Re: Can max_array_length be enlarged?

Re: Can max_array_length be enlarged?

[Damien Doligez]

>From: "Dennis (Gang) Chen" <Dennis.G.Chen@motorola.com>

>In ocaml, the max length of array is determined by the predefined constant
>max_array_length. Is it possible to build an array with length
>longer than this? I noticed that this constant is defined in source
>code sys.ml by:
>
>let max_array_length = (1 lsl (word_size - 10)) - 1;;
>
>Is it safe to modify this code to set a bigger value for max_array_length?

No.  The formula really gives the maximum array size that can be
supported by the runtime and garbage collector (about 4M fields, or
16MB on a 32-bit machine).  Maybe you should have a look a the
"bigarray" library, which was designed for huge arrays (of numbers).
Or you could get a 64-bit machine, they can handle more memory than
32-bitters anyway.

-- Damien

Can max_array_length be enlarged?

[Dennis (Gang) Chen]

Hi,

In ocaml, the max length of array is determined by the predefined constant
max_array_length. Is it possible to build an array with length
longer than this? I noticed that this constant is defined in source code sys.ml by:

let max_array_length = (1 lsl (word_size - 10)) - 1;;

Is it safe to modify this code to set a bigger value for max_array_length?

Thank you in advance for any help on this point.

--
Dennis Gang CHEN    Senior Software Engineer
Motorola Australia Software Centre, Electronic Design Automation
2 Second Avenue, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia
phone: +61 8 8203 3560,  mailto: Dennis.G.Chen@motorola.com