[slime-devel] Restart Numbering

[Helmut Eller]

* Tobias C. Rittweiler [2009-10-25 09:41+0100] writes:

>> 2. Reversing the printed order of restarts means, when you have more
>>    than a handful of restarts, you cannot restart 0 or 1 (the "first
>>    restart the user would want to invoke"), because it is hidden; SLDB
>>    only lists the first few restarts, you have to move the cursor down
>>    to the "--more--" button and hit RET to see more restarts. (This
>>    slime UI element is an intensely painful part of slime, subject of a
>>    different rant).
>
> There's a slight misunderstanding of my change, I think: The restarts
> _themselves_ are _not_ reversed, just their numbering is reversed; it's
> done this way exactly for reasons of giving importance to locality.

An argument could be made that the hot end of the stack is more
important and that the good keys should be used for the top of the
stack.

I can see that quickly accessible restarts at the bottom are nice too
but Slime has keys for those already.  Why then burn all keys for the
bottom?

> And if you think of it, the reversed numbering actually does make sense
> (beyond its technical advantage) as it reflects the stack-like behaviour
> of binding.

Forth's PICK numbers stack items starting from the top and it would be
completly useless if the numbering were reversed.  Starting from the top
obviously makes more sense to Forthers.

> [I think I agree on the --more-- part, but I don't see it that often
> myself. I'd feel content with a keybinding which shows full detail of
> the restart list and the backtrace.]

Look up sldb-initial-restart-limit, you bunch of whiners.

[...]
> Quick example: Slime's RETRY restart which is wrapped around REPL
> requests will now always be numbered 2 on SBCL.
[...]
> Notice that you can easily add your own symbolic bindings for your
> application-specific restarts by means of `sldb-invoke-restart-by-name'.

Maybe sldb-invoke-restart-by-name should have an option to start the
search from the bottom so that you can invoke your RETRY restart more
easily.

Helmut