[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#8239) Speclist generator

["Raimar Falke" <i-freeciv-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://rt.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=8239 >

On Mon, Mar 22, 2004 at 11:32:10AM -0800, Jason Short wrote:
> 
> <URL: http://rt.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=8239 >
> 
> Per I. Mathisen wrote:
> > To overcome some limitations in the specfile system, I've made a python
> > generator to create speclist header files. It is small and simple, and
> > from a lists.def file in each relevant directory, creates a named header
> > file which contains all the speclists listed in lists.def. They are
> > all inlined, so no .c file is needed.

I don't see that the specfiles are hard to use. With <10 lines you get
a type safe list. That is good.

> It's things like this that make it seem like we shouldn't be using C.
> 
> Maybe eventually all of Freeciv will be coded via python generators?

> Maybe this code would be better off coded directly in python and linked 
> to C?  (I'm not sure if this is possible because a lot of it is macros.)

Not really an option. Python for example isn't type safe.

Generators should be used if there is code which has a high
abstraction which the C-compiler doesn't understand. I think that
speclist problem doesn't have this abstraction value.

One example if a generator would be an inline-preprocessor. You have
normal C source code (in .c files) and than you specify a set of
function which should be inlined and another set which should be
macros. Than you let the generator run and it will produce new C
source code which the C-compiler sees. With this you can avoid the
macro/inline "problem". If the generator also does the dependency
resolving you have a real tool.

Another example would be gui code. However this exists already with
glade. And dynamically libglade and FS's theme-engine.

So I don't see much places were we can increase the abstraction by
using generators like we did with the packets generator.

        Raimar

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