The benefit of libraries over object files - libraries

I have been reading topic regarding linux libraries
http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LibraryArchives-StaticAndDynamic.html
it mentions:
"The benefit is that each and every object file need not be stated when linking because the developer can reference the individual library"
I am not following this statement. I wonder if someone could have a further explanation or an example please?
Thanks

It's not the best phrasing in the world, IIUC, and is a bit misleading. IMHO, instead of
The benefit is that each and every object file need not be stated when linking because the developer can reference the individual library
it should say
The benefit is that each and every object file need not be stated when linking because the developer can reference the entire library (as a named entity)
Basically, it means the following. In the absence of libraries, the author of what is now a library, could simply build a list of object files, like this:
a0.cpp -> a0.o
a1.cpp -> a1.o
...
and then she could write in the documentation "if you want functions x, y, and z", then you need to link with a3.o (because it contains x and z), a42.o (for y), but also a23.o, a15.o, and a72.o, because they contain necessary underlying parts.
This is of course unwieldy. A saner approach, as your link explains, is to create a single library from a state of common-purpose functions and classes. The instructions become "if you want the functionality of shooting up foo aliens, link with the foo_alien_shooting library".

Related

Microsoft Visual Studio extension (VSIX) lower case $safeprojectname$

Context
I'm developing a Microsoft Visual Studio extension, for which I've seen there are:
$projectname$ variable to get the name given to the project,
$safeprojectname$ variable to get the name given to the project with all unsafe characters and spaces replaced by underscore.
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/template-parameters?view=vs-2019
For example with project name "Tata yoyo" variables will be:
$projectname$ = "Tata Yoyo SWIG",
$safeprojectname$ = "Tata_Yoyo_SWIG".
The extension I'm building is for SWIG projects that will generate Java from C++, and in this context there is a swig.exe call that, among others, takes the Java package as parameter, for which I want it to be all lower case, but for now it is com.company.$safeprojectname$, then, not necessarily lower case (pointing the obvious: if project name is not lower case, package will not be lower case) and I then have to convert it manually to lower case.
What I'm looking for
From source page above (and other documentation pages) I've already seen there is no $lowercasesafeprojectname$ for example, then if anybody knows a way to do it from a function, script or any other way I would be glad.
Edit: while I want for this purpose a lower case safe project name I still want to keep the original $safeprojectname$, then even if #Ed Dore answer is relevant it is not the solution for me.
In any case, do not hesitate if this is not clear or you want more information.
Thanks
If you implement a custom wizard (IWizard) with your template, you can replace the respective token values in the ReplacementsDictionary passed to your IWizard.RunStarted method, with lowercased equivalents.
Sincerely,

What is the recommended way to make & load a library?

I want to make a small "library" to be used by my future maxima scripts, but I am not quite sure on how to proceed (I use wxMaxima). Maxima's documentation covers the save(), load() and loadFile() functions, yet does not provide examples. Therefore, I am not sure whether I am using the proper/best way or not. My current solution, which is based on this post, stores my library in the *.lisp format.
As a simple example, let's say that my library defines the cosSin(x) function. I open a new session and define this function as
(%i0) cosSin(x) := cos(x) * sin(x);
I then save it to a lisp file located in the /tmp/ directory.
(%i1) save("/tmp/lib.lisp");
I then open a new instance of maxima and load the library
(%i0) loadfile("/tmp/lib.lisp");
The cosSin(x) is now defined and can be called
(%i1) cosSin(%pi/4)
(%o1) 1/2
However, I noticed that a substantial number of the libraries shipped with maxima are of *.mac format: the /usr/share/maxima/5.37.2/share/ directory contains 428 *.mac files and 516 *.lisp files. Is it a better format? How would I generate such files?
More generally, what are the different ways a library can be saved and loaded? What is the recommended approach?
Usually people put the functions they need in a file name something.mac and then load("something.mac"); loads the functions into Maxima.
A file can contain any number of functions. A file can load other files, so if you have somethingA.mac and somethingB.mac, then you can have another file that just says load("somethingA.mac"); load("somethingB.mac");.
One can also create Lisp files and load them too, but it is not required to write functions in Lisp.
Unless you are specifically interested in writing Lisp functions, my advice is to write your functions in the Maxima language and put them in a file, using an ordinary text editor. Also, I recommend that you don't use save to save the functions to a file as Lisp code; just type the functions into a file, as Maxima code, with a plain text editor.
Take a look at the files in share to get a feeling for how other people have gone about it. I am looking right now at share/contrib/ggf.mac and I see it has a lengthy comment header describing its purpose -- such comments are always a good idea.
For principiants, like me,
Menu Edit:configure:Startup commands
Copy all the functions you have verified in the first box (this will write your wxmaxima-init.mac in the location indicated below)
Restart Wxmaxima.
Now you can access the functions whitout any load() command

