Re: Preprocessor
On Wed, May 23, 2001 at 10:03:26PM +0200, Hrvoje Niksic wrote:
Although this looks simple-minded, I believe it would be a *huge*
speed win over the current virtual machine. First, the cost of
interpretation would be removed, which is by itself a big win --
the huge `case' statement would finally be eliminated. Secondly, such
"unwound" C code would be processed by the C optimizer which would
remove the many many redundant checks and thus make the code run
really fast.
The advantage of this strategy is that it opts for huge speedup in a
*realistic* environment, i.e. it doesn't require rebuilding 100% of
XEmacs to work. Furthermore, it builds on the work already invested
in the byte-code compiler.
I like this. I like it a lot. Just a question --- do you think it
could be done in such a way that code could be loaded from shared
libraries and, with a (supported) compiler, .el files could be
compiled and loaded on the fly, just as .elc files are now? If so, it
could provide a nice, fast (optional, as not everyone has a compiler)
for .elc files themselves.
--
"People are unlikely to become well- functioning, independent-minded
adults and responsible citizens if they are raised in an intellectual
bubble."