Whats Faster?[BB2D]

[mike_g]

I am having a go at using the Data statement for the first time and I was wondering, what would be faster:

Reading the data each loop, or reading the data once and writing it to an array then reading the array each loop. Or  maybe it dosent make any difference.

[slinks]

I think it's the arrays mate. That's what I was taught to use, anyway.

[mike_g]

Cool, I'll be doing that then 

[Clyde]

In answer to your question on how to read in data dude.

You'd be right in using arrays to store the information, and generally you'd read and store any data before the main part / loop of your program.

This is just a quick snippet that I've made off the top of my head, and should give you a general idea dude.

Code: [Select]

Dim ImInHere(10)

Restore DataTable1 ; Tells blitz to start reading data at the label called 'DataTable1'

For a=0 to 9

    Read ImInHere(a)

Next

While Not Keyhit(1)
Cls
      ;What ever takes your fancy!
Flip
Wend

.DataTable1
Data 2,30,10,5,8,30,2,1,0,10

Cheers & Hope it's of use to you,
Clyde.

[mike_g]

Thanks Clyde, thats more or less what i'm doing at the moment.

[zawran]

An alternative would be to use a bank and read the data into that. Then using peek and poke you can read/alter the data on the fly. The arrays are probably the easier way out. Banks provide interesting options in that images can be read as a bank and you can copy banks easily. Its all a matter of preference, and what you feel comfortable with using. But in any case, its always favorable to read the data beforehand since its a bit on the slow side resetting the read point and reading data in, if I remember correctly.