🚀 go-pugleaf

There are big differences between using the collection object instead of an array.

The collection object is more of a pointer into the collection than an array of references to the members of the collection. The collection object is permanently current, so when you access a member of a collection (whether directly or via a variable) you always get the current member that matches your method of addressing it. An array of references would have to be held in a variable and it would be a snapshot of the collection at that point in time.

The collection can be referenced from the tail end using .item(-n) where an array cannot -- you can set up negative indexes into an array, but that's all that they are. myArray[-1] might or might not exist, but it is not the same as myArray[myArray.length - 1].

The collection can be accessed using the collection methods, including the undocumented everyItem(). Arrays cannot.

Some of those methods aren't very useful, it seems to me, but that might just be a matter of taste. But I make frequent use of:

everyItem()
itemByRange()
item(n) where n is a number, positive or negative
item("Name") rather that itemByName("Name") which is functionally equivalent

and I make occasional use of

itemByID()

Dave