Zugg Software :: View topic - Compiler

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 873 Location: USA

Sorry if this is obvious.

You've provided a bit of documentation and discussion on when variables get expanded, and documented it over at
http://forums.zuggsoft.com/modules/mx_kb/kb.php?page=3&mode=doc&k=2214

When do references to things like aliases, commands, and functions get bound? Because of the normal default behavior of sending text to the server when it doesn't match an alias, I'm not sure what to expect from something like the following under CMud. Does it fully compile everything when an alias/trigger is defined, and turn non-commands/aliases into implicit direct send commands? Or does it wait until each execution of an alias to look for references?

Under zMud,
#alias dostuff {foo;bar}
dostuff
will process "foo" and "bar" as commands.
Later defining
#alias bar {bar1;bar2}
dostuff
will process "foo", "bar1", and "bar2" because everything is evaluated when "dostuff" is entered by the user (no compiling).

How does the CMud compiler handle things like that?

-Tarn

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:17 pm

If I understand everything correctly it will process

"foo", "bar1" and "bar2" when you evaluate dostuff. This is because scripts, aliases etc are recompiled when edited then there is a reference check done and where applicable those scripts, aliases etc. are compiled.

Of course I'm sure Zugg will soon rule in with a definitive answer.

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 873 Location: USA

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 7:13 pm

Yep, everyone is correct. When something is changed, it gets recompiled the next time it is used. In your example, your original "dostuff" alias is compiled as:

Wizard Joined: 25 Mar 2003 Posts: 1113 Location: USA

I know it's been mentioned before, but it's been buried in other threads by now, so I'll ask again here... When would the settings be re-compiled then? If we edit the settings and save the file, does it compile everything as part of the save operation? Would we have to close everything out and reload the settings for the compilation of all changes to occur? If the latter, will there be a button for forcing a re-compile or at least some indication of what's compiled and what isn't (or just that there exist some uncompiled settings somewhere, maybe)? It's not a big deal, really, because it'll all work as expected, as you say. I'm just curious to know how the compilation works with editing and saving and all that.

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:11 am

No, it doesn't recompile when you save. When you do something that changes the *value* of an alias, trigger, variable, etc, then CMUD sets a flag (something like RecompileNeeded). Then, the next time CMUD needs to execute that setting, before executing it checks to see if it needs to recompile. If not, it uses the cached code from the last recompile.

You can currently force a recompile of an alias because there is a new tab called "compiled code" which displays the results of the compiler for debugging purposes. Clicking this tab forces a recompile. But this tab will eventually go away as there is no need to see the compiled code.

Also, remember that CMUD doesn't save any of the compiled code. So when you first load a file, everything is marked as "RecompileNeeded".

But don't worry, you won't notice any of this. The compiler is very fast. Whenever you type something on the command line, it gets compiled and then executed. And it does this faster than the old parser could work.