path: root/TODO

Tasks:
 * Wiki page about creating and maintaining lexer configurations.
   Also mention how to use the "lexer.test..." macros in the
   "edit" hook.
 * Scinterm: implement wattrget() for netbsd-curses.
   May already be fixed in newer versions.

Known Bugs:
 * Characters are not correctly drawn in the GTK backend (especially underscores).
   This may be a regression due to ever changing GTK APIs and
   upgrading Scintilla may already help.
 * Rubbing out <LF> via ^W will rub out more than expected.
 * After commands like ECcat /dev/zero$ result in OOM,
   we do not correctly recover, even though malloc_trim() is called.
   This could be because of Scintilla's undo token.
   Perhaps it would be best to disable any undo handling by Scintilla
   via SCI_SETUNDOCOLLECTION. This would also save memory.
 * S<LF>^ES^N<$ does not find the first line that does not begin with "<"
   ^ES is apparently not greedy.
 * fnkeys.tes: Cursor movements will swallow all preceding braced
   expressions - there should be more checks.
 * rubout of EB does not always restore the view to an edited Q-Register.
   (Is this still relevant after the Great Ceification event?)
 * Colors are still wrong in Linux console even if TERM=linux-16color
   when using Solarized. Affects e.g. the message line which uses the
   reverse of STYLE_DEFAULT.
   Perhaps we must call init_color() before initializing color pairs
   (currently done by Scinterm).
 * Scinterm: The underline attribute is not applied properly
   even on Urxvt where it obviously works.
 * session.save should save and reset ^R. Perhaps ^R should be
   mapped to a Q-Reg to allow [^R. Currently, saving the buffer session
   fails if ^R != 10.
   On the other hand, given that almost any macro depends on the
   correct radix, __every__ portable macro would have to save the
   old radix. Perhaps it's better to make the radix a property of the
   current macro invocation frame and guarantee ^R == 10 at the beginning
   of macros.
   Since :M should probably inherit the radix, having a ^R register would
   still be useful.
 * Saving another user's file will only preserve the user when run as root.
   Generally, it is hard to ensure that a) save point files can be created
   and b) the file mode and ownership of re-created files can be preserved.
   We should fall back silently to an (inefficient) memory copy or temporary
   file strategy if this is detected.
 * crashes on large files: S^EM^X$ (regexp: .*)
   Happens because the Glib regex engine is based on a recursive
   Perl regex library.
   This is apparently impossible to fix as long as we do not
   have control over the regex engine build.
   We should therefore switch the underlying Regex engine.
   Oniguruma looks promising and is also packed for Ubuntu (libonig2).
   It would also directly allow globbing by tweaking the syntax.
   TRE also looks promising and is smaller than Oniguruma.
   GRegEx (PCRE) could still be supported as a fallback.
 * It is still possible to crash SciTECO using recursive functions,
   since they map to the C program's call stack.
   It is perhaps best to use another stack of
   macro strings and implement our own function calling.
 * SciTECO crashes can leave orphaned savepoint files lying around.
   Unfortunately, both the Windows and Linux ways of deleting files
   on close cannot be used here since that would disallow cheap
   savepoint restoration.
   * On UNIX, it's possible to open() and unlink() a file,
     avoiding any savepoint links.
     On abnormal program termination, the inodes are reclaimed
     automatically.
     Unfortunately, neither Linux, nor FreeBSD allow the re-linking
     based on file descriptors. On Linux this fails because the
     file's link count will be 0; on BSD, /dev/fd/X is on a different
     volume and cannot be linked to its old path.
     Thus, we'd have to copy the file.
   * Windows NT has hard links as well, but they don't work with
     file handles either.
     However, it could be possible to call
     CreateFile(FILE_FLAG_DELETE_ON_CLOSE) on the savepoint file,
     ensuring cleanup even on abnormal program termination.
     There is also MoveFileEx(file, NULL, MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT).
   * Windows has file system forks, but they can be orphaned just
     like ordinary files but are harder to locate and clean up manually.
 * Setting window title is broken on ncurses/XTerm.
   Perhaps do some XTerm magic here. We can also restore
   window titles on exit using XTerm.
 * Glib (error) messages are not integrated with SciTECO's
   logging system.

