[pro] Default safety level and specialized arrays

[Faré]

>>: Svante v. Erichsen <Svante.v.Erichsen at web.de>
>: Pascal J. Bourguignon <pjb at informatimago.com>

>> This begs the question: how do I get a speed optimized library then?
>> Do I need to make a local fork just to insert declarations?
>> Is there a way to tell
>
> This is not up to the library writer to decde on this.  This is up to the
> library final user.
>
> Declarations are global.  When you are developping/debugging, you will set
> them to
> (optimize (speed 0) (space 0) (debug 3) (safety 3)).
>
> When generating the end-user executable, you will set them to
> (optimize (speed 3) (space 3) (debug 0) (safety 3)),
> if you follow Bertrand Meyer's advice.
>
>> e. g. ASDF to use certain declamations?  Is making the declarations in the
>> library dependent on documented entries to *features* the way to go?  Where
>> would I push the desired settings into *features*?
>
> Even if you set them in ASDF, you will have to have a way to tell it when
> you are debugging code (always), and when you are generating a end-user
> application (once in a blue moon, and in a different, explicitely controlled
> process).
>
> And yes, since asdf doesn't cache the compiled files in separate directories
> for the various optimization settings (or the various *features* list),
> since that would be very unwiedly, you have to clear the cache when you
> switch between generating the end-user application, and normal developping
> work.  rm -rf ~/.cache/common-lisp/ is found in all application generation
> makefiles.
>
> Optimize declaimations and declarations in libraries is the curse of the CL
> application developper.
>
For an involved way of solving this problem as part of a reproducible build
of a company's software, see how we do it in the quux snapshot:
    https://common-lisp.net/project/qitab/
    http://common-lisp.net/project/qitab/archives/quux-2013-09-24.tar.bz2

—♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org
The [classical] liberal, of course, does not deny that there are
some superior people — he is not an egalitarian — but he denies
that anyone has authority to decide who these superior people are.
    — F. A. Hayek, "Why I Am Not a Conservative"