Most compiled languages allow for incremental build. I can understand that a clean compile needs 15 minutes or whatever. But why does it take long when you compile a small change? (or maybe this has been fixed?)
You can use the Revise.jl package, however. It keeps track of the files you've imported and updates the code whenever a file is changed. This causes only minor latency, similar to an incremental build.
Revise.jl inside the REPL is annoying as hell to use when you start messing with structs.
It isn't a big ask to just have `julia whatever.jl` not take minutes to compile the entire world. Stop defending it like every Apple fanboy on mac forums trying to convince me that the touchbar is great.
And Revise.jl kind of proves the fact that incremental compilation is entirely possible. If it wasn't possible at all due to $maximum_dynamic_insanity that wouldn't even work.
> And Revise.jl kind of proves the fact that incremental compilation is entirely possible. If it wasn't possible at all due to $maximum_dynamic_insanity that wouldn't even work.
I agree it's disengenuous to say that Revise is the answer to all problems when struct redefinition is still not possible. Yes you can toss them in a module, but then why allow defining them in global scope at all? Thus far I haven't seen any theoretical limitations either, since Common Lisp variants seem to be able to do something similar.
That said, I would not look at most other dynamic languages for this. Having a mandatory VM is an express non-goal in Julia, and if you want one then you'll have to face off against all the other people asking for better static compilation. Again, compiled lisps show us that a VM isn't even necessary to get this level of dynamism or low latency incremental compilation.
The claim around having to recompile the entire world has already been addressed in a sibling thread, so I'll not rehash it here.