Re: [aspectj-dev] Themes for AspectJ 1.2

[Wes Isberg <wes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi -

Macneil Shonle wrote:

<snip>
>  I'm hesitant to use [incremental compilation]
> it given all of the warnings about using it (e.g. "Incremental support in
> AspectJ itself is also one of the newest and therefore least tested
> features on real world projects." from the AJDT FAQ).

I'd encourage everyone to use the compiler in incremental mode now.

In 1.1, we bit the bullet and made some language changes that
weren't backwards-compatible so the compiler could weave on a
per-class basis.  The compiler does this in both batch and
incremental mode, so it already proves the technology.  As to
which files are recompiled, so far in the 1.1.x releases we
take the conservative approach of recompiling everything
when a file containing an aspect changes.  We always put
correctness over speed.

It's true that incremental is new in 1.1, but so is the entire
code base.  The complete rewrite was certainly informed by
lessons from 1.0, but incremental support was based on the
Eclipse compiler, which itself has a long history and was
designed from the ground up for incremental.

Also, please distinguish the IDE support for incremental builds
from the compiler support for incremental compilation.
AJDE/AJDT doesn't yet support incremental updates for the
structure model used by the crosscutting outline, etc.  But
that doesn't in any way affect the correctness of the classes
produced by the ajc compiler.

So, go for it!

Wes