
Gary