[Year 12 SofDev] A matter of style - GUI data structures vs primitives

[Mark KELLY]

Hi all.  Just had an odd passing thought while working on a programming
skills theory slideshow.  (Don't you hate it when you actually start *
thinking* while getting work done?)

Most programming languages now offer GUI data structures like listboxes,
grids etc.
I'm interested to know how many people use them as their primary data
structures as opposed to using arrays to store and manipulate data and then
populating the GUI structure with data from the array.

I tend to use the latter method for intensive manipulation needs, and the
former for simple storage & display.

What sort of performance penalty does the use of the GUI data structure
impose? Do the GUI structure's capabilities (e.g. auto-sorting lists)
outweigh the penalty?
How efficient is the GUI's inbuilt sorting algorithm compared to a good
do-it-yourself sorting algorithm?  (I tend to think the built-in one will
beat mine any day.)

-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager Information Systems
Reporting Manager
IT Learning Area Manager

McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204
Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085
Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

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