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WolfShade
WolfShade
Legend
December 29, 2016
Question

Just curious - struct and array

  • December 29, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 266 views

Hello, all,

Just curious:  In ColdFusion, why does an array have a length, but a struct has a count?  You can take an array and get

arrayLen(array)

, but you can't

structLen(struct)

, it has to be

structCount(struct)

.

No biggie.. just curious.

V/r,

^_^

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    BKBK
    Community Expert
    BKBKCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 30, 2016

    I think that 'len' measures objects that grow, one distinct unit at a time, in one dimension. For example, lists, arrays and Java objects (len(object) = number of characters).

    Whereas 'count' measures objects that grow in one dimension, one composite entity at a time. For example, structs (which comprise key-value pairs) and (query) records (which comprise data rows) and ListValues (which may comprise composite entities such as objects).

    My guess is that the Coldfusion naming team came to the naming system intuitively. Then the system stayed with tradition.

    WolfShade
    WolfShadeAuthor
    Legend
    December 30, 2016

    Hi, BKBK,

    Thanks for the input.  That makes sense.  I just didn't originally see the differences between something that grows unit vs composite.  I just assumed that even something with a key/value pair, or something that can be composited, still has to have a base (which, I assume, would comprise length).  But if there are multiple sub-components, then length wouldn't really be a precise measure.

    Have a great New Year!

    V/r,

    ^_^

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