Re: Down with weak lists!
>>>> "Hrvoje" == Hrvoje Niksic
<hniksic(a)arsdigita.com> writes:
Hrvoje> sperber(a)informatik.uni-tuebingen.de (Michael Sperber [Mr. Preprocessor])
writes:
> As to the present code base which uses weak lists:
>
> - *No* Lisp code presently.
>
> - Simple weak lists for extend children and frame subwindows which
> would be very easy to convert.
>
> - Specifier alists for windows, a really awkward case which would
> involve somewhat more special-casing as is the case presently.
>
> Are there any objections to this change in principle?
Hrvoje> I object. You cannot know whether user code somewhere uses weak
Hrvoje> lists.
Well, I consider it very highly improbable. Few people understand
exactly what they do, and not a single package or core Lisp file uses
them presently.
Hrvoje> They are very convenient for caching things, so I wouldn't
Hrvoje> dismiss the possibility.
I'm not suggesting the functionality be removed, I'm only talking
about the interface. The current interface exposes too much
implementation detail, and is difficult for a generic GC interface to
handle.
Hrvoje> Your weak-list-car/weak-list-cdr scheme has the flaw of not being able
Hrvoje> to handle different *types* of weak lists.
Sure it can, but you build on more primitive machinery.
--
Cheers =8-} Mike
Friede, Völkerverständigung und überhaupt blabla