Merge pull request #78257 from Calinou/doc-packed-arrays-vs-typed-arrays

Document the upsides and downsides of packed arrays versus typed arrays

doc/classes/Array.xml

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 		[/codeblocks]
 		[b]Note:[/b] Arrays are always passed by reference. To get a copy of an array that can be modified independently of the original array, use [method duplicate].
 		[b]Note:[/b] Erasing elements while iterating over arrays is [b]not[/b] supported and will result in unpredictable behavior.
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedInt64Array] versus [code]Array[int][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 	</tutorials>

doc/classes/PackedColorArray.xml

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 	</brief_description>
 	<description>
 		An array specifically designed to hold [Color]. Packs data tightly, so it saves memory for large array sizes.
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedColorArray] versus [code]Array[Color][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 	</tutorials>

doc/classes/PackedFloat64Array.xml

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 	<description>
 		An array specifically designed to hold 64-bit floating-point values (double). Packs data tightly, so it saves memory for large array sizes.
 		If you only need to pack 32-bit floats tightly, see [PackedFloat32Array] for a more memory-friendly alternative.
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedFloat64Array] versus [code]Array[float][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 	</tutorials>

doc/classes/PackedInt64Array.xml

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 	<description>
 		An array specifically designed to hold 64-bit integer values. Packs data tightly, so it saves memory for large array sizes.
 		[b]Note:[/b] This type stores signed 64-bit integers, which means it can take values in the interval [code][-2^63, 2^63 - 1][/code], i.e. [code][-9223372036854775808, 9223372036854775807][/code]. Exceeding those bounds will wrap around. If you only need to pack 32-bit integers tightly, see [PackedInt32Array] for a more memory-friendly alternative.
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedInt32Array] versus [code]Array[int][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 	</tutorials>

doc/classes/PackedStringArray.xml

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 		var string = " ".join(string_array)
 		print(string) # "hello world"
 		[/codeblock]
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedStringArray] versus [code]Array[String][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 		<link title="OS Test Demo">https://godotengine.org/asset-library/asset/677</link>

doc/classes/PackedVector2Array.xml

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 	</brief_description>
 	<description>
 		An array specifically designed to hold [Vector2]. Packs data tightly, so it saves memory for large array sizes.
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedVector3Array] versus [code]Array[Vector2][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 		<link title="2D Navigation Astar Demo">https://godotengine.org/asset-library/asset/519</link>

doc/classes/PackedVector3Array.xml

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 	</brief_description>
 	<description>
 		An array specifically designed to hold [Vector3]. Packs data tightly, so it saves memory for large array sizes.
+		[b]Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays:[/b] Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. [PackedVector3Array] versus [code]Array[Vector3][/code]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as [method Array.map]. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.
 	</description>
 	<tutorials>
 	</tutorials>