Editing Rope (data structure) (section)

{{Short description|Data structure for storing strings}}
[[File:Vector Rope example.svg|right|x200px|thumb|A simple rope built on the string of "Hello_my_name_is_Simon".]]

In [[computer programming]], a '''rope''', or '''cord''', is a [[data structure]] composed of smaller [[String (computer science)|strings]] that is used to efficiently store and manipulate longer strings or entire texts. For example, a [[text editing]] program may use a rope to represent the text being edited, so that operations such as insertion, deletion, and random access can be done efficiently.<ref name="Boehm">
{{cite journal
 | last = Boehm
 | first = Hans-J |author2=Atkinson, Russ |author3=Plass, Michael
 | title = Ropes: an Alternative to Strings
 | journal = Software: Practice and Experience
 | volume = 25
 | issue = 12
 | pages = 1315–1330
 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 | location = New York, NY, USA
 | date = December 1995
 | url = https://www.cs.tufts.edu/comp/150FP/archive/hans-boehm/ropes.pdf
 | doi = 10.1002/spe.4380251203
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200308005351/https://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.14.9450&rep=rep1&type=pdf
 | archive-date = 2020-03-08
 | url-status = live
}}</ref>