Re: Looking for a fast C++ parser

Peter "Firefly" Lund wrote:
> The current fashion in syntax coloring seems to be to use a generic editor
> that attaches font and colour attributes to the text, combined with a
> general regexp engine + a file of regexps per language that is used to
> generate the colour attributes after loading the file into the editor
> widget. This is both slower and more memory-hungry than it really needs to
> be.


As with every design, there are trade-offs. The current fashion adds a
lot of flexibility to support multiple languages, and the ability to add
support new languages without modifying the editor. On the flip side it
wastes a few MHz of your x.y GHz CPU and a couple hundred K out of your
GB of RAM. In 1985, these burdens would be unconsciable. Those few MHz
would be all of your MHz, and a couple hundred K would be all of your
RAM. But this is 2005, and I think the last time I touched a 4.77MHz
computer was around 1989.


I hate gratuitous code bloat as much as any other neanderthal (vi is my
IDE), but there are times when code bloat is not gratuitous.


--
Scott Nicol
snicol@apk.net

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