On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:11:58 -0400
"Balaji V. Iyer" <bviyer@ncsu.edu> wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>     I use the compile option extenstively in emacs. When I type "M-x
> compile" the default line is "make -k" Many times I do not have a make
> file thus I would lke the default line to be
>  
> "gcc -ansi -O4 -Wall <c_source_file>"
>  
> How do I do this?
>  
> I tried the following command but it doesn't seem to work (If anyone
> have a better idea please let me know).
>  
> (function
   ^^^ defun
>  (lambda ()
>    (unless (or (file-exists-p "makefile")
                                 ^^
                                 strange?
>                (file-exists-p "Makefile"))
>      (setq compile-command
       ^^^
       why modify a variable each time ? pass as an argument function ?
>            (concat "gcc -Wall -O3 -o"
>                    (file-name-sans-extension (file-name-nondirectory
> buffer-file -name))
             ^^
             broken ?

>                    " "
>                    (file-name-nondirectory buffer-file-name))))))
                      ^^^
                      computed twice, should bind.
>  
>  
>  
> Any help is greatly appreciated.

also concatenating arguments means that some external shell is going to have to split the args again,
usually better (no quoting issues), to simply pass off the arguments to exec without invoking the shell
if you can.

Hope that helps a bit.

> Oh, one thing..I am using emacs 21.2.1 on cygwin
>  
> Thanks,
>