From: Aldric Giacomoni <aldric@...>
Date: 2009-12-09T05:34:42+09:00
Subject: Re: convert string into a variable object

Steve Wilhelm wrote:
> 
> I would have thought number of cities over time would be finite and 
> predictable. Granted, the number of cities is probably in the tend or 
> hundreds of thousands.
> 
> So symbols would be appropriate if instead of cities, adad was reading a 
> text file of state names? How about country names (currently under 200)? 
> I ask, in an attempt to gauge what is typically considered the accepted 
> threshold for using symbols.

That's certainly easy enough to create - get some list of cities..
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/774429.html
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/779905.html
http://www.maxmind.com/app/worldcities

Parse it.. Make symbols.. Check our how your computer's RAM looks, and 
how well it handles the hash / array / whatever data structure you've 
been using (if any, since you can just create symbols, after all...)

Let us know ;)
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