2.1 Introduction

2.1.2 Introducing the MLWorks compilation system

Application sources are typically decomposed into a collection of separate source files. These files may depend on one another in complex ways, in which case when you ask MLWorks to compile a file, it also compiles all the files that your file depends on.

When it compiles a source file, MLWorks can do either of two things: it can output an object file, which contains an internal representation of the objects defined by the code; or it can load those objects (functions, values, and so on) into the interactive environment. (Of course, it can also do both.) If an object file already exists, MLWorks does not need to compile the source file; it can just load the objects directly from the object file.

Using object files is much faster than re-compiling every file whenever you change it or re-start MLWorks. However, it would be inconvenient if you had to keep track of object files and remember which ones needed re-compiling. The compilation system does this tracking for you, only compiling a given source file if it has been changed since the last time it was compiled, or if it has never been compiled before.

The MLWorks compilation system also provides a portable notation for describing the locations of source and object versions of your application's files on a local file system. But you can use specific filename notation of your platform if you prefer.

MLWorks User Guide (UNIX version 1.0) - 3 DEC 1996

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