Re: else ladders practice

On 28.11.2024 15:27, Bart wrote:

[ compilation times ]

 
And for me, used to decades of sub-one-second response times, 7 seconds
seems like for ever. [...]

Sub-seconds is very important in response times of interactive tools;
I recall we've measured, e.g. for GUI applications, the exact timing,
and we've taken into account results of psychological sciences. The
accepted response times for our applications were somewhere around
0.20 seconds, and even 0.50 seconds was by far unacceptable.

But we're speaking about compilation times. And I'm a bit astonished
about a sub-second requirement or necessity. I'm typically compiling
source code after I've edited it, where the latter is by far the most
dominating step. And before the editing there's usually the analysis
of code, that requires even more time than the simple but interactive
editing process. When I start the compile all the major time demanding
tasks that are necessary to create the software fix have already been
done, and I certainly don't need a sub-second response from compiler.

Though I observed a certain behavior of programmers who use tools with
a fast response time. Since it doesn't cost anything they just make a
single change and compile to see whether it works, and, rinse repeat,
do that for every _single_ change *multiple* times. My own programming
habits got also somewhat influenced by that, though I still try to fix
things in brain before I ask the compiler what it thinks of my change.
This is certainly influenced by the mainframe days where I designed my
algorithms on paper, punched my program on a stack of punch cards, and
examined and fixed the errors all at once. The technical situation has
changed (mostly improved) during the decades but the habits (how often
you start a compiler in the development process cycle), I think, has
also changed, but not necessarily improved.

Yes, I understand that it seems to you that 7 seconds is like forever
if you see the compiler as an instant-responder interactive tool.

BTW; it may be worthwhile (for those who compile often, probably more
often than necessary, and want the compilation results instantly) to
consider tools that compile in parallel while editing their code.

Janis