Hi,
is there a way that )DUMP preserves function fidelity - that is - keep
empty lines and indents?
It would improve readability a lot by eg. separating code and next
comment by a space line.
Best Regards
Hans-Peter
Am 08.11.20 um 20:07 schrieb Dr. Jürgen Sauermann:
Hi everybody,
I am currently doing some rework of the *)SAVE* and *)LOAD* commands.
Before updating GNU APL from SVN the next time (and in the near
future), please make sure
that you have made a backup of all your workspaces.
If you prefer*)DUMP* over *)SAVE* to store your workspaces, then you
are fine because
nothing will be changed there.
If you normally *)SAVE* your workspaces, then please note the following.
A. *)SAVE* and *)LOAD* are intended for short term storage, i.e. the
)SAVEd workspace
should be be *)LOAD*ed with the same (SVN-) version of the
interpreter. Even tthough
I am trying my best to keep these commands backward-compatible, I
cannot guarantee
that I will always succeed.
B. The only advantage of *)SAVE* over *)DUMP* is that it stores the
)SI stack. This is
sometimes necessary when:
B1. sending a workspace for trouble-shooting (and only if the )SI
stack is relevant), or
B2. to interrupt APL code troubleshooting and continue the next day.
In contrast to the old days (where a )SAVEd APL session) could be
completely
restored) this is no longer the case. There are more and more
components that
do not allow their state to be serialized, and as a consequence the
workspace
)LOADed will increasingly differ from the workspace )SAVEd before.
That, in
turn, will make the*)LOAD* and *)SAVE* commands more and more meaningless.
C. If you want to stay with *)SAVE* then I would recommend the
following procedure
for updating GNU APL:
C1. *)DUMP* the workspace as a precaution for one of the subsequent
steps failing.
C2. If appropriate: *)SIC*. This will not only make the saved
workspace smaller but will
also significantly reduce the probability that something will
go wrong later.
C3. *)SAVE* the workspace.
C4. update the interpreter (typically from *SVN*).
C5. *)LOAD* the workspace again and check that it still works.
C6.* )SAVE* the workspace again.
C7. repeat the steps above (except C4 ) for all your workspaces.
D. The reason for the ongoing changes is that a specific case (a
derived function lurking
on the )SI stack) is currently not handled properly by *)SAVE*
and *)LOAD*. Currently you
get a warning if that happens, but in the long run this should
work. That is somewhat
difficult, though, and therefore it will take a while before this
is fixed.
Best Regards,
Jürgen
