Need "File Compare Algorithm" help

[Thresher]

I'm racking my brain trying to think of a simple yet efficient way to do the following... I have two files to compare, a C file and a T file. The C file is an ASCII file and the T file is a binary file. Both contain "n" amount of "System" elements and each system can contain "n" "Node" elements, kind of like a tree structure. The C file is handed to me and is used as the basis for constructing a T file. A System & a Node can only be added to a T file if it's in the C file and can only be deleted from a T file if it's no longer in the C file. With me so far? So I need to compare these two files and I'm trying to figure out how. Here's what I have so far...

1) Read in the C file, store the Systems & Nodes in a vector and do the same for the T file. Compare the vectors and make additions & deletions based on this... seems like the additons & deletions wil be LOTS of overhead...

2) Write a bool function to search for Systems & Nodes in a T file based on what's in the C file. Make additions & deletions based on this...

3) Parse the T file and for every System & Node I find, parse the C file to see if it exists...almost like in #2 above but use the T file to search in the C file...

None of these seem like a "great" idea but I've never compared two files so I'm trying to not make more work for myself nor screw it up! Any ideas....?

Thanks for reading my post...!

[ahoodin]

why not create a node class.

for each node and read in all the elements from both files.

then overload the = operator and run some comparison algorithms from any college textbook as if you were comparing 2 arrays of integers.

This way you could apply alot of common algorithms to your problem.

ahoodin

[Thresher]

Originally posted by ahoodin
why not create a node class.

for each node and read in all the elements from both files.

then overload the = operator and run some comparison algorithms from any college textbook as if you were comparing 2 arrays of integers.

This way you could apply alot of common algorithms to your problem.

ahoodin

That's kinda lke I was thinking about in the #1 scenario in my first post...except I'd have a vector of System structs that are built when the files are read in.... The only problem I found with that so far is say, System #22 exists in both C & T files BUT in the C file it had 10 Nodes and in the T file it has 9 Nodes... I'll have to add just a Node to an existing System in the T file and I'll have the added overhead of finding it int he T file because all I have are vectors full of System and Nodes "copies" and not the actual object....

[kuphryn]

One solution is is recursion. Read both files in binary mode. The C file will be the key. THe dispatch function first determines the attribute of the C file and dispatches it to either the system element check or node check. Work from there.

Kuphryn