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Class: Set


Inheritance:

   Object
   |
   +--Collection
      |
      +--Set
         |
         +--Dictionary
         |
         +--IdentitySet
         |
         +--OrderedSet
         |
         +--PluggableSet

Package:
stx:libbasic
Category:
Collections-Unordered
Version:
rev: 1.160 date: 2019/05/27 13:04:04
user: cg
file: Set.st directory: libbasic
module: stx stc-classLibrary: libbasic
Author:
Claus Gittinger

Description:


a Set is a collection where each element occurs at most once.
The inclusion test is done using equality (=) for comparison; 
see IdentitySet for sets using identity compare.
Keep in mind, that a regular Set therefore treats 3.0 and 3 as equal
and therefore:
    (Set with:3.0) includes:3
will return true (since 3.0 and 3 are equal).
In contrast, an IdentitySet will return false, because 3.0 and 3 are not
identical.

Sets use hashing for fast access, this access is considerably faster,
if a good hash-number is returned by the elements.

Notice that the default hash (Object>>hash) is not perfect; due to
the implementation of hash-keys in ST/X, increased hash collisions
are to be expected for large sets (say: > 20000 element). 
If your objects are heavyly used in sets or dictionaries, and you need
big collections, your instances may provide a better hash values.

Performance hints: 
  If only symbols or smallIntegers are used as keys, 
  use an instance of IdentitySet for slightly better performance, 
  since both hashing and comparison is faster.

  If you have a rough idea how big the set is going to grow,
  create it using #new: instead of #new. Even if the size given is a
  poor guess (say half of the real size), there is some 20-30% performance
  win to expect, since many resizing operations of the set are avoided
  (resizing is expensive, as the set does a rehash).

Examples:

    |s|
    s := Set new.
    s add:'hello'.
    s add:'world'.
    s add:#foo.
    s add:1.2345678.
    s add:'hello'.

    s printCR.
    's size -> ' print. s size printCR.
    '(s includes:''hello'') -> ' print. (s includes:'hello') printCR.
    '(s includes:#foo)    -> ' print. (s includes:#foo) printCR.
    '(s includes:''foo'')   -> ' print. (s includes:'foo') printCR.
    '(s includes:#bar)    -> ' print. (s includes:#bar) printCR.


Class protocol:

initialization
o  initialize
initialize the Set class

usage example(s):

        Set initialize

instance creation
o  decodeFromLiteralArray: anArray
create & return a new instance from information encoded in anArray.

o  new
return a new empty Set

o  new: anInteger
return a new empty Set with space for anInteger elements

o  newWithCapacity: size
return a new empty Collection with capacity for n elements.

queries
o  goodSizeFrom: arg
return a good array size for the given argument.
Returns the next prime after arg, since prime sizes are good for hashing.

utilities
o  rehashAllSubInstances
rehash all sets & dictionaries.
Useful utility if hash/identityHash method was changed
of some object which is known to be kept in a set

usage example(s):

     Set rehashAllSubInstances


Instance protocol:

Compatibility-ST80
o  initialIndexFor: hashKey boundedBy: length
for ST-80 compatibility only; it is (currently) not used in this
implementation of sets. Therefore, in ST/X it does not make sense
to redefine it. (which may be a bad design decision, but slightly
improves performance, by avoiding an extra message send ...)

Compatibility-Squeak
o  flatCollect: aBlock
( an extension from the stx:libcompat package )

o  like: anObject
Answer an object in the receiver that is equal to anObject,
nil if no such object is found.
Relies heavily on hash properties (i.e. that two object's hashes are equal
if the two object compare equal)

usage example(s):

     (Set withAll:#(10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0)) like:20

accessing
o  addFirst: anObject
add the argument, anObject to the receiver.
If the receiver is ordered, the new element will be added at the beginning.
An error is raised here - it does not make sense for unordered collections

o  at: index
report an error: at: is not allowed for Sets

o  at: index put: anObject
report an error: at:put: is not allowed for Sets

o  elementAt: anObject
return the element, if contained in the set.
If there is none, report an error.
This may seem confusing at first - however, it is useful with
non-identitysets, to find an existing element, for a
given equal (but not identical) object.
This is the same functionality as provided by the goodies/KeyedSet goody.

o  elementAt: anObject ifAbsent: exceptionBlock
return the element, if contained in the set.
If there is none, return the result from evaluating exceptionBlock.
This may seem confusing at first - however, it is useful with
non-identitysets, to find an existing element, for a
given equal (but not identical) object.
This is the same functionality as provided by the goodies/KeyedSet
goody.

o  removeLast
remove the last element from the receiver.
Return the removed element.
An error is raised here - it does not make sense for unordered collections

o  reverseDo: aBlock
evaluate the argument, aBlock for each element in reverse order.
An error is raised here - it does not make sense for unordered collections

adding & removing
o  add: keyArg
add the argument, anObject to the receiver.
Return the added element.

