Re: Attention: Saving workspaces

[Hans-Peter Sorge]

    Hi,
    
    is there a way that )DUMP preserves function fidelity - that is -
    keep empty lines and indents?
    It would improve readability a lot by eg. separating code and next
    comment by a space line. 
    
    Best Regards 
    Hans-Peter

Am 08.11.20 um 20:07 schrieb Dr. Jürgen Sauermann:

>       
>       Hi everybody,
>         
>         I am currently doing some rework of the )SAVE and )LOAD
>         commands.
>         
>         Before updating GNU APL from SVN the next time (and in the near
>         future), please make sure
>         that you have made a backup of all your workspaces.
>         
>         If you prefer )DUMP over )SAVE to store your
>         workspaces, then you are fine because
>         nothing will be changed there.
>         
>         If you normally )SAVE your workspaces, then please note
>         the following.
>         
>         A.  )SAVE and )LOAD are intended for short term
>         storage, i.e. the )SAVEd workspace
>           should be be )LOADed with the same (SVN-) version of
>         the interpreter. Even tthough
>         I am   trying my best to keep these commands
>         backward-compatible, I cannot guarantee
>         that I will always succeed.
>         
>         B. The only advantage of )SAVE over )DUMP is
>         that it stores the )SI stack. This is
>            sometimes necessary when:
>         
>         B1. sending a workspace for trouble-shooting (and only if the
>         )SI stack is relevant), or
>         B2. to interrupt APL code troubleshooting and continue the next
>         day.
>         
>         In contrast to the old days (where a )SAVEd  APL session) could
>         be completely
>         restored) this is no longer the case. There are more and more
>         components that
>         do not allow their state to be serialized, and as a consequence
>         the workspace
>         )LOADed will increasingly differ from the workspace )SAVEd
>         before. That, in
>         turn, will make the )LOAD and )SAVE commands more
>         and more meaningless.
>         
>         C. If you want to stay with )SAVE then I would recommend
>         the following procedure
>         for updating GNU APL:
>         
>         C1.  )DUMP the workspace as a precaution for one of the
>         subsequent steps failing.
>         C2.  If appropriate: )SIC. This will not only make the
>         saved workspace smaller but will
>                also significantly reduce the probability that something
>         will go wrong later.
>         C3.  )SAVE the workspace.
>         C4.  update the interpreter (typically from SVN).
>         C5.  )LOAD the workspace again and check that it still
>         works.
>         C6.  )SAVE the workspace again.
>         C7.  repeat the steps above (except C4 ) for all your
>         workspaces.
>         
>         D. The reason for the ongoing changes is that a specific case (a
>         derived function lurking
>              on the )SI stack) is currently not handled properly by )SAVE
>         and )LOAD. Currently you
>              get a warning if that happens, but in the long run this
>         should work. That is somewhat
>              difficult, though, and therefore it will take a while
>         before this is fixed.
>         
>         Best Regards,
>         Jürgen
>         
>         
>         
>         
>