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Frequently Asked Questions
Table of contents
Q01: [1]Is it possible to have the complete Eiffel source code of
SmartEiffel?
Q02: [2]Is it possible to use SmartEiffel for large/commercial
applications?
Q03: [3]Is it possible to do incremental compilation with
SmartEiffel?
Q04: [4]Is there a SmartEiffel mailing list?
Q05: [5]What is the semantics (meaning) of a manifest string?
Q06: [6]Is it difficult to switch from ISE to SmartEiffel?
Q07: [7]Is it possible to use the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage
collector with SmartEiffel?
Q08: [8]Why don't you post more messages in newsgroups and/or mailing
lists?
Q09: [9]Is there a mechanism to pre-compile libraries?
Q10: [10]How is SmartEiffel compiled?
Q11: [11]How do I keep informed about SmartEiffel?
Q12:
[12]What documentation is provided with SmartEiffel?
Where can I find Eiffel documentation?
Q13: [13]How can I help ?
Q14: [14]Why don't you change this and add that?! It would be much
better/cooler/whatever !
Q15: [15]How to customise the Garbage Collector for a new
architecture?
Q16: [16]What is SmallEiffel compared to SmartEiffel?
Questions and answers
Q01: Is it possible to have the complete Eiffel source code of
SmartEiffel?
A01: Since it is the GNU Eiffel Compiler, the complete source code of
SmartEiffel is of course in the distribution. The source code for
additional libraries is also provided.
Q02: Is it possible to use SmartEiffel for large/commercial
applications?
A02: It is indeed possible to use SmartEiffel for a large application.
An Eiffel compiler is a really big project and SmartEiffel itself is
fully written in Eiffel. SmartEiffel is completely free and any
private company can use SmartEiffel freely, and distribute (or sell)
freely the products made with it. They do not have to pay royalties.
Also note that only classes which are closely related to the compiler
itself are under GPL (actually, only the classes of directory
SmartEiffel/tools and install.e are under GPL). The other classes are
not under GPL in order to let people completely free (i.e. all classes
of SmartEiffel/lib). Always keep in mind that SmartEiffel doesn't come
with any warranty (please read the COPYING file in the distribution).
As explained in the header of non-GPL files, the only important thing
is to kept the header unaltered when the corresponding source file is
provided in your product. For extended support, donations as well as
consulting, see [17]here.
Q03: Is it possible to do incremental compilation with SmartEiffel?
A03: Because of the SmartEiffel type inference mechanism, SmartEiffel
always produces all needed C files from scratch. As old C files are
automatically saved, only modified C files are recompiled. See
[18]man/compile for details.
Q04: Is there a SmartEiffel mailing list?
A04: Yes! SmartEiffel users and developers can share their experiences
and ideas by subscribing to the [19]SmartEiffel official mailing list.
Q05: What is the semantics (meaning) of a manifest string?
A05: Bertrand Meyer clearly explains the semantics of manifest strings
in section 18.5 on page 653 (and previous sections for background) of
Object-Oriented Software Construction (Second Edition). A manifest
string expression (in declaration) is not a constant but a reference
to a shared object. A variable initialised with a manifest string is
equivalent to a once function, so the string may change! For example:
Message: STRING is "abc"
is equivalent to
Message: STRING is
once
!!Result.make (3)
Result.append_character ('a')
Result.append_character ('b')
Result.append_character ('c')
end
SmartEiffel implements manifest strings in this way.
Be aware that manifest string expression may be written in two ways:
str := "abc"
This is the standard manifest string expression.
str := once "abc"
This is the once manifest string expression.
In the first case, new string is allocated each time the line is
executed. In the second case you've got a once result like in
declaration described above, so the string may have changed. See
[20]man/compile_to_c for the flag -manifest_string_trace which help
finding memory leaks from non-once manifest strings.
Q06: Is it difficult to switch from ISE to SmartEiffel?
A06: If your original ISE software only uses simple types like
INTEGER, STRING, ARRAY, BOOLEAN, CHARACTER and DOUBLE, it is usually
very simple. It is a little bit difficult for simple input/output
(used with predefined io) because some features have different names.
If your original software heavily relies on the EiffelBase library, it
may be very difficult. For example, one must keep in mind that
SmartEiffel.ARRAY inherit SmartEiffel.COLLECTION and that ISE library
also have a class COLLECTION. By the way, subclasses of ISE.COLLECTION
cannot be used. The ISE.LINKED_LIST can be used in conjunction with
SmartEiffel.ARRAY because ISE.LINKED_LIST do not inherit
ISE.COLLECTION (no clash).
Q07: Is it possible to use the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
with SmartEiffel?
A07: Yes.
You just have to disable the generation of the GC by SmartEiffel
(option -no_gc) and replace it by the BDW library. Note that the BDW
GC can be easily added because SmartEiffel only uses
malloc/realloc/calloc.
You can download the BDW library from :
[21]http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc
How to integrate the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector with
SmartEiffel (from a message of Dietmar Wolz) :
1. Make the gc.a file from the BDW package. Then move this gc.a file
to /usr/lib/libgc.a.
2. Move gc.h the to working directory and add the following lines:
#define malloc(n) GC_malloc(n)
#define calloc(m,n) GC_malloc((m)*(n))
#define realloc(p,n) GC_realloc((p),(n))
#define free(p) GC_free(p)
3. instead of calling
"compile -o executable -boost -O root"
now call
"compile -o executable -boost -O root -no_gc -lgc -include
gc.h"
Q08: Why don't you post more messages in newsgroups and/or mailing
lists?
