[XForms] Timing in XForms

[David Scriven]

When XForms was originally developed, in the mid 1980's,
machines were much slower than they are today, so I
suspect the designers had to make a compromise between 
CPU cycles and response. In XForms there are two critical
values that are set : TIMER_RES, which is 50 ms (and can be
partly reset by fl_set_idle_delta), and the number of FL_STEP
events that are swallowed before the system responds 
(l 1977-78 of forms.c)
/* Handle FL_STEP. Every 10 events. This will reduce cpu usage */
if ((++auto_cnt % 10) == 0)

This latter statement clearly will slow down the way in which 
XForms responds and probably explains the effect I have noticed
on my machines; that XForms programs speed up when the mouse is 
moved.

My query is whether the settings in XForms are appropriate to 
today's fast machines and whether these settings could be 
dynamically changed to suit the machine that XForms is running 
on. What I would have in mind is a routine inside fl_initialize 
that detects the real clock precision and clock speed and sets 
the values for TIMER_RES, and steps swallowed, dynamically.

XForms is extremely complex and such changes might have unforseen
side effects (T.C., your comments?), but I think it might be worth
thinking about.

DS

 

______________________________________________________________________ 
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca