NAME
Tie::GHash - A smaller hash
SYNOPSIS
tie my %words, 'Tie::GHash';
my $i;
foreach (@words) {
$words{$_} = $i++;
}
DESCRIPTION
This module provides an interface to the Gnome glib library's hashes,
which are smaller (although possibly slower) than Perl's internal
hashes.
Typically, Perl sacrifices memory for speed, and this is the case with
its built-in hashes. Occasionally, you have a need for a large in-memory
hash, where it would be useful to sacrifice speed for low memory usage.
This module provides that functionality.
Using "Tie::GHash" is very simple: just use the hash in exactly the same
way as you would use a normal Perl hash, with the exception that you
need to "tie" it before use as in the synopsis.
For example, reading in a typical /usr/share/dict/words using Perl's
built in hashes took up 8,672K. Doing the same with Tie::GHash took up
7,212K, albeit about six times slower due to the tie interface.
NOTES
This module requires a recent version of the Inline library. This module
was created during Brian Ingerson's Inline talk at YAPC::NorthAmerica
2001 when he asked me to code something fun using Inline, so blame him.
AUTHOR
Leon Brocard <
[email protected]>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2001, Leon Brocard
This module is free software; you can redistribute it or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.
