From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Marcin Borkowski Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Emacs rewrite in a maintainable language Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:02:43 +0200 Message-ID: <87pp0lrrlo.fsf@mbork.pl> References: <561A19AB.5060001@cumego.com> <87612des3y.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1444601021 23202 80.91.229.3 (11 Oct 2015 22:03:41 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2015 22:03:41 +0000 (UTC) To: =?utf-8?Q?Przemys=C5=82aw?= Wojnowski , emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Oct 12 00:03:33 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1ZlOiL-0003kw-IX for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:03:33 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49922 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZlOiK-0007bn-PL for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 11 Oct 2015 18:03:32 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:48393) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZlOhv-0007ba-Fu for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 11 Oct 2015 18:03:08 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZlOhs-0008CI-3u for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 11 Oct 2015 18:03:07 -0400 Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([2a01:5e00:2:52::8]:33364) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ZlOhr-0008C1-TQ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 11 Oct 2015 18:03:04 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6C7266F2005; Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:03:01 +0200 (CEST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at mail.mojserwer.eu Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail.mojserwer.eu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id dCQlAUQQLGth; Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:02:59 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (103-115.echostar.pl [213.156.103.115]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 6334E6F2003; Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:02:59 +0200 (CEST) In-reply-to: <87612des3y.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Error: Malformed IPv6 address (bad octet value). X-Received-From: 2a01:5e00:2:52::8 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:191281 Archived-At: On 2015-10-11, at 10:17, David Kastrup wrote: > Przemys=C5=82aw Wojnowski writes: > >> Hello everybody, >> >> Recently I was going through Emacs C code and immediately one thing >> come to my mind: "Did anyone consider rewrite it a more maintainable >> language?" :-) > > Emacs is mostly written in Emacs Lisp. C is used only for the core. > Encapsulation, namespaces and modularity are not really an issue there > as it is a closed and confined working set. > > They are an issue in Elisp. So if you are worried about > maintainability, rewriting Elisp into a more maintainable language woul= d > be by far more effective. One thing that comes to my mind when I read this discussion is something that was mentioned (AFAIR) on one of Emacs blogs a few years ago (or so). That is, it might be a good idea to move some parts of Emacs core (which are not system-dependent or performance-critical, e.g., parts of interactive behavior like `self-insert-command' might fit here) from C to Elisp. We would gain at least two (connected) important things this way: 1. more of Emacs code would be easier to understand for more people. And hence, 2. (even) more of Emacs would be customizable without C wizardry. Best, --=20 Marcin Borkowski http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Adam Mickiewicz University