[Kstars-devel] profiling KStars

[Mike Rosseel]

Hi all,

Regarding the algorithm to draw the skymap, another approach could be using kd 
trees. Maybe Jason already considered this and rejected it, if not here is an 
explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kd-tree

Here is a short extract from that page regearding searches in a kd-tree:

----
Orthogonal range search in a kd-tree

Use a kd-tree to find all the points that lie within a given rectangle (or 
higher-dimensional region analogous to a rectangle). This operation is also 
called an orthogonal range search. 
---

This could be used easily with the X and Y coordinates (or ra, dec).
As an extra we may be able to use it with an added third dimension 
representing the magnitude, enabling stepwise rendering of the skymap (first 
select all onscreen stars between mag -27 and 0, then all between 0 and 3) as 
mentioned in a previous post.

Anyway, it's exciting to know that kstars might become faster in the future!

greetings,
Mike