StringBuilder for ThinBASIC @ GitHub

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi all,

I am sure you are all familiar with the concept of StringBuilder - it is little helper which performs efficient string concatenations and often much more. I started working on such a component for ThinBASIC - the language has incredibly epic string handling, but didn't have any stringbuilder... till now!

The usage
... is very simple. You instantiate object, and then use its methods:

Uses "StringBuilder", "Console"      

Function TBMain()

  Dim stringBuffer As String
  Dim sb As StringBuilder
  sb = New StringBuilder()
  
  Long i
        
  Dim stopWatch As cTimer
  stopWatch = New cTimer()
  
  Print "Appending to classic string: "
  stopWatch.Start       
  For i = 1 To 20000
    stringBuffer += "Appending is fine!"
  Next             
  stopWatch.Stop
  PrintL stopWatch.ElapsedToString(%CTIMER_MILLISECONDS, "0") + " ms (Total " + Len(stringBuffer) + " characters)"
  
  Print "Appending to string builder: "
  stopWatch.Start       
  For i = 1 To 20000
    sb.Add("Appending is fine!")
  Next             
  stopWatch.Stop
  PrintL stopWatch.ElapsedToString(%CTIMER_MILLISECONDS, "0") + " ms (Total " + Len(sb.ToString()) + " characters)"
  
  PrintL
  PrintL "Press any key to quit..."
  
  WaitKey
  
End Function

What is it good for?
It is great for efficient string appending. Do you see the code above? Check the speed on your PC or see the screenshot...

The source code
I decided to make the code public, to make possible for others to commit their enhancements. Get the source @GitHub:
https://github.com/petrSchreiber/thi..._StringBuilder

The binaries
Please note StringBuilder is official part of thinBasic since 1.9.16.17! Yay!
You can still grab the latest release from GitHub as well.

Documentation
The documentation is provided at Wiki associated with the repository, please check here:
https://github.com/petrSchreiber/thi...ngBuilder/wiki

Petr

[mike lobanovsky]

Hi Petr,

The timings are really impressive.

How would you comment on the following script and the associated snapshot, please?

Uses "StringBuilder", "Console"     
 
Function TBMain()
 
  Long i
         
  For i = 1 To 2000000
    SpawnStringBuilder
  Next            

  PrintL "Press any key to quit..."
   
  WaitKey
   
End Function

Sub SpawnStringBuilder()
  Dim sb As StringBuilder
  sb = New StringBuilder()

  sb.Capacity = 10000
  sb.Clear()
End Sub

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Mike,

well, that cries "memory leak" I am looking into it right now...


Petr

[Petr Schreiber]

Thank you Mike,

I forgot the destruction must be handled on module side - now fixed.

Please redownload the DLL, and if curious, check the change in commit at git.

Early versions of the SDK freed the object, but when we discussed with Eros possiblity of non-COM based objects, it was changed to be freed by module creator.

From thinBasic programmer point of view, all objects are garbage collected - destuctor is called once they run out of scope.


Petr

[mike lobanovsky]

Thanks a lot Petr,

In fact, git was the first place I poked my nose into. Now everything seems to be running just fine even without the sb.Clear() call.

[Petr Schreiber]

Updated the module:

• .Add method can now take any number of parameters

Few tips on when to use this:

Uses "StringBuilder", "Console"      

Function TBMain()

  Dim stringBuffer As String
  Dim sb As StringBuilder
  sb = New StringBuilder()
  
  Long i
        
  Dim stopWatch As cTimer
  stopWatch = New cTimer()
  
  PrintL "Appending to classic string: "
  stopWatch.Start       
  For i = 1 To 20000
    stringBuffer += "Appending is fine! (" + i + ")"
  Next             
  stopWatch.Stop
  PrintL stopWatch.ElapsedToString(%CTIMER_MILLISECONDS, "0") + " ms (Total " + Len(stringBuffer) + " characters)"

  PrintL
  PrintL "Appending to classic string with StrFormat$: "
  stringBuffer = ""
  stopWatch.Start       
  For i = 1 To 20000
    stringBuffer += StrFormat$("Appending is fine! ({1})", i)
  Next             
  stopWatch.Stop
  PrintL stopWatch.ElapsedToString(%CTIMER_MILLISECONDS, "0") + " ms (Total " + Len(stringBuffer) + " characters)"

  PrintL
  PrintL "Appending to string builder with StrFormat$: "
  stopWatch.Start       
  For i = 1 To 20000
    sb.Add(StrFormat$("Appending is fine! ({1})", i))
  Next             
  stopWatch.Stop
  PrintL stopWatch.ElapsedToString(%CTIMER_MILLISECONDS, "0") + " ms (Total " + Len(sb.ToString()) + " characters)"
    
  PrintL
  PrintL "Appending to string builder with multiple parameters: "
  sb.Clear()
  stopWatch.Start       
  For i = 1 To 20000
    sb.Add("Appending is fine! (", i, ")")
  Next             
  stopWatch.Stop
  PrintL stopWatch.ElapsedToString(%CTIMER_MILLISECONDS, "0") + " ms (Total " + Len(sb.ToString()) + " characters)"
  
  PrintL
  printl "Press any key to quit..."
  
  WaitKey
  
End Function

Petr

[primo]

Hi Petr
in the wiki you said :Place the thinBasic_stringBuilder.dll to Mod directory inside your thinBasic installation
but it seems the binary thinBasic_stringBuilder.dll is from 2015 while the source code is from 2016. even the old dll works but i want to be sure it is the correct file
the dll i found inside thinBasic_StringBuilder.zip.
thanks

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Primo,

thanks for letting me know. StringBuilder is now part of ThinBASIC default installation, you don't have to get it from GitHub, if you don't want to.
The binaries there are fresh!:
https://github.com/petrSchreiber/thi.../tag/1.9.16.17


Petr

[Petr Schreiber]

I prepared new version of stringBuilder for thinBasic 1.9.16.18.
Users of older version can download the binaries here: https://github.com/petrSchreiber/thi.../tag/1.9.16.18

What is new? I added the DataPtr read-only property, which is handy for cases when you want to work with stringBuilders internal memory directly, for enhanced performance.
Full documentation here: https://github.com/petrSchreiber/thi...ngBuilder/wiki


Petr

[primo]

Thanks Petr for the additional property DataPtr
i have tried it like this, but not sure if this is the correct usage:

Uses "StringBuilder", "Console" 
Dim i As Long

Dim sb As New StringBuilder
  
sb.Add("Ciao world")
sb.Add("Ciao world")
  
Dim s As String * 4 At sb.DataPtr 
 
PrintL s 
Long pointer
pointer = sb.DataPtr 
String st 
For i=1 To 20
st = Peek$(pointer, i)
PrintL st
Next


WaitKey