Base conversions

How, exactly, do you expect to reduce file size that way? Just store the double as a double; it''s only 8 bytes. If that''s more precision than you need, store it as a float (4 bytes). If you can use fixed-point numbers (integers, possibly with an implied denominator), use them.

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How appropriate. You fight like a cow.

Well, right now the file is stored in a .map (.txt) file, with 1 byte per character. Storing it normally would use 1 byte per 0-9, decimal, whatever. Converting it to base 200 (starting with the zero character) would allow 0 to whatever character '0' + 200 is, thus making way better use of the byte. If you can think of a better way though, I'm all ears.

Of course, this is in character mode, I do not know how to use binary mode or whatever...is that what you are referring to?

[edited by - SuperD on August 5, 2003 7:09:18 PM]

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Of course, this is in character mode, I do not know how to use binary mode or whatever...is that what you are referring to?

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Not to put words in Sneftels mouth, but: yes

There is absolutely no advantage in most situations in doing what you propose. The good thing about files in ASCII is portability, every platform can process ASCII files directly. If you aren''t trying to be portable to can make far better use of binary packing. Simple example:

4.522345 = 8 bytes (ASCII)
4.522345 = 4 bytes (binary float)

However, whether that number can be represented exactly as a float I don''t know (which is always an issue to consider and depends on application).

A better mechanism if you don''t want to use binary would be to use zlib (or similar) to compress the ASCII representation and de-compress on loading.

Cool, I think I''ll figure out outputing in binary mode...Thanks!

The only real application of this kind of method might be on a calculator where your options are really limited. I kind of discovered base conversions on my own that way. It was a weird feeling when my math teacher starting putting different words to something I had already figured out.

(BTW, I was trying to put multiple characters into each number in a list. It worked perfectly, but it was god-awful slow )

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