Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone else has complaint regarding ispell.el on OSX. It is
an order of magnitude slower than on GNU/Linux. For example, if you run
ispell-buffer you will see it takes seconds to move from current word to
the next misspelled word while in GNU/Linux it is also instant.

If you have (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell), then
report-emacs-bug will take about 10 seconds to enter the mail buffer.

My feeling is the communication between emacs on OSX(and possibly
windows) and external tools is extremely slow.

Is there anyone seeing these problems? Any workaround?

Best,
Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 22.09.2009 um 14:58 schrieb Leo:

> Is there anyone seeing these problems?

Not me.

> Any workaround?


Use a native version of ispell! One that does not need Rosetta...

This could be one cause. Another could be flyspell. How fast is  
ispell without flyspell?

--
Greetings

   Pete

A lot of us are working harder than we want, at things we don't like  
to do. Why? ...In order to afford the sort of existence we don't care  
to live.
				– Bradford Angier

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Matt Lundin]

Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:

> I wonder if anyone else has complaint regarding ispell.el on OSX. It is
> an order of magnitude slower than on GNU/Linux. For example, if you run
> ispell-buffer you will see it takes seconds to move from current word to
> the next misspelled word while in GNU/Linux it is also instant.
>
> If you have (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell), then
> report-emacs-bug will take about 10 seconds to enter the mail buffer.
>
> My feeling is the communication between emacs on OSX(and possibly
> windows) and external tools is extremely slow.
>
> Is there anyone seeing these problems? Any workaround?

I can confirm these problems. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution.
For the time being, I turn flyspell off when using Emacs.app on OSX.

Best,
Matt

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

On 2009-09-22 14:20 +0100, Peter Dyballa wrote:
> Am 22.09.2009 um 14:58 schrieb Leo:
>
>> Is there anyone seeing these problems?
>
> Not me.
>
>> Any workaround?
>
>
> Use a native version of ispell! One that does not need Rosetta...

I am using @(#) International Ispell Version 3.1.20 (but really Aspell
0.60.6). I don't know what Rosetta is. I built aspell in Terminal.app
just like on GNU/Linux.

> This could be one cause. Another could be flyspell. How fast is ispell
> without flyspell?

My first example with ispell-buffer tells me that moving from one
misspelled word to another takes seconds and that is too slow. In
GNU/Linux it is almost instant.

> --
> Greetings
>   Pete

Thanks.

Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

On 2009-09-22 14:26 +0100, Matt Lundin wrote:
>> Is there anyone seeing these problems? Any workaround?
>
> I can confirm these problems. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution.
> For the time being, I turn flyspell off when using Emacs.app on OSX.
>
> Best,
> Matt

Thank you for this. I haven't had any spell checking enabled since July
2008 when I moved to a non GNU/Linux platform. At the moment I am
writing a long document (my thesis) and spell checking is critical for
this task. Unfortunately it is just too painful to use.

Best,
Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 22.09.2009 um 17:46 schrieb Leo:

> I am using @(#) International Ispell Version 3.1.20 (but really Aspell
> 0.60.6).

Maybe real Ispell works.

> I don't know what Rosetta is.

Rosetta is Apple software which allows PPC binaries to run on intel  
CPUs.

> I built aspell in Terminal.app just like on GNU/Linux.


So it could be native... (Why aren't you using GNU Emacs to build  
software?!) But what are the dictionaries? I found Aspell too  
complicated, needing new or changed dictionaries all the while, and  
mostly those I don't have at hand.

--
Greetings

   Pete

A TRUE Klingon warrior does not comment his code.

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Baoqiu Cui]

On Sep 22, 5:58 am, Leo <sdl....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I wonder if anyone else has complaint regarding ispell.el on OSX. It is
> an order of magnitude slower than on GNU/Linux. For example, if you run
> ispell-buffer you will see it takes seconds to move from current word to
> the next misspelled word while in GNU/Linux it is also instant.
>
> If you have (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell), then
> report-emacs-bug will take about 10 seconds to enter the mail buffer.
>
> My feeling is the communication between emacs on OSX(and possibly
> windows) and external tools is extremely slow.
>
> Is there anyone seeing these problems? Any workaround?

I had the same problem with flyspell on Emacs 23.1 for OS X.  You can
try to use speck.el, which performs much better (however still not
perfect to me).

