[slime-devel] Find Definitions

[Helmut Eller]

* Terje Norderhaug [2009-12-22 17:33+0100] writes:

>> Why is that needed?
>
>
> It is needed for functionality that improves the usability of MCLIDE.
>
> For example, the Apropos dialog (see screen shot at http://mclide.in- 
> progress.com/tour) lets lisp developers filter the result of an  
> apropos based on type. If the developer chooses to only be interested  
> in the definitions of functions, clicking the Source button goes  
> straight to the function definition even if there are other  
> definitions for the same symbol. Several dialogs also present dspecs  
> from Swank in more uniform custom ways rather than display the  
> implementation dependent raw dspec string.

Hmm... sounds like quite bit of work for a relatively small improvement.
I would estimate that 80% of all symbols have only one definition,
i.e. most of the time it wouldn't make a difference.

> Adding a definition-types function to swank will aid MCLIDE and other  
> clients make sense of the definitions from swank by providing a type  
> hierarchy or map from canonical definition types to the type symbols  
> used in their lisp implementation specific dspecs. Are there any  
> other solutions we should consider?

I guess you also want to include method signatures.  That wouldn't work
because in general the symbols for class names don't exist on the client
side.

Helmut