haskell reify, was sequencing data structures

Bernard James POPE bjpop@cs.mu.OZ.AU
Fri, 5 Sep 2003 18:14:33 +1000 (EST)


> >      However, the new debugger
> >      in GHC must do something to get names of things, so perhaps the
> >      -prof hack is no longer needed?
> 
> I believe the debugger that Robert Ennals is working on tries to infer
> constructor names from the symbol table of the binary.  Personally, I'd
> like to see debugging info placed in a separate segment of the binary,
> so it won't be loaded with the code but can be used by a debugger.

I wonder whether keeping the names of data constructors in info tables
is expensive?

I would have guessed not. (more debugging info such as
function names and src locations is likely to be more expensive however).

Anyway, would it be possible/feasible for GHC to keep names in info tables
all the time, not just for profiling? At least for data-constructors?

Cheers,
Bernie.