Compact Data

From: pinkfloydhomer_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-03-16 17:25:55

I may be asking a stupid question here, and it might even be off 
topic (it's becoming a bad habit), but here goes:

Is there currently in standard C++ a structured way to represent data 
compactly, other than the old C bitfields?

If there isn't, couldn't this be a relevant thing for Boost?

Sometimes, you just need all the memory you can get, and it would be 
nice if there were a really structured way of doing this.

In my particular case, I am using a hashtable in a chess program, and 
the performance in practice is directly dependant on effecient 
hashtable operations and space effecient storage of the entries, 
because more entries is better. This is not your typical hashtable, 
but one somewhat adapted to it's specific use, so I can't really use 
anything else. Also, the need to store data effeciently in memory, is 
very general.