Re: [boost] Clang: Open-source C/C++ front end under development

From: Andrew Sutton (asutton_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-09-01 21:32:33

> I agree with Vladimir: my definition refactoring is as a behavior-
> preserving transformation from one valid program to another.  Given
> this, you really do need much of a compiler, but you also want highly
> accurate source location information, information about macro
> expansions, etc which compilers typically don't keep.  It's an
> explicit goal for us to preserve that information and our solutions
> seem to work well for us so far.

To start with, your definition of refactoring is incorrect - it  
simply preserves the external behavior of a program. I would also  
point out that in order to ensure that a program is correct it first  
has to be preprocessed, and parsed. Something as simple as renaming a  
function - which is a well-known refactoring - requires none of that.  
The complexity of the refactoring determines the amount of  
information needed - whether or not you actually need a fully correct  
AST all the time - I doubt it.

Andrew Sutton
asutton_at_[hidden]