swarm.collections
Interface IndexS

All Known Subinterfaces:

KeyedCollectionIndex, KeyedCollectionIndexC, KeyedCollectionIndexS, ListIndex, ListIndexC, ListIndexS, MapIndex, MapIndexC, MapIndexS, PermutedIndex, PermutedIndexC, PermutedIndexS

public interface IndexS

extends DefinedObjectS, DropS

Reference into the enumeration sequence for a collection.. An index is a reference into an enumeration sequence of a collection. Such an enumeration sequence contains all members of the collection in some order. This order will always be consistent with ordering of members in the collection, assuming there is such an ordering. Otherwise, the sequence will still contain all members in some order that remains fixed provided that new members are not added or removed from the collection. An index is created by a begin: or createIndex: message against a collection. Each major collection type has its own corresponding index type, which supports specialized types of processing against the valid contents of that kind of collection. Once created, an index is a separate object from the collection itself, but it remains valid only so long as the collection itself still exists. Multiple indexes may exist at the same time against the same collection, and each index maintains its own position within an enumeration sequence for the collection. Many indexes provde the ability modify the collection they refer to, in addition to simply traversing members. An index often provides the complete means for maintaining the contents of a collection, more than could otherwise be performed on the collection itself. The position or other status of the index is automatically updated to reflect any changes made through the index itself. If changes to a collection are made while other indexes exist, those other indexes could be affected in potentially catastrophic ways. Each index is a stand-alone object allocated within a zone passed as an argument in the message that created it. This zone need not match the zone of a collection. It is common for index lifetimes to be shorter than their collection. For example, indexes can be created in a temporary scratch zone for use only within a local loop. Because messages to a collection are the only valid way to create an index, create messages and create-time options are not used with index types. All valid processing on an index is determined by characteristics of the collection from which it is created. Index types are typically named after the type of collection they are created from, and serve principally to define the specific messages valid for an index on that type of collection. Index objects support the universal messages of the top-level DefinedObject supertype, along with the standard drop: and getZone messages. Even though they cannot be created except from a collection, new index objects can be created from an existing index using the standard copy: message. Each copy refers to the same collection as the initial index, and starts at the same position in its enumeration sequence. In all other respects, however, the new copy is an independent index that maintains its own position under any further processing.