Re: Weird irreproducible error

[David Jones <drj@...>]

On 7 Oct 2007, at 13:30, Steve Heller wrote:


> On Sun, 7 Oct 2007 06:25:22 -0600, "Patrick Donnelly"
> <batrick.donnelly@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> > Could be you're expecting pairs() to do the same order every time,
> > even with the same data input every time.
>
> I don't think that is the problem. I don't rely on the order of
> pairs() at all, as far as I know.
>
> I do wonder though: why wouldn't pairs() produce the same order, with
> the same data and script(s)?

a) because it's allowed to by the documentation; and,

b) because hash tables use address-based hashing (for keys that are  
themselves tables), so the order of pairs() depends on where in  
memory the tables (that are keys) got allocated.  That can change  
either on a whim or, perhaps more likely, when DLLs have been mapped  
into different places in the address space (thus meaning the holes  
left for memory allocation are different).

drj