Re: [Lazarus] Changed Compilers Options, Run, Build versus Build All
Tom Verhoeff schrieb:
[...]
Here is another issue. When working on a program involving multiple
units, it may turn out that the Use AnsiStrings was not set
consistently.
Students are advised to enable this globally in the Compiler Options,
but they sometimes forget. Some (given/generated) units also contain
their own {$H+}, others don't.
Is this a student bug or an IDE bug?
Neither, it is a fact of life :-). It is a consequence of the fact
that units from different authors may have been made under different
assumptions. Some units are written with the assumption that they will
be compiled with -Sh, others do not make that assumption and include {$H+}
in the source.
I'd go the Delphi way, and make string dependent on global settings
only. If somebody wants specific Ansi- or ShortStrings, s/he should use
the according types, in favor of the generic string type. Such strict
typing will make even legacy code better reusable. I dunno about the
perfomance of ShortString with FPC, but I don't think that there exist
many cases, where ShortString really provides any advantage over AnsiString.
A hint for students and teachers: *generic* data types, like integer
or string, should only be used when *all* operations with such
variables will work with any current or future implementation of these
generic types. Consider what will happen when string becomes a
WideString, or the like, as recently happend in RAD Studio (Delphi)...
DoDi
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[Lazarus] Changed Compilers Options, Run, Build versus Build All
(This accidentally got posted in another thread, and hence may have
been overlooked. I am still interested in responses.)
On Tue, Dec 09, 2008 at 01:57:37PM +0100, Tom Verhoeff wrote:
We use Lazarus in our first year programming education (as an experiment).
There are various issues that we encounter, some small, some bigger.
Here is another issue. When working on a program involving multiple
units, it may turn out that the Use AnsiStrings was not set consistently.
Students are advised to enable this globally in the Compiler Options,
but they sometimes forget. Some (given/generated) units also contain
their own {$H+}, others don't. This may give rise to inconsistencies
(usually flagged by the compiler, but not understood by beginners).
When you change Compiler Options later, and then do Run, the relevant
unit may not be (re)compiled, because its source code did not change.
One is required to do a Build All first. But a beginner will not be
aware of this.
Is it possible to have the IDE suggest a Build All when doing Run,
if the Compiler Options were changed after the previous build?
Or even better have a three-way global setting:
When doing Run and the Compiler Options changed after the previous build:
* Always do a Build All -- this would be better for beginners
* Always ask to either Build or Build All (the latter as default choice)
* Always do a Build -- this seems to be the current situation
Best regards,
Tom Verhoeff
--
E-MAIL: T.Verhoeff @ TUE.NL | Dept. of Math. Comp. Science
PHONE: +31 40 247 41 25| Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
FAX:+31 40 247 54 04| PO Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven
http://www.win.tue.nl/~wstomv/ | The Netherlands
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Re: [Lazarus] Changed Compilers Options, Run, Build versus Build All
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:33:21 +0100
Tom Verhoeff t.verho...@tue.nl wrote:
[...]
Here is another issue. When working on a program involving multiple
units, it may turn out that the Use AnsiStrings was not set
consistently.
Students are advised to enable this globally in the Compiler Options,
but they sometimes forget. Some (given/generated) units also contain
their own {$H+}, others don't.
Is this a student bug or an IDE bug?
This may give rise to inconsistencies
(usually flagged by the compiler, but not understood by beginners).
When you change Compiler Options later, and then do Run, the relevant
unit may not be (re)compiled, because its source code did not change.
One is required to do a Build All first. But a beginner will not be
aware of this.
Yes, that's why the IDE adds -B when the compiler parameters changed
(except for search path changes). 0.9.26 has this feature. 0.9.24 not.
Is it possible to have the IDE suggest a Build All when doing Run,
if the Compiler Options were changed after the previous build?
It does.
Please provide an example, where it does not work.
Or even better have a three-way global setting:
When doing Run and the Compiler Options changed after the previous
build:
* Always do a Build All -- this would be better for beginners
* Always ask to either Build or Build All (the latter as default
choice)
* Always do a Build -- this seems to be the current situation
Mattias
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Re: [Lazarus] Changed Compilers Options, Run, Build versus Build All
On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 11:08:27PM +0100, Mattias Gaertner wrote:
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:33:21 +0100
Tom Verhoeff t.verho...@tue.nl wrote:
[...]
Here is another issue. When working on a program involving multiple
units, it may turn out that the Use AnsiStrings was not set
consistently.
Students are advised to enable this globally in the Compiler Options,
but they sometimes forget. Some (given/generated) units also contain
their own {$H+}, others don't.
Is this a student bug or an IDE bug?
Neither, it is a fact of life :-). It is a consequence of the fact
that units from different authors may have been made under different
assumptions. Some units are written with the assumption that they will
be compiled with -Sh, others do not make that assumption and include {$H+}
in the source.
When you change Compiler Options later, and then do Run, the relevant
unit may not be (re)compiled, because its source code did not change.
One is required to do a Build All first. But a beginner will not be
aware of this.
Yes, that's why the IDE adds -B when the compiler parameters changed
(except for search path changes). 0.9.26 has this feature. 0.9.24 not.
Is it possible to have the IDE suggest a Build All when doing Run,
if the Compiler Options were changed after the previous build?
It does.
Please provide an example, where it does not work.
Students are using 0.9.24 (mostly); the disk image with software for
their laptops is prepared in the summer. Having them upgrade later is
a cumbersome operation (and the ones that did, because they had problems
with their Lazarus installation, were bitten by various upgrade issues).
Thanks for the explanation. This is an incentive to consider an upgrade.
Tom
--
E-MAIL: T.Verhoeff @ TUE.NL | Dept. of Math. Comp. Science
PHONE: +31 40 247 41 25| Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
FAX:+31 40 247 54 04| PO Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven
http://www.win.tue.nl/~wstomv/ | The Netherlands
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