Map() function

What is map function what it does and how we use it.

I see in some interfaces it has been used in ruleinputs as a datatype.

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  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer

    Basically the same thing as a dictionary, but with many other uses.  It's an ad hoc CDT-like thing that you define by filling it with whatever.  The cool thing is, unlike dictionary, you can pass it to a process model as a process variable and do lots of other things with it.  It's really cool for determining the structure the data will go into at runtime, but it does have some limits.

  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer
    in reply to Dave Lewis

    In addition to being able to pass it to a process as a PV (which does open up some nice new doors, as it were), the biggest strength of a!map() over a traditional dictionary, is that the data items within the map will keep their data type very well.  In a dictionary it was often hard to use certain primitive operators (like "local!dict.number = 1") because data elements in a dictionary would resolve as a sort of "any type" data type, which did not play well with direct comparisons like the above.

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  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer
    in reply to Dave Lewis

    In addition to being able to pass it to a process as a PV (which does open up some nice new doors, as it were), the biggest strength of a!map() over a traditional dictionary, is that the data items within the map will keep their data type very well.  In a dictionary it was often hard to use certain primitive operators (like "local!dict.number = 1") because data elements in a dictionary would resolve as a sort of "any type" data type, which did not play well with direct comparisons like the above.

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