Re: Replacing )SAVE with )DUMP

[Dr . Jürgen Sauermann]

    Hi,
      
      I would say that the )DUMP format is in principle more APL-like
      than )SAVE.
      However, there is an important use case for )SAVE which is not
      supported
      by )DUMP: )SAVEing a workspace with a non-empty )SI stack and
      continuing
      it at a later point in time (or on a different machine).
      
      Simply renaming )DUMP to )SAVE would create an unnecessary
      incompatibility
      that I would like to avoid. )LOADing a file without the )SI stack
      is essentially what
      )COPY does and I would make that decision at )LOAD time and not at
      )SAVE
      time.
      
      Best Regards,
      Jürgen

On 2/24/21 5:41 PM, Otto Diesenbacher-Reinmüller wrote:

> Hi Jürgen, Blake, APLers,
>
> wouldn't it be a low effort approach to switch to )DUMP-format as
> general workspace file format, having at the end an optional
> ⍝-area containing <StateIndicator levels="1"> from the current
> XML-fileformat.
>
> If this ⍝-area is present loading the file, it gets parsed and loaded,
> otherwise it is loaded as currently without state indicator.
>
> just my 2cents - :) Otto
>
> Blake McBride <blake1024@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 7:06 AM Dr. Jürgen Sauermann <
> > mail@jürgen-sauermann.de> wrote:
> >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > First of all, )save produces an old file format.These days )dump is
> > > preferred over )save
> > > since it makes it much easier to recover most of a broken workspace files,
> > > and the )dump
> > > format is pretty much directly executable APL code rather than xml. That
> > > makes )dump more
> > > independent of the interpreter version than )save.
> > >
> > > The only disadvantage of )dump is that it does not save the )SI stack likw
> > > )save does.
> > > So when you )dump a workspace the you loose the )SI stach and with it all
> > > local variables.
> > > [...]
> > >
> > >         
> >  Two points:
> >
> > 1.  It is confusing to have two formats.
> >
> > 2.  Preferring )DUMP, which isn't even part of standard APL, is, in a
> > sense, changing the language.
> >
> > My suggestion is:
> >
> > A.  Get rid of )SAVE
> > B.  Rename )DUMP to )SAVE
> > C.  Enhance the dump format to save the SI.
> >
> > Blake McBride
> >       
>
>
>
>
>
>