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[26] Why is FWEB so huge?

Most of FWEB's size can be attributed to the need of supporting vastly different languages. The input routines for a free form language are not usable for Fortran and vice versa. Furthermore, FWEB has a Ratfor processor built in (which is a big plus, though it is not strictly related to literate programming).

JAK: ``Two other reasons for the large size are

1. the built-in macro preprocessor, an extended version of that for ANSI C;
2. the style-file mechanism.

On the positive side, FWEB does most of its memory allocations dynamically, so one can cut down the size of various tables if necessary. Type `ftangle -Y' to find out about the current allocations; use the -y option to change them. The statistics option -s is also helpful to find out how much a job actually uses.'' (See [M-14.2] for a complete list of options.)

If you do not want the Ratfor preprocessor, you can make a smaller ftangle with the option `LOAD\_RATFOR=0' (see the file web/ratfor0.web of the FWEB distribution, and [5]).

[Archive-Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 20:49:49 CDT]