On Dec 23, 2009, at 8:18 AM, Helmut Eller wrote:
- Terje Norderhaug [2009-12-22 17:33+0100] writes:
Why is that needed?
It is needed for functionality that improves the usability of MCLIDE.
For example, the Apropos dialog (see screen shot at http://mclide.in- progress.com/tour) lets lisp developers filter the result of an apropos based on type. If the developer chooses to only be interested in the definitions of functions, clicking the Source button goes straight to the function definition even if there are other definitions for the same symbol. Several dialogs also present dspecs from Swank in more uniform custom ways rather than display the implementation dependent raw dspec string.
Hmm... sounds like quite bit of work for a relatively small improvement. I would estimate that 80% of all symbols have only one definition, i.e. most of the time it wouldn't make a difference.
I don't mind going the extra mile to improve usability, so I'd be glad to take a lead. Making the definitions more easy to process on the client can also open for improvements in SLIME, such as custom/ uniform presentation of definitions, and more advanced processing both on the client and server.
The next step is to get an overview of the current dspecs provided to swank by the various lisp implementations. Has somebody documented any of this already? I have Clozure and LispWorks covered, but could benefit from input about other implementations.
-- Terje Norderhaug terje@in-progress.com