WARNING: do not add elements while iterating over the receiver.
Iterate over a copy to do this.

o  addOrReplace: anObject
add the argument, anObject to the receiver.
If it is already included, replace it by anObject.
Return nil, if anObject was not present in the receiver,
otherwise the element that has been replaced.

WARNING: do not add elements while iterating over the receiver.
Iterate over a copy to do this.

usage example(s):

        Note that 1 is replaced by 1.0:

        self new 
                addOrReplace:1;
                addOrReplace:2;
                addOrReplace:nil;
                addOrReplace:1.0;
                yourself

o  clearContents
remove all elements from the receiver, but do not resize the underlying keyArray.
Returns the receiver.
Similar to removeAll, but might behave better,
if the receiver is to be filled again afterwards.

o  remove: oldObjectArg ifAbsent: exceptionBlock
remove the first occurrence of oldObject from the collection and return it.
If it was not in the collection return the value of exceptionBlock.
Notice, that the returned object could be non-identical to the argument
(although it will always be equal).

WARNING: do not remove elements while iterating over the receiver.
See #saveRemove: to do this.

o  removeAll
remove all elements from the receiver and resize (shrink) the underlying container.
Returns the receiver.
Similar to clearContents, which but might behave better,
if the receiver is to be filled again afterwards.

o  removeIdentical: oldObjectArg ifAbsent: exceptionBlock
remove oldObject from the collection and return it.
If it was not in the collection return the value of exceptionBlock.
Uses identity compare (==) to search for an occurrence.

WARNING: do not remove elements while iterating over the receiver.
See #saveRemove: to do this.

o  replaceAll: oldObject with: newObject
replace all oldObjects by newObject in the receiver.

o  safeRemove: oldObject
remove the element, oldObject from the collection.
Return the element
(could be non-identical to oldObject, since I hash on equality, not on identity).
If it was not in the collection return nil.

In contrast to #remove:, this does not resize the underlying collection
and therefore does NOT rehash & change the elements order.
Therefor this can be used while enumerating the receiver,
which is not possible if #remove: is used.

WARNING: since no resizing is done, the physical amount of memory used
by the container remains the same, although the logical size shrinks.
You may want to manually resize the receiver using #emptyCheck.
(after the loop)

o  safeRemove: oldObjectArg ifAbsent: exceptionValueProvider
remove the element, oldObject from the collection.
Return the element
(could be non-identical to oldObject, since I hash on equality, not on identity).
If it was not in the collection return the value of exceptionValueProvider.

In contrast to #remove:, this does not resize the underlying collection
and therefore does NOT rehash & change the elements order.
Therefore this can be used while enumerating the receiver,
which is not possible if #remove: is used.

WARNING: since no resizing is done, the physical amount of memory used
by the container remains the same, although the logical size shrinks.
You may want to manually resize the receiver using #emptyCheck.
(after the loop)

o  saveRemove: oldObject
bad spelling - kept for backward compatibility (2014-06-04)

** This is an obsolete interface - do not use it (it may vanish in future versions) **

o  saveRemove: oldObjectArg ifAbsent: exceptionValueProvider
bad spelling - kept for backward compatibility (2014-06-04)

** This is an obsolete interface - do not use it (it may vanish in future versions) **

o  testAndAdd: keyArg
Test, if the element is present in the receiver.
Answer true, if the element did already exist in the collection,
false otherwise.
If the element does not exist, add it to the collection.

WARNING: do not add elements while iterating over the receiver.
Iterate over a copy to do this.

comparing
o  = anObject
return true, if the argument is a Set containing the same elements
as I do

usage example(s):

     #(1 2 3 4 5) asSet = #(2 3 4 5 1) asSet
     #(nil 1 2 3 4 5) asSet = #(2 3 4 5 1) asSet
     #(1 2 3 4 5) asSet = #(2 3 4 5 1.0) asSet 
     #(1 2 3 4 5) asSet = #(2 3 4 5 'one') asSet 

o  hash
return a hash key for the receiver

usage example(s):

this hash is stupid - but for larger collections, the hashing
     time can become much bigger than the time lost in added probing.
     Time will show ...
     Notice & warning:
        if the #= method is ever changed to compare non-dictionaries equal,
        the code below must be changed to assert that the same hash-value is
        still returned.
        (which may be hard to accomplish)

converting
o  asNewSet
make sure to return a unique new set

o  asSet
return the receiver as a Set

copying-private
o  postCopy
have to copy the keyArray too

enumerating
o  do: aBlock
perform the block for all members in the collection.

