Re: resigning from a Guile developer

[Keisuke Nishida]

At 02 May 2001 11:17:39 -0500,
Rob Browning wrote:
> 
> If you have a moment, could you send a brief summary of where the VM
> stands right now and what you'd suggest going forward.  i.e. Is it
> something you think others could easily pick up and move forward?  How
> close is it to completion, and what needed to be done next, etc.  With
> you leaving, Bill and I are wondering what might be most appropriate
> on the "How should we proceed in trying to make Guile faster?" front.

I think the VM itself is almost working, but there are at least
two bugs: one related to GC, and one related to free variables
(or external variables I call).  I came across these problems when
I compiled large files, like format.scm, but I couldn't figure out
where the problem happened because the VM lacked debugging
facilities.  That's why I wanted to implement a debugger first.

So far I have implemented low level debugging supports, including
keeping original variable names and source locations.  What is
needed next is to implement a high level interface, using these
debugging information.  I guess this is not very trivial for others
than me because my code is quite messy right now...

In short, you have to debug the VM and the compiler; therefore,
you have to understand how they work by reading their source code.
I'm not sure how easy it is.  Please ask me if you have any questions.

For smaller programs, you can already use the VM.  See README and try

  % guilec <your-file>
  % guile
  guile> (use-modules <your-module>)

> In any case, thanks so much for your work, and good luck with whatever
> you're doing instead :>

Thanks :)

Keisuke