OT: How can that be?

Simple - lets assume you want to keep a list of key/value pairs. you could do it simple in an unordered list of strings, add new keys to the end and use linear search, or more sophisticated, sort this list insert new key at the aprobiate place and search by halving the index - or, againe better, use a B-tree structure and shorten insert time (while adding maybe search time). Now, honest, if this list you need is only a tool for some temporary data, would you build up anything else than the linear list ? No, since you want to ro the actual task (like the picture ting) instead, so your programm will be slower when searching for a key than the same algorythm written in PERL, where the more sophisticated funcion is alread build in and optimized. Gruss H. (I like PERL, but I never did any single programm with more than 150 lines (two maybe 3 screen pages), including comments and beautifying empty lines - if I need more, I prefer a real language, like Assembler :) -- Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK