Which datatype is fastest for cellular automata?

I am thinking creating cellular automata in construct. Previously, I have tried using arrays and dictionaries to store cell data. I found that dictionaries worked better with comparisons when using the "has key" condition.

My question is that should I try to use another datatype like Binary, CSV or JSON. I know that heavy algorithms like cellular automata should be done with code and not events, but unfortunately I don't know javascript syntax.

I don't know much about big O notation, but if anyone knows the time complexity of comparisons in different datatypes in construct that would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

Well since cellular automata usually works by looking at neighboring cells a 2d array seems like an easy choice. Guess you could use a dictionary but wouldn't you need to add an entry for each cell?

Both arrays and dictionaries are rated O(1) for accessing data, which means with a key or index they can access the value with one lookup. So Big O notation doesn't help too much. Arrays are more memory efficient since it's just a list of values, whereas dictionaries store keys and values and there could be other dead space reserved depending how the dictionaries are implemented. But I imagine the speed difference is negligible, you'll hit other bottlenecks first.

Personally I'd choose the one that looks cleaner.

Arrat.at(x,y) vs Dictionary.get(x&","&y) but whatever you want to do.

All those other data objects are just arrays and dictionaries.

cvs and json are parse text data and then internally are just arrays, and a mix of arrays and dictionaries. Binary is just a 1d array of numbers.

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you for your help!

I decided to use dictionaries and it turned quite messy since I added other information to like the color and life time of each cell but I got it to run quite fast with just events.