Cache XMLProvider generated model(s)

Using XMLProvider from the FSharp.Data package like:
type internal MyProvider = XmlProvider<Sample = "C:\test.xml">
The test.xml file contains a total of 151,838 lines which makes up 15 types.
Working in the same project as the type declaration MyProvider is a pain, as it seems the XmlProvider is triggered everytime I hit CTRL+SPACE (Edit.CompleteWord) - and therefore regenerates all the models, which can take up to 10sec.
Is there any known work around, or setting to cache the generated models from XmlProvider?
I'm afraid F# Data does not currently have any caching mechanism for the inferred schema. It sounds like something that should not be too hard to add - if anyone is interested in contributing, please open an issue on GitHub to start the discussion!
My recommendation for the time being would be to try to simplify the sample XML, so that it is shorter and contains just a few representative records of all the different kinds.

Erlang: "extending" an existing module with new functions

I'm currently writing some functions that are related to lists that I could possibly be reused.
My question is:
Are there any conventions or best practices for organizing such functions?
To frame this question, I would ideally like to "extend" the existing lists module such that I'm calling my new function the following way: lists:my_funcion(). At the moment I have lists_extensions:my_function(). Is there anyway to do this?
I read about erlang packages and that they are essentially namespaces in Erlang. Is it possible to define a new namespace for Lists with new Lists functions?
Note that I'm not looking to fork and change the standard lists module, but to find a way to define new functions in a new module also called Lists, but avoid the consequent naming collisions by using some kind namespacing scheme.
Any advice or references would be appreciated.
Cheers.
To frame this question, I would ideally like to "extend" the existing lists module such that I'm calling my new function the following way: lists:my_funcion(). At the moment I have lists_extensions:my_function(). Is there anyway to do this?
No, so far as I know.
I read about erlang packages and that they are essentially namespaces in Erlang. Is it possible to define a new namespace for Lists with new Lists functions?
They are experimental and not generally used. You could have a module called lists in a different namespace, but you would have trouble calling functions from the standard module in this namespace.
I give you reasons why not to use lists:your_function() and instead use lists_extension:your_function():
Generally, the Erlang/OTP Design Guidelines state that each "Application" -- libraries are also an application -- contains modules. Now you can ask the system what application did introduce a specific module? This system would break when modules are fragmented.
However, I do understand why you would want a lists:your_function/N:
It's easier to use for the author of your_function, because he needs the your_function(...) a lot when working with []. When another Erlang programmer -- who knows the stdlb -- reads this code, he will not know what it does. This is confusing.
It looks more concise than lists_extension:your_function/N. That's a matter of taste.
I think this method would work on any distro:
You can make an application that automatically rewrites the core erlang modules of whichever distribution is running. Append your custom functions to the core modules and recompile them before compiling and running your own application that calls the custom functions. This doesn't require a custom distribution. Just some careful planning and use of the file tools and BIFs for compiling and loading.
* You want to make sure you don't append your functions every time. Once you rewrite the file, it will be permanent unless the user replaces the file later. Could use a check with module_info to confirm of your custom functions exist to decide if you need to run the extension writer.
Pseudo Example:
lists_funs() -> ["myFun() -> <<"things to do">>."].
extend_lists() ->
{ok, Io} = file:open(?LISTS_MODULE_PATH, [append]),
