Performance question

[Torbjorn Tornkvist]

> I have an algorithm which requires a recursive function to have access to a
> fairly large fixed-size array of constants (probably a tuple, indexable with
> element/2 since that should have O(1) performance, and it won't need to be
> anywhere near 64k elements long).  My question is, if I simply declare this
> tuple as a value within the function, will it be recreated for each
> recursive call to the function, or is Erlang smart enough to set it up once
> (at compile time, even, as pre-initialized static data, since it is never
> modified) and keep it around for subsequent usage?

Well, first of all. If you want to store lots of data I recommend using
ets-tables, see the man-page for ets. They give you O(1) performance.
Also, under the user-contrib area you'll find an "efficient dynamically 
expanding array package for heap-based storage". I haven't used it
myself but Ulf Wiger (ulf.wiger@REDACTED) can probably give you 
details about the performance. See:

 http://www.serc.rmit.edu.au/mirrors/ose_mirror/user.html#dynarray-1.0

Next, there have been problems (in the past at least) when you try to
compile a tuple of size > 256. The work around has been to create a
list of elements and then use the BIF list_to_tuple/1 .

Finally, yes if you don't modify your tuple. Erlang only passes 
around the reference to it. 

> Incidentally, why is there no recognizer guard for funs? ...

There is: function(F)

Cheers /Tobbe