Documentation / technical / api-sha1-array.txton commit Merge branch 'jc/fmt-merge-msg-people' (503c15a)
   1sha1-array API
   2==============
   3
   4The sha1-array API provides storage and manipulation of sets of SHA1
   5identifiers. The emphasis is on storage and processing efficiency,
   6making them suitable for large lists. Note that the ordering of items is
   7not preserved over some operations.
   8
   9Data Structures
  10---------------
  11
  12`struct sha1_array`::
  13
  14        A single array of SHA1 hashes. This should be initialized by
  15        assignment from `SHA1_ARRAY_INIT`.  The `sha1` member contains
  16        the actual data. The `nr` member contains the number of items in
  17        the set.  The `alloc` and `sorted` members are used internally,
  18        and should not be needed by API callers.
  19
  20Functions
  21---------
  22
  23`sha1_array_append`::
  24        Add an item to the set. The sha1 will be placed at the end of
  25        the array (but note that some operations below may lose this
  26        ordering).
  27
  28`sha1_array_sort`::
  29        Sort the elements in the array.
  30
  31`sha1_array_lookup`::
  32        Perform a binary search of the array for a specific sha1.
  33        If found, returns the offset (in number of elements) of the
  34        sha1. If not found, returns a negative integer. If the array is
  35        not sorted, this function has the side effect of sorting it.
  36
  37`sha1_array_clear`::
  38        Free all memory associated with the array and return it to the
  39        initial, empty state.
  40
  41`sha1_array_for_each_unique`::
  42        Efficiently iterate over each unique element of the list,
  43        executing the callback function for each one. If the array is
  44        not sorted, this function has the side effect of sorting it.
  45
  46Examples
  47--------
  48
  49-----------------------------------------
  50void print_callback(const unsigned char sha1[20],
  51                    void *data)
  52{
  53        printf("%s\n", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
  54}
  55
  56void some_func(void)
  57{
  58        struct sha1_array hashes = SHA1_ARRAY_INIT;
  59        unsigned char sha1[20];
  60
  61        /* Read objects into our set */
  62        while (read_object_from_stdin(sha1))
  63                sha1_array_append(&hashes, sha1);
  64
  65        /* Check if some objects are in our set */
  66        while (read_object_from_stdin(sha1)) {
  67                if (sha1_array_lookup(&hashes, sha1) >= 0)
  68                        printf("it's in there!\n");
  69
  70        /*
  71         * Print the unique set of objects. We could also have
  72         * avoided adding duplicate objects in the first place,
  73         * but we would end up re-sorting the array repeatedly.
  74         * Instead, this will sort once and then skip duplicates
  75         * in linear time.
  76         */
  77        sha1_array_for_each_unique(&hashes, print_callback, NULL);
  78}
  79-----------------------------------------