Question

I am trying to sort big array using actionscript 3.

The problem is that i have to use custom sorting function which is painfully slow and leads to flash plugin crash.

Below is a sample code for custom function used to sort array by length of its members:

            private function sortByLength():int {
                var x:int = arguments[0].length;
                var y:int = arguments[1].length;
                if (x > y){
                    return 1;                       
                }else if (x < y){
                    return -1;
                }else{
                    return 0;
                }
             }

Which is called like this:

    var txt:Array = ["abcde","ab","abc","a"];
    txt.sort(sortByLength);

---

Please advise me how can this be done faster ?

How to change application logic to avoid Flash plugin crashes during sorting ?

Answer 1

try to use strong typing whenever possible, here tell your function that you are waiting two strings.

you could rewrite your function in two way one fastest than the other if you know that all your element are not null:

function sortByLength(a:String, b:String):int {
    return a.length-b.length // fastest way not comparison
}

and if you can have null check for it (this one will put null in front of all element):

 function sortByLengthWithNull(a:String, b:String):int {
     if (a==null) return -1
     if (b==null) return 1
     return a.length-b.length
 }