I have a Class::Struct (using array form, fwiw) containing about a dozen string members. I build a database of these by sorting them into an array.

The total length of the strings used to create this database is about 2MB; about 150 bytes of actual data times about 15,000 records, say.

As an array of Class::Struct objects, this takes up over 15MB in ram. I am unfortunately running on an embedded processor with limited ram.

How could I store these strings in a more compact way, and still use a convenient accessor function (preferably, the same one, namely a class function) to retrieve the data? The db is read-only once it has been sorted.

Or, to perhaps put it another way, what would it take to write something like Class::Struct in XS with a non-growable string as the only data type?

Or am I already missing something from CPAN? What would be a more compact form to store

In reply to Compact data classes by creeble

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