Sheerpower Logo

D.5  Using Clusters for Mapping and High-speed Translations
Clusters provide a powerful way to create high-speed lookup tables, ideal for tasks like translation. Each field within a cluster can serve as a searchable key, and you can use the findrow() function to perform these lookups. This system supports all data types and allows for duplicate keys and key value changes.>br>

Findrow() is a highly optimized function that uses hashing to perform lookups in O(1) time, enabling over 10 million searches per second on a modern PC, regardless of the number of rows. This makes Findrow() ideal for tasks requiring fast, efficient lookups. Given the cluster name, the cluster field to search in, and the data to search for, Findrow() returns the first row where the key is found or returns 0 if the key is not found.

To handle duplicate keys, findrow() has an optional third parameter to find the Nth occurrence of a key.
  • All fields of a cluster, regardless of data type, are searchable as a key
  • All keys are changeable
  • All keys can contain duplicates
  • All key searches take O(1) constant time -- virtually instant lookups
By default, all searches are case-regardless. Set the optional fourth parameter to TRUE if you want a case-sensitive search.

Because all cluster fields are keys, bi-directional lookups are easy to do. In our example we will translate from English to German and German to English.

To define a cluster, use the cluster statement followed by the name of the cluster. In our example, we are calling our cluster trans. Our trans cluster has two fields: english$ and german$. To reference them we use trans->english$ and trans->german$.
cluster trans: english$, german$
The code below uses the trans cluster to translate from English to German and German to English.
// simple translation dictionary cluster trans: english$, german$ add cluster trans: english$ = 'apple', german$ = 'der Apfel' add cluster trans: english$ = 'banana', german$ = 'die Banane' word$ = a$ do // First, try translating English to German row = findrow(trans->english$, word$) if row > 0 then print word$;' >> '; trans->german$ exit do end if // Not found as English, try German row = findrow(trans->german$, word$) if row > 0 then print word$;' >> '; trans->english$ exit do end if print 'No translation for '; word$ end do

Program Explanation:

1. Cluster Definition:

A cluster named trans is defined to store English words and their corresponding German translations. The cluster has two fields: english$ for English words and german$ for German words.

2. Adding Data:

The program adds entries to the trans cluster:

  • The English word 'apple' is paired with the German word 'der Apfel'.
  • The English word 'banana' is paired with the German word 'die Banane'.

3. User Input Assignment:

The variable word$ is assigned the value of a$, which is assumed to be a word entered by the user that they want to translate.

4. Searching for English Word:

The program searches the trans cluster for a row where the english$ field matches word$ (the word entered by the user). The row number is stored in the variable row.

5. English to German Translation:

If the word is found (row > 0), the program prints the English word followed by its German translation, using ' >> ' as the separator. The loop then exits since the translation has been found.

6. Searching for German Word:

If the word wasn't found in the English field, the program then searches the trans cluster for a row where the german$ field matches word$.

7. German to English Translation:

If the word is found in the German field (row > 0), the program prints the German word followed by its English translation, again using ' >> ' as the separator. The loop then exits since the translation has been found.

8. No Translation Found:

If the word is not found in either the English or German fields, the program prints a message indicating that there is no translation available for the word entered by the user.

Summary: The program is a simple translation tool that allows the user to translate words between English and German. It first tries to translate the word from English to German. If the word isn't found in the English field, it then tries to translate it from German to English. If the word is not found in either language, it notifies the user that there is no translation available.

Hide Description

    

        


      

      
Enter or modify the code below, and then click on RUN

     

    		

  

  
  

    
    

    
  
  

  
  

  
 

  



    

    Looking for the full power of Sheerpower? 
    

    Check out the 
   
   Sheerpower website.
   
   Free to download.  Free to use.