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Subject:
From:
Hans Aberg <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 10 Oct 1997 15:10:53 +0200
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Robin Fairbairns <[log in to unmask]>:
>>   This is one aspect that I have in my mind: Computers are getting so fast
>> that making a full compile every once in a while does not hurt.
>
>Every once in a while, maybe.  Every time, definitely not.  Computers
>get faster, and so do discs.  But discs get faster slower than
>computers (as it were).  I can assure you that I don't want to run my
>600 files through latex because I've changed one 2-pager...

  I am not sure this is need to be a problem, because files are cache in
RAM, and only written/read from disc when forced to by the OS (when some
other program needs the space), or by a save to disc. So you can read all
those 600 files into RAM, and then use them at full RAM speed.

  The real problem is TeX's outmoded file handling system: A file that is
opened and closed is probably always written to disc. So if you have 600
aux file and it takes 10 ms on the average to write each, that is a
whopping 6 seconds. :-)

  Hans Aberg
                  * AMS member listing: <http://www.ams.org/cml/>
                  * Email: Hans Aberg <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

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