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Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 08:46:36 -0700
From: Shawn <shawnw@speakeasy.org>
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To: julien.michel@etu.univ-orleans.fr
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Subject: Re: [Caml-list] adding lots of elements to a list
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julien.michel@etu.univ-orleans.fr wrote:
> Can someone advise me a better way to do what I want ? 
>
>   
Lists sound like the best choice for now. If memory becomes a problem, a 
disk-based db like gdbm might be an alternative. But until you /know/ 
that the lists are a bottleneck, don't bother.

>
> By the way, I have some difficulties to simply add a new element to the same
> list, each time I enter in a while-loop:
>
> let count = ref 3 ;;    (* number of iteration *)
> let list = [] in
>
> while (!count > 0)  do
>   decr count;
>   let list = list@[!count] in
>   Printf.printf "The 1st element is  %i \n" (List.hd list) ;
> done;
>
> Printf.printf "list contains %i elements \n" (List.length list) ;;
>
>
> Here is the result after running the program:
> The 1st element is  2
> The 1st element is  1
> The 1st element is  0
> list contains 0 elements
>   

You're creating a new binding named list each time you do let list = 
..., not updating an existing one.  Outside of the while loop, the fir
st, outer one is what's visible and used. You need references:

...
let list = ref []
...
while !count > 0 do
  ...
  list := !count :: !list
  ....
done

Also, avoid appending to the list like you do if it's going to be big, 
as doing so will cause a lot of extra work for the garbage collector.


Alternatively, do away with the while, and use a recursive function, and 
eliminate the need for references at all. Something like:

let rec count_list count lst =
    let count = count - 1 in
      if count > 0 then count_list count (count :: lst) else lst

let list = count_list 3 []