A08: First, because we strongly believe that too much information
kills information. Scientists call this "cognitive overload". :)
Second, because we don't have the time. It takes an awful amount of
time to follow discussions, whatever their quality. We try to do that.
But it's even more time-consuming to be part of them. So, we often
have to choose between posting/mailing, and working directly on
SmartEiffel. Since our mailboxes tend to overflood, we generally
choose the latter :)
Q09: Is there a mechanism to pre-compile libraries?
A09: No, there is no such mechanism in SmartEiffel. But if you're
concerned about compilation speed, don't worry, pre-computed libraries
are not the only way to be fast ! Just try SmartEiffel, and you'll see
:)
Q10: How is SmartEiffel compiled?
A10: With Eiffel optimisation options -boost and -no_gc. The garbage
collector is indeed useless on the SmartEiffel commands: since
SmartEiffel did not include a GC in its first versions, we were very
careful about memory when we developed it.
With C compilation optimisations turned on (it depends on the C
compiler used; we generally use gcc).
The resulting executables are stripped.
Q11: How do I keep well informed about SmartEiffel?
A11: The best way is to keep an eye on our web pages, more especially
on the [22]What's New? page and the [23]History of Changes.
People who want detailed information may also decide to stay tuned to
[24]the SmartEiffel mailing-list or even look at the [25]bug-tracking
system.
Q12: What documentation is provided with SmartEiffel?
Where can I find Eiffel documentation?
A12: The documentation provided with SmartEiffel is a transcript of
what you can find on the original SmartEiffel Web site, at
[26]http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr. It is related only to the use and
internals of SmartEiffel (yes, we know we still have to improve it ;)
).
For information and documentation about the Eiffel language, check the
links on our [27]Internet resources page. Note that we are not aware
of any complete Eiffel language manual freely available on the Web
(yet?).
Q13: How can I help ?
A13: The best way to help SmartEiffel and its users is probably to
pick up some area you're interested in, and develop with SmartEiffel
your own library, application, tool, extension, etc., releasing it to
other users.
To avoid duplicate efforts, we suggest you have a look to [28]what
other people are already doing around SmartEiffel and help them if
something that's of interest to you is already under work. There are
actually very good things in there, some we were not even aware of,
when they were under development ! :)
You may have a look to the [29]future plans and have a look into the
bugs database (access via the [30]bug report page on the SmartEiffel
web site.
Finally, you may also consider funding the development of particular
features you would like to have.
Another very good way to help us is to follow the [31]bug report
guidelines when you find some problem with SmartEiffel :))
Q14: Why don't you change this and add that?! It would be much
better/cooler/whatever !
A14: People must understand that we can't always do everything. We
simply can't. Because we don't have the time. Whether we like it or
not, we also have other things to do than provide free stuff, modify
our compiler and/or libraries to please everybody. We do as much as we
can, but we don't do miracles, sorry.
Since SmartEiffel is free of charge and open-source, people who do
need things we don't provide can always implement them and have them
benefit everybody. A good way to do this is to start working on it,
and ask other people (i.e. not the SmartEiffel team ;) ) to join and
help. See the [32]"How can I help?" question.
Alternatively, someone or some company who does need us to implement
something may always consider funding a bit the development of
SmartEiffel... After all, we've even heard that some people were
selling software and making a bit of money with it... ;)))
Q15: How to customise the Garbage Collector for a new architecture?
A15: If your architecture need special handling to get the GC working
(because the stack is not contiguous, because some registers are not
written on the stack on `setjmp'...) then you need to implement
function `mark_stack_and_registers' for your system in the file
SmartEiffel/sys/runtime/c/gc_lib.c.
If you get some message telling you that the stack direction is wrong,
then you should change macro definition to use the other generic code
(there is one generic code for each stack order).
In order to check the GC, you should be able to run all files of the
SmartEiffel/misc/benchmarks/gc directory.
Q16: What is SmallEiffel compared to SmartEiffel?
A16: SmallEiffel is the former name of the SmartEiffel project. We
changed because we thought the compiler had become smart enough ;) For
a list of changes between the last version of SmallEiffel and the
first one of SmartEiffel, have a look [33]there.
[Line]
Copyright Dominique COLNET and Suzanne COLLIN -
[34]<SmartEiffel@loria.fr>
Last modified: Mon May 5 10:45:51 CEST 2003
References
1. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q01
2. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q02
3. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q03
4. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q04
5. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q05
6. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q06
7. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q10
8. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q08
9. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q09
10. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q10
11. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q11
12. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q12
13. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q13
14. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q14
15. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q15
16. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q16
17. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/support.html
18. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/compile.html
19. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/support/mailing-list.html
20. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/compile_to_c.html
21. http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/
22. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/general/whatsnew.html
23. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/miscHISTORY.html
24. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/support/mailing-list.html
25. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/support/bug_report.html
26. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/
27. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/general/resources.html
28. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/general/repository.html
29. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/papers/future.html
30. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/support/bug_report.html
31. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/support/bug_report.html
32. file://localhost/users/miro/colnet/SmartEiffel/man/SmartEiffelFAQ.html#Q13
33. http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/misc/HISTORY.html#1.0
34. mailto:SmartEiffel@loria.fr
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