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Confused About Tables
Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 2:15 am
by ocean77
In an exercise on how to work with arrays/ tables I thought I'd be able to store these constants:
Code: Select all
Const #TEXT_COL = $000020
Const #DECO_COL = $F08000
Const #PAPER_COL = $F0F0F0
Const #OPTS_LOCOL = $0050A0
Const #OPTS_HICOL = $D02020
More conveniently in a table like this:
Code: Select all
Dim Const #PALETTE = {$000020, $F08000, $F0F0F0, $0050A0, $D02020}
And call the color I need with something like:
Apparently this is not the way to do it. Hollywood complains about a missing opening square bracket in the the line where the array is declared. But reading the documentation I can't understand how to properly write the code I need.
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:59 am
by jalih
I think Hollywood constants are just values, so you cannot do that and need to use something like:
Code: Select all
Const #TEXT_COL = $000020
Const #DECO_COL = $F08000
Const #PAPER_COL = $F0F0F0
Const #OPTS_LOCOL = $0050A0
Const #OPTS_HICOL = $D02020
PALETTE = {#TEXT_COL, #DECO_COL, #PAPER_COL, #OPTS_LOCOL, #OPTS_HICOL}
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:30 pm
by ocean77
I've probably misunderstood the concept... again. Oh, well...
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 12:22 pm
by Allanon
Hi, tables are very powerful, why don't you do something like this?
Your code
Code: Select all
Const #TEXT_COL = $000020
Const #DECO_COL = $F08000
Const #PAPER_COL = $F0F0F0
Const #OPTS_LOCOL = $0050A0
Const #OPTS_HICOL = $D02020
Table alternative:
Code: Select all
palette =
{ text_col = $000020,
deco_col = $F08000,
paper_col = $F0F0F0,
opts_locol = $0050A0,
opts_hicol = $D02020 }
And access those values with:
No more constants but the readibility is improved and you can process all the colors iterating the palette table, for example if you need to darken all the colors or you can also load/save the entire table from/to files
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:13 pm
by ocean77
Allanon wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 12:22 pm
No more constants but the readibility is improved and you can process all the colors iterating the palette table, for example if you need to darken all the colors or you can also load/save the entire table from/to files
Oh... So, the problem was the constant part?
I was just somehow under the impression that constants would conserve memory and also dimension-ing the array would do the same thing as long as you don't need to expand it dynamically.
But I easily misunderstand things so...
Thanks for your input.
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:22 am
by ocean77
Check out this simple Hello World script:
Code: Select all
@DISPLAY{WIDTH = 960, HEIGHT = 540, MODE = "WINDOWED", TITLE = "Title", COLOR = #BLACK}
SetFont(#SANS, 45)
SetFontStyle(#ANTIALIAS)
SetFontColor(#WHITE)
_data = {30, 60, "One", 100, 250, "Two", 270, 400, "Three"}
TextOut(_data[0], _data[1], _data[2])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[3], _data[4], _data[5])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[6], _data[7], _data[8])
Wait(50)
Cls(#BLACK)
CreateTextObject(1, "Hello World!")
DisplayTextObjectFX(1, #CENTER, #CENTER, {TYPE = #DISSOLVE, SPEED = 2})
Wait(50)
EscapeQuit(True)
Repeat
WaitEvent
Forever
This works as expected. But why can't I nest the TextOut instructions in a for-next loop like this:
Code: Select all
For x = 0 to 9
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
Next x
It works until _data[x] is a string, but I thought the x would just indicate the position in the array.
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:19 am
by Flinx
ocean77 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:22 am
Code: Select all
_data = {30, 60, "One", 100, 250, "Two", 270, 400, "Three"}
For x = 0 to 9
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
Next x
It works until _data[x] is a string, but I thought the x would just indicate the position in the array.
First, the last table element has index 8, not 9.
Second,
Next x ist no Hollywood syntax. This x will give you a "Function x() not found!" after the loop.
Then look what the loop does.
x=0: TextOut(30, 30, 30)
x=1: TextOut(60, 60, 60)
x=2: TextOut("One", "One", "One") --> Number expected in argument 1!
Solution 1:
Code: Select all
For x = 0 To 6 Step 3
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x+1], _data[x+2])
Wait(50)
Next
Solution 2:
Code: Select all
_data = {{30, 60, "One"}, {100, 250, "Two"}, {270, 400, "Three"}}
For x = 0 To 2
TextOut(_data[x][0], _data[x][1], _data[x][2])
Wait(50)
Next
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:30 am
by Flinx
I would suggest that you use the Debugprint statement to find such bugs. In this case you only have to insert a Debugprint with the TextOut arguments and you see one of the problems.
Code: Select all
Debugprint(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:48 pm
by Allanon
ocean77 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:13 pm
Allanon wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 12:22 pm
No more constants but the readibility is improved and you can process all the colors iterating the palette table, for example if you need to darken all the colors or you can also load/save the entire table from/to files
Oh... So, the problem was the constant part?
I was just somehow under the impression that constants would conserve memory and also dimension-ing the array would do the same thing as long as you don't need to expand it dynamically.
But I easily misunderstand things so...
Thanks for your input.
Well, constants DO conserve memory (and should have a faster access) but how many bytes you are able to save?
Try to build a simple script using constants and a table of variables and you can compare:
- What's faster: constants or tables, and by what degree
- Check the compiled programs size and see how many bytes you saved on disk
- Check the loaded programs how much memory they take
I prefer flexibility instead of gaining 10ms or instead of saving some Kb of free memory but I understand that depends on your target machine, if it is low, very low on memory, yes, you should do all you can do to save memory, in this case every millisecond gained in the execution code counts
Re: Confused About Tables
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:55 pm
by Allanon
ocean77 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:22 am
Check out this simple Hello World script:
Code: Select all
@DISPLAY{WIDTH = 960, HEIGHT = 540, MODE = "WINDOWED", TITLE = "Title", COLOR = #BLACK}
SetFont(#SANS, 45)
SetFontStyle(#ANTIALIAS)
SetFontColor(#WHITE)
_data = {30, 60, "One", 100, 250, "Two", 270, 400, "Three"}
TextOut(_data[0], _data[1], _data[2])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[3], _data[4], _data[5])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[6], _data[7], _data[8])
Wait(50)
Cls(#BLACK)
CreateTextObject(1, "Hello World!")
DisplayTextObjectFX(1, #CENTER, #CENTER, {TYPE = #DISSOLVE, SPEED = 2})
Wait(50)
EscapeQuit(True)
Repeat
WaitEvent
Forever
This works as expected. But why can't I nest the TextOut instructions in a for-next loop like this:
Code: Select all
For x = 0 to 9
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
TextOut(_data[x], _data[x], _data[x])
Wait(50)
Next x
It works until _data[x] is a string, but I thought the x would just indicate the position in the array.
@Flinx is right but you should try, whenever possible, to take advantage of the tables power
Why not try this way?
Code: Select all
_data = { { x=30, y=60, txt="One" }, {x=100, y=250, txt="Two"}, {x=270, y=400, txt="Three"}}
For Local i = 0 To 2
TextOut(_data[i].x, _data[i].y, _data[i].txt)
Next
As you can see named entries are easier to remember and to use, and less prone to errors since you have to specify the table field you need.