Can a BASIC+ function return a reference to an array ?

walter

I want to do this:

Function Split(string, delimiter)

length = Count(string,delimiter)+1
Dim arr(length)
MatParse string Into arr Using delimiter

Return arr

but I get the compiler error:
Variable has been dimensioned and used without subscripts at the return line.

I want to obtain a reference to arr and return the reference from the function. But I can't figure out if that's possible. Then once I return the reference, how do I dereference it? Or is this beyond the capabilities of BASIC+ ?

KevinFournier

Sorry, not allowed. While dimensioned matrixes are faster, they are rarely used in BASIC+. That is because the original dynamic array has to be linearly scanned anyway and there are ways to do that while also processing the array.

Wanna walk a dynamic array when you don't care about what delimiters are used? The Remove statement is your answer.

Need to loop through each field? The substring operator combined with Col2() will be faster than converting to a matrix. (Or, install our free SRP Utilities and use the SRP_PreCompiler to add For Each loops to your code.)

The only time I convert to a Matrix is when I am about to do lots of random access on a large dynamic array, but that seems to be rare. I'm almost always walking an array or accessing a single item once in a while.

If you run into a need to optimize and are curious how we approach the problem, tell us the specific bottleneck you are dealing with. We've probably optimized it before.

walter

Thank. You were right, it was easier to loop with Col2(). I'm coming at this BASIC+ coding from a C# developer mindset they're a lot different.

KevinFournier

As C#/C++ programmer, I feel you.