Baoqiu

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Kevin Rodgers]

Leo wrote:
> On 2009-09-22 14:26 +0100, Matt Lundin wrote:
>>> Is there anyone seeing these problems? Any workaround?
>> I can confirm these problems. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution.
>> For the time being, I turn flyspell off when using Emacs.app on OSX.
>>
>> Best,
>> Matt
> 
> Thank you for this. I haven't had any spell checking enabled since July
> 2008 when I moved to a non GNU/Linux platform. At the moment I am
> writing a long document (my thesis) and spell checking is critical for

Run a `time ispell ...` command from the shell in a terminal window on
your large file and compare the results between your GNU/Linux and OS X
platforms.  If they are comparable, you can then instrument the ispell
functions in Emacs and see where the difference lies.

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[andrea]

Unfortunately I also notice the same problem, on a new macbook pro is as
slow or even worse than the same thing on a little netbook dell 10.

I have compiled  with macports, so no rosetta here:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
47-172:org andrea$ file /opt/local/bin/aspell
/opt/local/bin/aspell: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
47-172:org andrea$ file /opt/local/bin/ispell 
/opt/local/bin/ispell: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---


I have a hook to flyspell when writing with gnus but first scan takes
always too long, very strange problem...

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Tom Dye]

On 2009-09-22 02:58:03 -1000, Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> said:

> Hi all,
> 
> I wonder if anyone else has complaint regarding ispell.el on OSX. It is
> an order of magnitude slower than on GNU/Linux. For example, if you run
> ispell-buffer you will see it takes seconds to move from current word to
> the next misspelled word while in GNU/Linux it is also instant.
> 
> If you have (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell), then
> report-emacs-bug will take about 10 seconds to enter the mail buffer.
> 
> My feeling is the communication between emacs on OSX(and possibly
> windows) and external tools is extremely slow.
> 
> Is there anyone seeing these problems? Any workaround?
> 
> Best,
> Leo

Did this problem find a solution?  emacs 22 on OS X has a speedy spell 
check.  emacs 23 on OS X has a slooow spell check.  Aspell takes 
minutes between words and ispell (from MacPorts) takes several times 
longer than aspell did under emacs 22.

All the best,
Tom
-- 
Tom Dye
T. S. Dye & Colleagues, Archaeologists, Inc.
Honolulu, Hawai`i

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

On 2009-12-29 16:57 +0000, Tom Dye wrote:
> Did this problem find a solution? emacs 22 on OS X has a speedy spell
> check. emacs 23 on OS X has a slooow spell check. Aspell takes minutes
> between words and ispell (from MacPorts) takes several times longer
> than aspell did under emacs 22.
>
> All the best,
> Tom

I doubt that.

The problem with ns port is that there is only one major developer for
it - Adrian Robert. And unfortunately it is not as solid as on
GNU/Linux. I usually try to find a workaround while waiting for a fix.
For spellings, I disable flyspell mode and call ispell-buffer maybe once
in a month. This is far from ideal though.

Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 29.12.2009 um 19:16 schrieb Leo:

> For spellings, I disable flyspell mode

It's possibly useful to have around a second dedicated CPU for  
flyspell...

--
Greetings

   Pete

Encryption, n.:
	A powerful algorithmic encoding technique employed in the creation of  
computer manuals.

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Tom Dye]

On 2009-12-29 08:16:40 -1000, Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> said:

> On 2009-12-29 16:57 +0000, Tom Dye wrote:
>> Did this problem find a solution? emacs 22 on OS X has a speedy spell
>> check. emacs 23 on OS X has a slooow spell check. Aspell takes minutes
>> between words and ispell (from MacPorts) takes several times longer
>> than aspell did under emacs 22.
>> 
>> All the best,
>> Tom
> 
> I doubt that.
> 
> The problem with ns port is that there is only one major developer for
> it - Adrian Robert. And unfortunately it is not as solid as on
> GNU/Linux. I usually try to find a workaround while waiting for a fix.
> For spellings, I disable flyspell mode and call ispell-buffer maybe once
> in a month. This is far from ideal though.
> 
> Leo

Thanks Leo.  It helps to know the problem is beyond my control.  ispell 
is quick and fairly easy to use from the command line in case you want 
to check spelling more than once a month.  It's a bit of a hassle to 
remember to save the buffer before the spell check and then revert the 
buffer after the check, but even with those steps its way quicker than 
trying to check spelling within emacs.

Topm
-- 
Tom Dye
T. S. Dye & Colleagues, Archaeologists, Inc.
Honolulu, Hawai`i

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

On 2009-12-29 19:57 +0000, Tom Dye wrote:
> Thanks Leo.  It helps to know the problem is beyond my control.
> ispell is quick and fairly easy to use from the command line in case
> you want to check spelling more than once a month.  It's a bit of a
> hassle to remember to save the buffer before the spell check and then
> revert the buffer after the check, but even with those steps its way
> quicker than trying to check spelling within emacs.

global-auto-revert-mode might have a bit in this regard.

