DeRailed DSL (was Re: compile-time regex redux)

[Andrei Alexandrescu (See Website For Email)]

kris wrote:
> For example, having a DSL go and hit a database at /compile time/ sounds 
> like an appalling reduction in /perceived/ compiler efficiency. If I 
> have to hit the DB for every single compilation of each module with such 
> a DSL embedded, I will simply discard the toolset. That approach would 
> be borderline insanity :p

Probably we haven't worked in the same environments. In the large 
database systems I worked with (Chase Manhattan), the schema and the 
basic views change very rarely, and whenever that happens, the stored 
procedures are spilled automatically in text files that can be read by 
the build process. It was entirely reasonable to recompile the system 
whenever that happened, and it was highly desirable to fix mismatches 
before the system runs.

In other cases, a dynamic approach does better. Dynamic has always been 
more flexible, no doubt about that. The point is that each approach has 
its advantages and disadvantages.

I can also do without the belligerent tone. Not knowing or not 
understanding does not automatically lend insanity on the interlocutor.


Andrei