Re: Exploring a code base?

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> It depends on the programming language, but I usually rely on a compiler
> to generate an index for my project in the background.

IIUC Yuri's situation uses such an "index" but needs something more
because the "overall goal" requires changes in various pieces of code.
So while the index helps you find which pieces of code need to be
changed, it doesn't necessarily help you keep track of what still needs
to be done.

E.g.

- I change some function to use `syntax-ppss`.
- now some old function `foo1` is not needed any more, so I go look at
  all the functions called by `foo1` to see if they're still needed.
- along the way I see that `foo2`s third argument is now always nil,
  so I simplify `foo2's code and find that its second argument is not
  used any more, so I go look for all the callers to `foo2` so they
  don't other passing a second argument.
- while doing that I see that in `foo3` I can now do some other
  simplification which makes `foo4` into a dead function, so I start
  looking at all the functions call by `foo4` to see if they're
  still needed.
- along the way I realize that I'm late for a meeting with a student.
- next day I come back to this code and wonder where I was, which part
  of the fallout from the simplifications from `foo1`, `foo2`, `foo3`,
  and `foo4` has already been done, ...


        Stefan