[fpc-pascal] dynamic array contents and system.move

[David Emerson]

Jürgen Hestermann wrote:
> Although I would have expected that special procedures exist to insert
> and remove array elements so that there is no need to do such things 
> manually ...

These must be written on a case-by-case basis, for each type of array element. 
Perhaps I'll tackle this someday as my first contribution to the fpc codebase.

As for the rest, I have addressed these very issues in the last week...

> ... which also requires knowledge of the exact handling of dynamic  
> arrays which is not fully documented so you are never sure.

See my test program, http://david9.freepgs.com/fpc/dynamic-arrays.pas
also: http://lists.freepascal.org/lists/fpc-pascal/2010-April/024840.html

You can figure out how all this stuff works relatively easily -- if it is so 
important to you to be able to use system.move on dynamic array contents.

> For example, in the above example, a[10] still exists and 
> points to the same data as a[9], correct? And how do I *insert* elements?
> I would need to extend the allocated memory but how to do that without 
> distroying reference counters etc.?

http://lists.freepascal.org/lists/fpc-pascal/2010-April/024845.html

Of course you need to use setlength to extend allocated memory.

Cheers,
David