Re: [External] : Re: Would you say this information window is well designed?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 15:29:41 +0000
> From: Peter Dean <laszlomail@protonmail.com>
> Cc: "drew.adams@oracle.com" <drew.adams@oracle.com>, "stefankangas@gmail.com" 
> <stefankangas@gmail.com>, "larsi@gnus.org" <larsi@gnus.org>, 
> "dgutov@yandex.ru" <dgutov@yandex.ru>, "emacs-devel@gnu.org" 
> <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
> 
> 
> On Tuesday, February 23, 2021 4:22 PM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
> >
> > I suggest that you try using threads for such purposes. Because it's
> > easier said than done, and IME this kind of jobs is not something for
> > which Lisp threads, as currently implemented, are suitable.
> 
> Isn't it a kind of async task for which threads would be ideal, provided
> the thread takes care of yielding often to keep the UI going?

In theory?  Probably.  But we aren't talking about theory here.

> What is it in Elisp threads which make them unsuitable for this? What
> kind of problems do you think of?

There's no simple explanation, not in terms that would be easily
understood, unless you are familiar with the implementation details.
The best I can do is say that our threads don't yield frequently
enough, nowhere near the frequency that you seem to assume.