That's potentially very, very expensive. It's not entirely unreasonable
to want to concatenate files which are larger than physical memory...
Yes it is, Jon. But he didn't asy what he wanted to do with the "combined"
files. Since they were text files, they are equivalent to strings. There are
2 possible things to do with such files: (1) Combine them as a file, or (2)
Combine them as a string. I gave him the solution to number 2. Note that I
did not continue with how to write the string to a file. If I were giving
him the solution to number 1, I would not have talked about using strings at
all.
One might assume that he was talking about combining them as a file, but one
of the reasons I have trouble communicating with people is that I have
trained myself not to make assumptions. It makes me a better developer.
Under the circumstances, I could have asked for more specific information,
but being of British descent (I'm sure you understand Jon), I decided to
answer one of the 2 possibilities with a subtle subtext regarding the nature
of the question. Another reason I have trouble communicating with people is
that my subtext is often so subtle that it is lost on the audience. However,
I have found that a subtle subtext is often less likely to incur anger
towards the messenger, on the part of the listener. As the subtext is
somewhat ambiguous, it is either missed, in which case I dodge the
proverbial bullet, or it is received, in which case the communication is
made, but the ambiguity provides enough plausible deniability as to divert
any possible resentment.
Bottom line, when a person asks a question, he/she should be specific about
the requirements. GIGO.
--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
..Net Developer
You can lead a fish to a bicycle,
but it takes a very long time,
and the bicycle has to *want* to change.