Best,
Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

On 2009-12-29 19:31 +0000, Peter Dyballa wrote:
> Am 29.12.2009 um 19:16 schrieb Leo:
>
>> For spellings, I disable flyspell mode
>
> It's possibly useful to have around a second dedicated CPU for
> flyspell...

Flyspell/ispell mode does not consume much cpu, it is slow but not cpu intensive.

Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Tom Dye]

On 2009-12-29 13:52:55 -1000, Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> said:

> On 2009-12-29 19:57 +0000, Tom Dye wrote:
>> Thanks Leo.  It helps to know the problem is beyond my control.
>> ispell is quick and fairly easy to use from the command line in case
>> you want to check spelling more than once a month.  It's a bit of a
>> hassle to remember to save the buffer before the spell check and then
>> revert the buffer after the check, but even with those steps its way
>> quicker than trying to check spelling within emacs.
> 
> global-auto-revert-mode might have a bit in this regard.
> 
> Best,
> Leo

Thanks Leo.  I appreciate the reference to global-auto-revert-mode.  It 
makes the work-around more convenient.  Tom
-- 
Tom Dye
T. S. Dye & Colleagues, Archaeologists, Inc.
Honolulu, Hawai`i

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Steve Revilak]

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>>> Thanks Leo.  It helps to know the problem is beyond my control.
>>> ispell is quick and fairly easy to use from the command line in case
>>> you want to check spelling more than once a month.  It's a bit of a
>>> hassle to remember to save the buffer before the spell check and then
>>> revert the buffer after the check, but even with those steps its way
>>> quicker than trying to check spelling within emacs.

I've discovered a workaround that might (or might not) be useful.
From a shell prompt,

   /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -nw FILE

Spell checking (i.e., M-x ispell-buffer) is quite fast if you run
emacs as a non-windowed application.

(Emacs 23.1.1 & 23.1.90.1, on Mac OS X 10.4.11, aspell 0.60.6)

Steve

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Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Leo]

On 2009-12-31 22:35 +0000, Steve Revilak wrote:
>>>> Thanks Leo.  It helps to know the problem is beyond my control.
>>>> ispell is quick and fairly easy to use from the command line in case
>>>> you want to check spelling more than once a month.  It's a bit of a
>>>> hassle to remember to save the buffer before the spell check and then
>>>> revert the buffer after the check, but even with those steps its way
>>>> quicker than trying to check spelling within emacs.
>
> I've discovered a workaround that might (or might not) be useful.
> From a shell prompt,
>
>   /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -nw FILE
>
> Spell checking (i.e., M-x ispell-buffer) is quite fast if you run
> emacs as a non-windowed application.
>
> (Emacs 23.1.1 & 23.1.90.1, on Mac OS X 10.4.11, aspell 0.60.6)
>
> Steve

Yes, that's for sure because it is only related to ns port.

I have moved to another port although still experimental it seems pretty
good. http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel/119139.

It provides a feature set that's the closest to Emacs GNU/Linux.

Leo

Re: Spell checking too slow on Emacs.app

[Tom Dye]

On 2010-01-01 15:40:02 -1000, Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> said:

> On 2009-12-31 22:35 +0000, Steve Revilak wrote:
>>>>> Thanks Leo.  It helps to know the problem is beyond my control.
>>>>> ispell is quick and fairly easy to use from the command line in case
>>>>> you want to check spelling more than once a month.  It's a bit of a
>>>>> hassle to remember to save the buffer before the spell check and then
>>>>> revert the buffer after the check, but even with those steps its way
>>>>> quicker than trying to check spelling within emacs.
>> 
>> I've discovered a workaround that might (or might not) be useful.
>> From a shell prompt,
>> 
>> /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -nw FILE
>> 
>> Spell checking (i.e., M-x ispell-buffer) is quite fast if you run
>> emacs as a non-windowed application.
>> 
>> (Emacs 23.1.1 & 23.1.90.1, on Mac OS X 10.4.11, aspell 0.60.6)
>> 
>> Steve
> 
> Yes, that's for sure because it is only related to ns port.
> 
> I have moved to another port although still experimental it seems pretty
> good. http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel/119139.
> 
> It provides a feature set that's the closest to Emacs GNU/Linux.
> 
> Leo

Hi Leo,

I tried this too and am finding it to be a good solution.  Thanks for 
the pointer.

Tom
-- 
Tom Dye
T. S. Dye & Colleagues, Archaeologists, Inc.
Honolulu, Hawai`i