More Memory vs. Higher Accuracy

Hello everyone.

I recently created an inventory management script that can be used by multiple people. It works perfectly, except for one thing...

I have it check its lists for null values every now and then, and delete them from the list if any are found. I do this by converting the list to a string and then parsing it back into a list. I just realized, however, that this sometimes causes the lists to become out-of-sync with each other. Since it's critical that the users of this script can store their objects safely, I had to remove the ListWithoutNulls function.

Do null values in lists take up any memory? If so, how much? If it's a significant amount, should I put back the ListWithoutNulls function but have it check to make sure the lists will stay in-sync?


Thanks in advance ^_^

Tell me, why do you have to parse it to a string and back? Why not search the list for NULL values and remove them?
The Remove should be easy to synchronize for more lists.
LSL has excellent functions for searching lists and for removing sub lists

Why are nulls getting placed in your list in the first place?

yes, Link:http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Script_Memory

when you say nulls, do you mean actual nulls, or null references to objects no longer in it's inventory? if it's the latter, some kind of cleanup should prevent this, by checking either specific objects rezzed, or by running a match sweep when inventory changes (note, I don't think name changes within inventory trigger a changed event)

That was my thought. At any place where a NULL might be stored, you have an opportunity to do clean up right there on the spot. Sometimes it might not be desirable and most cost more than it saves, but it is certainly an option to consider.

It is. I noticed a very long time ago however that, while the event is triggered if the script it is in changes name, llGetScriptName() doesn't report the result until some time after, so you have to insert some kind of sleep or timer event to see if the name has actually changed from the old one, and hope that your delay is long enough. I reported this way back before JIRA existed for SL. Haven't revisited it since, but I highly doubt it has been fixed.

See http://www.lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=changed

Yes, they are actual null values. Empty strings, etc.

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The nulls aren't being added to the list, but rather replacing something that no longer exists.

I currently have two major lists. One for storing avatar's names/keys, and the other for storing the names of the items they've dropped into the object.

I use llListFindList to get the index of the user's name in the first list, which I can use to retrieve his items from the second list.

If he removes an item, that part of the list gets replaced with an empty string.

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I dump it to a string and parse it back just to make things easier for me

list RandomStuff = ["One", "Two," "Three", "", "Five"];
string temp = llDumpList2String(RandomStuff, "#";

(temp = "One#Two#Three##Five)

list RandomStuffWithoutNulls = llParseString2List(temp, ["#"], []);

(RandomStuffWithoutNulls = ["One", "Two", "Three", "Five"])

I read you, you really make it hard on yourself Why not do it the easy way?

n=llListFindList( RandomStuff, [""]);
while (n>-1)
{
   RandomStuffWithoutNulls = llDeleteSubList( RandomStuff, n, n );
   ...
   another_list_synchronized = llDeleteSubList( another_list, n, n );
   ...
   n=llListFindList( RandomStuff, [""]);
}

mispost

Why not use a strided list and make life easy?

O_o There's a DeleteSubList function?

*Slaps head*