[General] Hashtables, Arrays or Local Variables, which one is the best to achive MUI?

[Arkane]

As I searched throught the forums, I found those methods to achieve MUI, however I haven't found any explicit pros and cons of one over the others.
What would you say about them?

PS: As local variables, I mean the Shadowing technique

 

[Spartipilo]

You can achieve MUI with local variables.

Some mora advanced features may also require some vJASS

Some more advanced features may also (or not) require an Unit Indexer (Bribe's suggested).

Some more advanced stuff may also (or not) require a Hashtable

 

[pOke]

Pretty sure shadowing is unrecommended .

But what do you want to do exactly because some strategies work better than others depending on what you need it for.

 

[sethmachine]

If you use vJASS you can easily have MUI for your systems (I am assuming it's a spell system?). Just design your own unit wrapper via struct.

library myStruct

globals
endglobals

struct myStruct
  unit u
  static method create takes unit u returns thistype
     local thistype this = thistype.allocate()
     set this.u = u
     return this
  endmethod
  //put any functions here that each unit has
  //i.e. your code goes here
endstruct
endlibrary

So whenever you make a unit, you would need to make sure to put it into its own wrapper. But as p0ke said, it would help if you know exactly what you are doing, and why your current approach isn't working.

 

[Dr Super Good]

All 3 have their purposes. Hashtables are good for mapping arbitrary values such as to units and things. Arrays are good for creating allocable data structures. Locals are used to avoid clogging the map with excessive arrays and allow nested code.

Generally arrays should be used for bulk data as they are fastest. Hashtables should be used for efficient lookup of mappings such as an index on a unit or a timer. Locals generally have nothing to do with MUI and are more a useful scripting tool.

 

[Arkane]

That was just curiosity. Thanks for the answers.

 

[EdgeOfChaos]

All 3 have their purposes. Hashtables are good for mapping arbitrary values such as to units and things. Arrays are good for creating allocable data structures. Locals are used to avoid clogging the map with excessive arrays and allow nested code.

Generally arrays should be used for bulk data as they are fastest. Hashtables should be used for efficient lookup of mappings such as an index on a unit or a timer. Locals generally have nothing to do with MUI and are more a useful scripting tool.

Locals are related to MUI. Example:

Unit starts the effect of an ability
Set Caster = Casting Unit
Wait 5 seconds
Kill Caster

^ Not MUI

Unit starts the effect of an ability
local unit caster = Casting Unit
Wait 5 seconds
call KillUnit(caster)

^ MUI

 

[Chaosy]

Locals are related to MUI. Example:

Unit starts the effect of an ability
Set Caster = Casting Unit
Wait 5 seconds
Kill Caster

^ Not MUI

Unit starts the effect of an ability
local unit caster = Casting Unit
Wait 5 seconds
call KillUnit(caster)

^ MUI

not true. Or bad example at least.

• Untitled Trigger 001
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Wait 5.00 seconds
    • Unit - Kill (Triggering unit)

• Untitled Trigger 002
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: local unit udg_caster
    • Set caster = (Triggering unit)
    • Wait 5.00 seconds
    • Unit - Kill caster

both are MUI.

 

[Zeatherann]

Does global variable shadowing still work? Thought that was removed last patch.

 

[Chaosy]

eh, no?

 

[Zeatherann]

No as in 'shadowing doesn't work' or no as in 'it wasn't removed by a patch and still works'?

 

[Chaosy]

No it wasn't removed in the last patch, it's fully working. There is only example uploaded in the spell section and it's included in one tutorial. I doubt that would be allowed if it didn't work for the later patch.

 

[Zeatherann]

That's a cool feature. I remember learning of it in the past, but thought it was removed, anyways. Carry on.

 

[EdgeOfChaos]

not true. Or bad example at least.

• Untitled Trigger 001
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Wait 5.00 seconds
    • Unit - Kill (Triggering unit)

• Untitled Trigger 002
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Custom script: local unit udg_caster
    • Set caster = (Triggering unit)
    • Wait 5.00 seconds
    • Unit - Kill caster

both are MUI.

My example is quite true. I used global variables with event response, not just event responses. Yes, I know some event responses are MUI, but in my example the global would be overwritten. It was meant to show the principal that global variables lead to non-MUI (when not using arrays/hashtables) and locals lead to MUI code.

Obviously you wouldn't have to use locals, you could just use event response in my example. But this is not always true; sometimes you need variables and waits, and globals just don't cut it. It was just an example of how locals can make code MUI, not "this is an excellent use of locals"