GNU bug report logs - #8890
23.3; message writing slows emacs

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From: Dave Abrahams <dave <at> boostpro.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>, 8890 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#8890: 23.3; message writing slows emacs
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:09:59 -0400

on Fri Sep 16 2011, Eli Zaretskii <eliz-AT-gnu.org> wrote:

>> From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
>
>> Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:18:51 -0400
>> Cc: 8890 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
>> 
>> "A few milliseconds" sounds negligible, but if it's done at every
>> iteration of a loop whose body takes less than a millisecond to run
>> (we can do a lot of work in a millisecond on today's machines), then
>> it's a major slowdown.
>
> Then programmers who run those loops should update the progress less
> aggressively.  Redisplay (and infrastructure in general) lack the
> context that would allow them to make good decisions as to when defer
> repeated display.  Only the calling application can know that.

There's a middle path: provide a `progress-message' function.  That
allows the caller to provide the semantic context that this particular
message isn't critical without burdening every single application with
building its own throttling updater.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com

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