Re: [PATCH v2] src/: ceil_prime(): Add function to get the lowest prime not smaller than n

[G. Branden Robinson]

Hi James,

At 2024-03-12T15:28:22-0400, James K. Lowden wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Mar 2024 06:52:10 -0500
> "G. Branden Robinson" <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > A hash table (or map) of size 1 is not a hash table, it's a list.
> 
> A container does not change its type based on its size.  

Indeed not.  I was speaking at a conceptual level, rather than in a
`typeof` sense.

In Python, for example, the following is silly (for more than one
reason).

thing = "This is my string."

thing_length = [ len(thing) ]

i = 0

while i < thing_length[0]:
    print(thing[i])
    i += 1

What is the point of the singleton list?  Why have the overhead of an
aggregate type when an atomic one will serve?

Similarly, there's no point in a two-dimensional structure like an
associative array of lists if your array has only one element and you
walk the list until finding a match anyway.

So no, a container doesn't change its type based on its size, but if
you're using a more complex one where a simpler one will do, you might
want to rethink.

> I don't know what you're trying to fix here, but it sounds
> unimportant.  If the user is creating, let us say, unnecessary or
> counterproductive overhead by calling for a map of size 1, is that ever
> a problem in practice?  I would think the effect is undetectable.  

It was easier to "ban" it as silly (an invalid option argument value)
than spend time verifying that this hand-rolled code assuming the
primality of the hash table size would hold up in this pathological
case.

Granted, I'm spending time on this thread instead...  ;-)

Regards,
Branden

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature