A BASIC DATA STRUCTURE FOR EIFFEL COMPILERS

name: structure

copyright / manifest:
	developed by: Nicolas Waquier nicolas@esclare.fdn.org
	if you find bugs or improvements, let me know; I'll do it. 
	You can help if you want. I'm the maintener. I decide when it's 
	adequat to add features/classes. The cluster must stay simple and 
	efficient.
	
version: 0.1 (alpha)

state:
	quite fonctional (see test classes). Will be improved soon to:
	1- Operate with a many compiler as possible
	2- Add Sorted_List, Bag, Set
	3- Add Section and Cursor to iterate in the lists.
	4- Have a more complete test suite.
	5- Add iterators, sorters
	6- Add sequences (Array, String)
	7- Add Graphs and Trees.
	8- develop the 'unique' dispenser a_value as a cluster.
	
calandar:
	end of december: this release (alpha)
	during january: points 2 & 4 (beta)
	early february: points 1 & 3 (1.0)
	... : point 5,6,7,8
	
target use:
	every industrial project developed in Eiffel.
	education: how do you write a cluster
	standart1: must work with kernel library
	standart2: as a test suite for 'new' compilers
	...
	
why this cluster:
	A free data structure in Eiffel is strongly needed.
	A 'simple' but _Efficient_ data structure will be appreciated.
	This is not a replacement for other, commercials data structure 
	libraries, such as Base or Booch. You _need_ these libraries for 
	projects relying on special and addapted data structures.

contant:
ds_basic/
   container        -- general abstraction
	list_linked      -- one_way
	list_bilinked    -- two_way
	list_circular    -- a loop
	cursor_linked    -- to iterate, insert, remove...
	cursor_bilinked
	cursor_circular
	cell_linked      -- the atomic element
	cell_bilinked
	cell_circular
	
ds_classe/     -- classes obtained using ds_basic
	stack
	queue
	
ds_test/       -- classes to test avery class
   a_value		-- get a new integer

ds_doc/        -- some doc (short interface)

tests: 
   compiler Tower 1.3.1
	need: kernel
	platform: nextstep/intel
	compil time (Eiffel->C):
	   ds_basic: 41 s
		ds_classes: 23 s
		ds_test: 25 s
	
Nicolas_
-- Copyright 95 - Esclare software/ Nicolas Waquier:
--    developed by: Nicolas Waquier nicolas@esclare.fdn.org
--