lists:foreach(fun(Fun) -> io:format(Io,"~s~n",[Fun]) end, lists_funs()),
file:close(Io),
c(?LISTS_MODULE_PATH).
* You may want to keep copies of the original modules to restore if the compiler fails that way you don't have to do anything heavy if you make a mistake in your list of functions and also use as source anytime you want to rewrite the module to extend it with more functions.
* You could use a list_extension module to keep all of the logic for your functions and just pass the functions to list in this function using funName(Args) -> lists_extension:funName(Args).
* You could also make an override system that searches for existing functions and rewrites them in a similar way but it is more complicated.
I'm sure there are plenty of ways to improve and optimize this method. I use something similar to update some of my own modules at runtime, so I don't see any reason it wouldn't work on core modules also.
i guess what you want to do is to have some of your functions accessible from the lists module. It is good that you would want to convert commonly used code into a library.
one way to do this is to test your functions well, and if their are fine, you copy the functions, paste them in the lists.erl module (WARNING: Ensure you do not overwrite existing functions, just paste at the end of the file). this file can be found in the path $ERLANG_INSTALLATION_FOLDER/lib/stdlib-{$VERSION}/src/lists.erl. Make sure that you add your functions among those exported in the lists module (in the -export([your_function/1,.....])), to make them accessible from other modules. Save the file.
Once you have done this, we need to recompile the lists module. You could use an EmakeFile. The contents of this file would be as follows:
{"src/*", [verbose,report,strict_record_tests,warn_obsolete_guard,{outdir, "ebin"}]}.
Copy that text into a file called EmakeFile. Put this file in the path: $ERLANG_INSTALLATION_FOLDER/lib/stdlib-{$VERSION}/EmakeFile.
Once this is done, go and open an erlang shell and let its pwd(), the current working directory be the path in which the EmakeFile is, i.e. $ERLANG_INSTALLATION_FOLDER/lib/stdlib-{$VERSION}/.
Call the function: make:all() in the shell and you will see that the module lists is recompiled. Close the shell.
Once you open a new erlang shell, and assuming you exported you functions in the lists module, they will be running the way you want, right in the lists module.
Erlang being open source allows us to add functionality, recompile and reload the libraries. This should do what you want, success.

HelpInsight documentation in Delphi 2007

I am using D2007 and am trying to document my source code, using the HelpInsight feature (provided since D2005). I am mainly interested in getting the HelpInsight tool-tips working. From various Web-surfing and experimentation I have found the following:
Using the triple slash (///) comment style works more often than the other documented comment styles. i.e.: {*! comment *} and {! comment }
The comments must precede the declaration that they are for. For most cases this will mean placing them in the interface section of the code. (The obvious exception is for types and functions that are not accessible from outside the current unit and are therefore declared in the implementation block.)
The first comment cannot be for a function. (i.e. it must be for a type - or at least it appears the parser must have seen the "type" keyword before the HelpInsight feature works)
Despite following these "rules", sometimes the Help-insight just doesn't find the comments I've written. One file does not produce the correct HelpInsight tool-tips, but if I include this file in a different dummy project, it works properly.
Does anyone have any other pointers / tricks for getting HelpInsight to work?
I have discovered another caveat (which in my case was what was "wrong")
It appears that the unit with the HelpInsight comments must be explicitly added to the project. It is not sufficient to simply have the unit in a path that is searched when compiling the project.
In other words, the unit must be included in the Project's .dpr / .dproj file. (Using the Project | "Add to Project" menu option)

Resources