Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!ncar!tank!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: libraries
Message-ID: <15106@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 21 Dec 88 04:00:45 GMT
References: <14946@mimsy.UUCP> <1269@nusdhub.UUCP> <15080@mimsy.UUCP> <10211@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 16

In article <10211@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US
(The Beach Bum) writes:
>[directory libraries might] display quadratic file system behavior
>[ or worse ;-) ] ...

This has always been a problem with the Unix file system.  Directory
scanning tended to be O(n^2).  That is why 4.3BSD, current SunOSes, and
perhaps even SVR3 have name caches.  It reduces the behaviour to O(n)
in most cases.  Granted, O(n) is still considerably higher than O(1)....

(And *that* is the real problem, not the side issues several others
have named.  Nonetheless, `directory libraries' would probably be handy
during library development, and damn the scan time.  When it gets too
bad, you give in and make the .a file.  Or the .a groups....)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris