[slime-devel] Re: recording and compiling changed definitions

[Helmut Eller]

* Marco Baringer [2007-04-09 13:08+0200] writes:

>>
>> This is something that the compiler should do, not the editor.
>
> How can the compiler know what we've edited and what we haven't?

So called "incremental" compilers know that.  That's pretty common in
the Java world.  I think the GNU Ada compiler also has support for
incremental compilation.  The Fun'O Dylan and the SML/NJ compiler
too.  Those compilers usually keep the AST, compilation environment, or
some fingerprints of the previous compilation in memory or save it to
a DB.

> Or are you just saying that we should be using the compiler and not
> pxref to compute the compile order?

I'm saying that the compiler (or related program transformer) is
better suited to implement this feature than the editor.  I'm pretty
sure that Franz' ELI does this stuff on the Lisp side.

As far as I can see, this feature tries to work around slow compilers.
Why not fix the compiler instead?

>
>> (And we, well I, don't want to turn SLIME into some Eclipse-like
>> monster).
>
> so we'll be fighting in a few months when i propose adding refactoring
> tools to slime? :)

Surely.

Helmut.