Re: Reliable after-change-functions (via: Using incremental parsing in Emacs)

[Stefan Monnier]

>> > I still don't see why it would need the entire buffer for this class
>> > of applications.  Did anyone try the alternatives, in particular on
>> > very large buffers?
>> What alternatives?
> Let tree-sitter see just a portion of the buffer, like the outer block
> of what will be displayed in the window.  You are saying that this is
> impossible,

I think it would be definitely possible if you present "from point-min
to POS".  But "from START to END" is much more difficult, yes.

> but do tree-sitter developers also say that?

You'd have to ask them.  But what I say is based on the knowledge
I gleaned by reading the academic literature that the tree-sitter
authors cite (I did that while working on an article on SMIE ;-)

In any case, your question is really about the design of tree-sitter
rather than the design of the interface between tree-sitter and Emacs.

AFAICT tree-sitter is pretty close to the state of the art in this area,
so I think it's worth trying it out to see how it performs before
considering changing its design.

>> How large is "very large" here?
> xdisp.c comes to mind, obviously.

I'd expect tree-sitter to be able to parse xdisp.c in one second or less.


        Stefan