If you are indeed using files for all your dependency nodes, I suppose you could use ASDF for this kind of things. In that case, package-inferred-system would be a good template to start from, in terms of letting ASDF dynamically build a model from your files.
However, if any of your nodes does not correspond to files, then maybe you should consider cells, or computed-class, or some reactive functional programming system. —♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods. — Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love" On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 5:38 AM, Andrew Sengul <m...@imagegardenphoto.com> wrote: > I'm interested in using ASDF to build interactive applications. Here's > an example of the kind of thing I'd like to do. Imagine creating a > Web-based multiple choice poll. When someone submits an entry to the > poll, a data file containing all the responses is updated with the new > entry. Two SVG graphics, a bar chart and a pie chart of the answers, are > also updated according to the updated data set. > > If I wanted to implement something like this in Common Lisp, ASDF seems > like a good foundation to build on, since it allows me to create a > complex dependency graph of code and data files. In the example above, > the SVG visualizations are dependent on the answers data set, and they > get updated when the answer data is updated. > > However, I don't know how well this approach would scale because in > order to use ASDF this way, a file needs to be written to disk and other > files must be loaded from disk and compiled each time an entry is made > to the poll. Would it make sense to create a new component type that > represents a quoted piece of code stored as a variable in a running > program rather than a file? If the poll is implemented with a persistent > Web server, it could keep the answer data and the graphics in its memory > instead of on disk, and use some means to periodically back up the > contents of those variables to disk. > > I'm still new to ASDF so I'm not sure if there's a simple way I could > add in this functionality or if it's a good idea. I know that the Web > poll example I gave above would work better if the graphics generation > and answer storage was just written into the Web server instead of using > ASDF, but the poll is just an example; my goal is to develop a system > that can handle much more complex code/data graphs. > > Any feedback appreciated. Thanks, > > Andrew >
