Newbie question - arrays and tables

[BjornF]

Dear All,

could someone tell me what the advantage of using arrays instead of a hidden table is? To my (admittedly naive) understanding they seem very similar.

all the best / Björn

[willisgt]

I would think that a table would have advantages over an array. While a table probably consumes more memory (one of the true gurus could tell you for certain), it has the built-in ability to (1) ensure that a given cell in a given column is unique; (2) sort the data it contains; and (3) filter the data. Tables can be either case-sensitive or not, which affects all three.

A table also has the built-in ability to load or save data from either a CSV or XML file, which is extremely handy in all sorts of situations.


Gary

[BjornF]

Hmm, yes I understand. But then the question is why arrays are a good thing...

all the best / Björn

[Erel]

Tables are much heavier (memory and speed) than arrays.