Ropes: An Alternative to Ruby's Strings
summary
Ropes are presented as a binary-tree string alternative with constant-time append and sharing that reduces memory; slicing is log n in the implementation but can be O(1) by adding partial nodes. Implementation maps leaves lazily to files or substrings (lazy file-backed leaves), uses a 1KB default block so a 5MB file needs ~5000 blocks ~12 levels, and provides iterators via Ruby blocks. A Ruby library (0.1 alpha on ruby forge) exists; regex support is unresolved and some operations need rebalancing or C for speed.
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chapters (18)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:07The Programming Contest
- 2:45Backstory
- 6:03How Ropes Work
- 7:52Append
- 14:23Lazy Nodes
- 15:45Ruby Code
- 17:45Compute Split
- 19:55Iterators
- 21:26Each Line
- 22:30Ruby Forge
- 23:39Ropes
- 25:15Summary
- 32:16Piece Table
- 33:28Append Buffer
- 35:18Block Size
- 36:06Skip Lists
- 37:03Other Questions
