Re: [j-devel] ABCL TODO's

[Alan R. <ala...@gm...>]

The main issue I've encountered is the occasional compiler bug. If  
something doesn't work, more-so than when using a more mature  
implementation, one should suspect that perhaps a compiler bug is  
involved. I've noticed, for instance, cases where the interpreter and  
the compiler give different results (closures being one case, though  
only occasionally).

Past that the biggest thing I miss is the ability to save the state  
of the lisp, as I can in most other native implementations. So  
startup time on complex systems can border on unacceptable for wide  
deployment, because of the need to load many files. There's been some  
discussion of this on the list in the past.

Debuggability is another issue, with integration with slime  
substantially less so than with other lisps - one can't view or  
change local variables in frames, for instance, even when running  
interpreted, there isn't a facility to restart a frame, no stepping  
integration, etc.

The documentation notes issues with CLOS performance - what can be  
more disruptive more my development is the occasional and  
unpredictable tendency for it not to process redefinitions, leading  
to confusing situations where you recompile and then don't see your  
changes having effect.

But, as you note, the ability to write completely cross-platform  
(modulo some issues with path name formats) lisp code that integrates  
easily with the many available JAVA libraries is a total win,  
outweighing, for me, the other issues.

-Alan


On Jun 17, 2007, at 12:36 AM, Chas Emerick wrote:

> After grabbing ABCL v0.0.10.5 from CVS, I was pleasantly surprised to
> see cl-ppcre's test suite runs (a) with the same results as reported
> by SBCL v1.0.2, and (b) with very respectable speed (sbcl v1.0.2
> finishes (cl-ppcre-test:test) in 19s here, ABCL finishes in 45s).
>
> I was particularly surprised (pleasantly so!) by ABCL's speed.
> Running at ~50% of SBCL is entirely acceptable given ABCL's Java
> integration, attendant deployment options, and relative youth.
>
> So, I'm pressing on.  I didn't see a TODO file in the source tree,
> and nothing similar was apparent in a couple of searches online.  I'd
> be very interested in learning what others view as the key weaknesses
> of ABCL (besides, or perhaps more specifically than those cited on
> the project page).  Such information would be very helpful in keeping
> me (and others, I would suspect) from playing hunt-the-wumpus too
> much before deciding to seriously invest in ABCL.
>
> Thanks,
>
> - Chas
>
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