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description: Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
items: Re: Efficient comparison of arrays / Set operations

Re: Efficient comparison of arrays / Set operations
type: item
description: Research Systems Inc. writes: > Below appear three IDL functions that operate on sets represented by > arrays of positive integers. The SetIntersection(a,b) function > returns the common elements, SetUnion(a,b) returns all unique elements > in both arguments, and SetDifference(a,b) returns the elements > (members) in a but not in b. Hey, way to go, RSI. Nice post! I, for one, think you guys should post more often. Lord knows, we can often use the help. :-) Cheers, David ------------------------------------------------------------ - David Fanning, Ph.D. Fanning Software Consulting Customizable IDL Programming Courses Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com
creator: davidf
date: 1997-08-29T07:00:00-00:00

Re: Efficient comparison of arrays / Set operations
type: item
description: A somewhat belated reply to the numerous postings on finding the common elements of vectors: > Given vectors of the type... > > a = [1,2,3,4,5] > b = [3,4,5,6,7] > > What is the most efficient way to determine which values that occur in > a also occur in b (i.e., the values [3,4,5] occur in both a and b). > Below appear three IDL functions that operate on sets represented by arrays of positive integers. The SetIntersection(a,b) function returns the common elements, SetUnion(a,b) returns all unique elements in both arguments, and SetDifference(a,b) returns the elements (members) in a but not in b. It is faster than previously published functions, e.g. contain() and find_elements(). Hope this helps, Research Systems, Inc. ____________________________________________________________ _____ ; Set operators. Union, Intersection, and Difference (i.e. return ; members of A that are not in B.) ; ; These functions operate on arrays of positive integers, which need ; not be sorted. Duplicate elements are ignored, as they have no ; effect on the result. ; ; The empty set is denoted by an array with the first element equal to ; -1. ; ; These functions will not be efficient on sparse sets with wide ; ranges, as they trade memory for efficiency. The HISTOGRAM function ; is used, which creates arrays of size equal to the range of the ; resulting set. ; For example: ; a = [2,4,6,8] ; b = [6,1,3,2] ; SetIntersection(a,b) = [ 2, 6] ; Common elements ; SetUnion(a,b) = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8] ; Elements in either set ; SetDifference(a,b) = [ 4, 8] ; Elements in A but not in B ; SetIntersection(a,[3,5,7]) = -1 = Null Set FUNCTION SetUnion, a, b if a[0] lt 0 then return, b ;A union NULL = a if b[0] lt 0 then return, a ;B union NULL = b return, where(histogram([a,b], OMIN = omin)) + omin ;Return combined set end FUNCTION SetIntersection, a, b minab = min(a, MAX=maxa) > min(b, MAX=maxb) ;Only need intersection of ranges maxab = maxa < maxb ;If either set is empty, or their ranges don't intersec…
creator: Research Systems Inc.
date: 1997-08-29T07:00:00-00:00

Re: Efficient comparison of arrays / Set operations
type: item
description: Research Systems Inc. wrote: > > A somewhat belated reply to the numerous postings on finding the > common elements of vectors: > >> Given vectors of the type... >> >> a = [1,2,3,4,5] >> b = [3,4,5,6,7] >> >> What is the most efficient way to determine which values that occur in >> a also occur in b (i.e., the values [3,4,5] occur in both a and b). >> > > Below appear three IDL functions that operate on sets represented by > arrays of positive integers. The SetIntersection(a,b) function > returns the common elements, SetUnion(a,b) returns all unique elements > in both arguments, and SetDifference(a,b) returns the elements > (members) in a but not in b. > > It is faster than previously published functions, e.g. contain() and > find_elements(). > > Hope this helps, > > Research Systems, Inc. > ____________________________________________________________ _____ > ; Set operators. Union, Intersection, and Difference (i.e. return > ; members of A that are not in B.) > ; > ; These functions operate on arrays of positive integers, which need > ; not be sorted. Duplicate elements are ignored, as they have no > ; effect on the result. > ; > ; The empty set is denoted by an array with the first element equal to > ; -1. > ; > ; These functions will not be efficient on sparse sets with wide > ; ranges, as they trade memory for efficiency. The HISTOGRAM function > ; is used, which creates arrays of size equal to the range of the > ; resulting set. Very fast for non-sparse sets! But this last comment is important to note. For sparse, large sets, other methods posted previously remain superior (given finite memory). I find contain() outperforms SetIntersection() on my 64 MB machine when the two vectors are roughly 1 in 25 sparse (i.e. when only 1 out of every group of 25 numbers, on average, exists in the vector). This will vary with your memory. A simple fix for negative numbers too would be useful. JD
creator: J.D. Smith
date: 1997-09-01T07:00:00-00:00

Re: Efficient comparison of arrays / Set operations
type: item
description: Saeid Zoonematkermani writes: >> Research Systems Inc. writes: >> >>> Below appear three IDL functions that operate on sets represented by >>> arrays of positive integers. The SetIntersection(a,b) function >>> returns the common elements, SetUnion(a,b) returns all unique elements >>> in both arguments, and SetDifference(a,b) returns the elements >>> (members) in a but not in b. >> > > Ooops! I was gone for a while and missed the posting of the above > functions. Could some one repost the functions, or make them available at > a web site some where. Thanks, You can find them on my web page. The URL is: http://www.dfanning.com/tips/set_operations.html Cheers, David ------------------------------------------------------------ ----- David Fanning, Ph.D. Fanning Software Consulting Customizable IDL Programming Courses Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com
creator: davidf
date: 1997-09-10T07:00:00-00:00

Re: Efficient comparison of arrays / Set operations
type: item
description: In article <MPG.e70ebcaf9a84bd79896f2@news.frii.com>, davidf@dfanning.com (David Fanning) wrote: > Research Systems Inc. writes: > >> Below appear three IDL functions that operate on sets represented by >> arrays of positive integers. The SetIntersection(a,b) function >> returns the common elements, SetUnion(a,b) returns all unique elements >> in both arguments, and SetDifference(a,b) returns the elements >> (members) in a but not in b. > > Hey, way to go, RSI. Nice post! I, for one, think you guys > should post more often. Lord knows, we can often use the help. :-) > > Cheers, > > David > Ooops! I was gone for a while and missed the posting of the above functions. Could some one repost the functions, or make them available at a web site some where. Thanks, - Saeid ------------------------------------------------------------ ----- | Saeid Zoonematkermani | E-Mail: szoonem@astro.sunysb.edu | | Dept. of Physics & Astronomy | Voice: (+1) (516) 632-8237 | | State University of New York | Fax: (+1) (516) 632-8742 | | Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ ----- | Home Page --> http://ozone.ess.sunysb.edu/ | ------------------------------------------------------------ -----
creator: szoonem
date: 1997-09-10T07:00:00-00:00