50g System RPL list processing

[Jacob Wall]

(06-21-2014 02:13 AM)ttw Wrote:  ... I spend too much programming space (if not time) checking for empty lists or lists with one element before doing processing. It makes it tedious to program variable dimension operations. It doesn't matter much except in inner loops where this sometimes takes up 30% of the execution time.

True, the System RPL checks, which are required, do add execution time, however given the circumstances I think they are necessary, and also I admit I added some of those cases in my post to illustrate some of the possible situations that can arise. With System RPL you are left to ensure that what you provide as input for commands is valid, and that is what makes the language so appealing in a customizable sort of way. If you know precisely what the input will be, because you have done quality control prior, then you can really take advantage of avoiding the built-in checks that exist in User RPL.

With respect to list processing, there are no System RPL versions of commands like STREAM or ΣLIST, or even x* on two lists with the same number of elements. I think the reasons are fairly obvious when you think about it, I did however expect some of them when I first learned System RPL. I think it's fantastic that System RPL is included as an available option for programming the 50g and the documentation is also amazing considering the obscurity (IMHO) of the language, but it's definitely not for writing quick and dirty type of programs that take arguments from the stack, again IMHO.

Jacob