WARNING: do not add/remove elements while iterating over the receiver.
Iterate over a copy to do this.

misc ui support
o  inspectorClass
( an extension from the stx:libtool package )
redefined to use SetInspector
(instead of the default Inspector).

obsolete set operations
o  + aCollection
Kept for backward compatibility.
Use #union: instead, to isolate arithmethic and set operations

** This is an obsolete interface - do not use it (it may vanish in future versions) **

o  - aCollection
Kept for backward compatibility.
Use #\ instead, to isolate arithmethic and set operations

** This is an obsolete interface - do not use it (it may vanish in future versions) **

private
o  find: key ifAbsent: aBlock
Look for the key in the receiver. If it is found, return
the index of the slot containing the key, otherwise
return the value of evaluating aBlock.

o  findIdentical: key ifAbsent: aBlock
Look for the key in the receiver. If it is found, return
the index of the slot containing the key, otherwise
return the value of evaluating aBlock.

o  findKeyOrNil: key
Look for the key in the receiver.
If it is found, return the index of the first unused slot.
Grow the receiver, if key was not found, and no unused slots were present

Warning: an empty slot MUST be filled by the sender - it is only to be sent
by at:put: / add: - like methods.

o  findKeyOrNilOrDeletedEntry: key
Look for the key in the receiver.
If it is found, return the index of the first unused slot.
Grow the receiver, if key was not found, and no unused slots were present.
The answer is the index into the keyArray where the (keyArray at:index)
may contain:
nil - an empty slot
DeletedEntry - an empty slot, but preceeded and followed by non-empty
slots with keys hashing to the same value (hash collisions)
key - key is already present in the slot.

o  findNil: key
Look for the next slot usable for key.
WARNING:
This method assumes that key is not already in the receiver
AND that keyArray does not have previously removed entries
AND that there is an empty slot.
To be used ONLY while growing/rehashing to enter elements into a fresh
collection - if any of the above conditions is not met, the method
loops forever.

o  hashFor: aKey
return the arguments hash value.
Redefined in subclasses, which use a different comparison (i.e. identity compare)

o  initialIndexForKey: aKey
return an initial index given a key.

o  initializeForCapacity: minSize
initialize the contents array (for at least minSize slots)
and set tally to zero.
The size is increased to the next prime for better hashing behavior.

o  keyArray

o  keyContainerOfSize: n
return a container for keys of size n.
Extracted to make life of weak subclasses easier ...

o  rehash
rehash is done by re-adding all elements to a new empty set.
Rehash is needed after a binaryRead, for example.

private-grow & shrink
o  grow
change the number of element slots of the collection to a useful
new size

o  grow: newSize
change the number of element slots of the collection - to do this,
we have to rehash (which is done by re-adding all elements to a new
empty set).

o  possiblyGrow
check if collection is full (after an add); grow if so.
Definition of 'full' is currently: 'filled more than 75% (i.e. 3/4th)'

o  possiblyShrink
check if the receiver has become too empty (after a remove)
and shrink if it makes sense.
Definition of 'too empty' is: 'filled less than 12.5% (i.e. 1/8th)'

o  possiblyShrinkToZero
the tally went down to zero.
throw away any big container and start anew

queries
o  capacity
return the number of elements, that the receiver is prepared to take w.o. resizing.
Notice, that Sets do automatically resize as required,
so knowing the capacity is of no real use.

o  collisionCount
return the number of key collisions in the set.
There is a collision if two keys hash to the same value.

usage example(s):

      self allSubInstances 
          collect:[:each| each collisionCount -> each] 
          thenSelect:[:each| each key > 0]

o  collisionsFor: key
Return the number of searches - 1 required for key

o  includes: anObject
return true if the argument anObject is in the receiver

o  isEmpty
return true if the receiver is empty

o  isEmptyOrNil
return true if the receiver is empty

o  maxChainLength
return the number of the maximum chain length in the set.
This is the worst case overhead when accessing a key.

o  notEmpty
return true if the receiver is not empty

o  notEmptyOrNil
return true if the receiver is not empty

o  occurrencesOf: anObject
return the number of occurrences of anObject in the receiver.
As I am a Set, this can only return 0 or 1.

o  size
return the number of set elements

searching
o  findFirst: aBlock ifNone: exceptionValue
find the index of the first element, for which evaluation of the argument, aBlock returns true;
return its index or the value from exceptionValue if none detected.
This is much like #detect:ifNone:, however, here an INDEX is returned,
while #detect:ifNone: returns the element.

Sets do not have indices.

o  findLast: aBlock ifNone: exceptionValue
Sets do not have indices.

testing
o  isFixedSize
return true if the receiver cannot grow - this will vanish once
Arrays and Strings learn how to grow ...

o  isOrdered
return true, if the receiver's elements are ordered.
Redefined to return false here, because the order of keys (and values in dictionaries)
may change due to rehashing, when elements are added/removed

visiting
o  acceptVisitor: aVisitor with: aParameter
dispatch for visitor pattern; send #visitSet:with: to aVisitor.


Private classes:

    EmptySlot
    NilKey


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