Reloading on the fly: was: Re: Python Productivity over C++

[Boudewijn Rempt]

Hung Jung Lu <hungjunglu at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I really have to raise my voice here: in Python, running means also 
> compiling. Steve: sorry to point this out to you, but you really ought to 
> take a look at dynamical reloading of modern script languages like Python. 
> To me, that's the biggest advantage of modern script languages. In Python, 
> there are no separate commands for compiling and running. And you can reload 
> a Python module on the fly. Do you understand that? For many applications 
> (like webservers), it is absolutely crucial that the main application keeps 
> running while you are adding/modifying part of the program. That's an area 
> where C++ can not do well. In Python, I often have programs running, and 
> then I need to modify part of the program. I go ahead and modify the module, 
> and since I have designed the main program to reload the submodules, I never 
> have to stop the main application, this even if there are compiling/runtime 
> errors from the submodule. Doing that in C++ is an absolute nightmare.

Could you post an example of designing the main program to reload
submodules? I'd like to get that working, too, and coming from
languages where that's impossible, I've a bit of trouble coming up
with a solution...

-- 

Boudewijn Rempt  | http://www.valdyas.org