Features:
 * Auto-indention could be implemented via context-sensitive
   immediate editing commands similar to tab-expansion.
   Avoids having to make LF a magic character in insertion
   commands.
 * :$ and :$$ to pop/return only single values
 * allow top-level macros to influence the proces return code.
   This can be used in macros to call $$ or ^C akin to exit(1).
 * Special macro assignment command.
   It could use the SciTECO parser for finding the end of the
   macro definition which is more reliable than @^Uq{}.
   Also this opens up new possibilities for optimizations.
   Macros could be special QRegs that are not backed by a
   Scintilla document but a normal string. This would immensely
   speed up macro calls.
   Perhaps more generically, we should add a number of alternative
   balanced string terminators (<> [] () {}) and assign one
   to parse SciTECO code. "' is not really an option here, since
   we want to be able to write @I"..." etc.
   Since ] and } can occur as stand-alone commands, we would have to
   use <> and/or () for SciTECO code parsing.
   The advantage would be that we save introducing a special
   assignment command and can use the same escape with @I<> for
   editing macro files while still getting immediate interactive
   syntax feedback.
   Plus: Once we have a parser-based terminator, there would
   be no more real need for command variants with disabled
   string building (as string building will naturally always
   be disabled in parser-terminator-mode).
   Instead, a special string building character for disabling
   string building character processing can be introduced,
   and all the command variants like EI and EU can be repurposed.
   Q-Reg specs should support alternative balanced escapes as well
   for symmetry.
 * Numbers could be separate states instead of stack operating
   commands. The current behaviour has few benefits.
   If a number is a regular command that stops parsing at the
   first invalid character in the current radix, we could write
   hexadcimal constants like 16^R0BEEF^D (still clumsy...).
   (On the other hand, the radix is runtime state and parsing
   must not depend on runtime state in SciTECO to ensure
   parseability of the language.)
   * Furthermore, this opens the possibility of floating point
     numbers. The "." command does not take arguments, so it
     could be part of the number syntax. This disallows constructs
     like "23." to push 23 and Dot which have to be replaced by
     "23,.".
   * In the most simple case, all TECO numbers could be
     floats/doubles with division/modulo having integer semantics.
     A separate floating point division operator could be introduced
     (e.g. ^/ with modulo being remapped to ^%).
   * SciTECO could also be "dynamically" typed by using
     integer and floating point types internally.
     The operator decides how to interpret the arguments
     and the return type.
   * Having a separate number parser state will simplify
     number syntax highlighting.
 * Function key masking flag for the beginning of the command
   line. May be useful e.g. for solarized's F5 key (i.e. function
   key macros that need to terminate the command line as they
   cannot be rubbed out properly).
 * fnkeys.tec could preserve the column more reliably when
   moving up and down by encoding a character offset into the
   command line. E.g. (100-3C) would tell us that we have to add
   3 to the real column when moving up/down because the current
   line is too short.
 * Function key macros should behave more like regular macros:
   If inserting a character results in an error, the entire
   macro should be rubbed out. This means it would be OK to
   let commands in function key macros fail and would fix, e.g.
   ^FCLOSE.
 * Function key macros could support special escape sequences
   that allow us to modify the parser state reliably.
   E.g. one construct could expand to the current string argument's
   termination character (which may not be Escape).
   In combination with a special function key macro state
   effective only in the start state of the string building
   state machine, perhaps only in insertion commands, this
   could be used to make the cursor movement keys work in
   insertion commands by automatically terminating the command.
   Even more simple, the function key flag could be effective
   only when the termination character is $.
 * Function key handling should always be enabled. This was
   configurable because of the way escape was handled in ncurses.
   Now that escape is always immediate, there is little benefit
   in having this still configurable. In fact if turned off,
   SciTECO would try to execute escape sequences.
   The ED flag could still exist and tell whether the function
   key macros are used at all (i.e. this is how Gtk behaves currently).
 * Mouse support. Not that hard to implement. Mouse events
   use a pseudo function key macro as in Curses.
   Using some special command, macros can query the current
   mouse state (this maps to an Interface method).
 * Support loading from stdin (--stdin) and writing to
   the current buffer to stdout on exit (--stdout).
   This will make it easy to write command line filters,
   We will need flags like --8-bit-clean and --quiet with
   single-letter forms to make it possible to write hash-bang
   lines like #!...sciteco -q8iom
   Command line arguments should then also be handled
   differently, passing them in an array or single string
   register, so they no longer affect the unnamed buffer.
 * For third-party macro authors, it is useful to know
   the standard library path (e.g. to install new lexers).
   There could be a --print-path option, or with the --quiet
   and --stdout options, one could write:
   sciteco -qoe 'G[$SCITECOPATH]'
 * The C/C++ lexer supports preprocessor evaluation.
   This is currently always enabled but there are no defines.
   Could be added as a global reg to set up defines easily.
 * Now that we have redo/reinsertion:
   When ^G modifier is active, normal inserts could insert
   between effective and rubbed out command line - without
   resetting it. This would add another alternative to { and }
   for fixing up a command line.
 * Instead of discarding a rubbed out command line once the user
   presses a non-matching key, a redo-tree could be built instead.
   When you rub out to a character where the tree branches,
   the next character typed always determines whether and which
   existing redo branch will be activated (ie become the new
   rubbed out command line).
 * some missing useful VideoTECO/TECO-11 commands and unnecessary
   incompatibilities:
   * EF with buffer id
   * ER command: read file into current buffer at dot
   * nEW to save a buffer by id
   * EI is used to open an indirect macro file in classic TECO.
     EM should thus be renamed EI.
     EM (position magtape in classic TECO) would be free again,
     e.g. for execute macro with string argument or as a special version
     of EI that considers $SCITECOPATH.
     Current use of EI (insert without string building) will have
     to move, but it might vanish anyway once we can disable string building
     with a special character.
   * ::S for string "comparisons" (anchored search).
     This is supposed to be an alias for .,.:FB which would be
     .,.:S in SciTECO. Apparanetly, the bounded search is still
     incompatible in SciTECO, as it is allowed to match beyond
     the bounds. Either the semantics of m,n:S should be changed
     or an FB command with classic TECO semantics should be
     introduced..
   * ^S (-(length) of last referenced string), ^Y as .+^S,.
   * ^Q convert line arg into character arg
   * ^A, T and stdio in general
 * Search for beginning of string; i.e. a version of S that
   leaves dot before the search string, similar to FK
   (request of N.M.).
   Could be called <_> (a global-search variant in classic TECO).
 * Shortcut for cutting into Q-Register. Typing 10Xq10K is very
   annoying to type. We could use the @ modifier 10@Xq or
   define a new command, like ^X (search-mode flag in classic
   TECO). On the other hand, a search mode setting would be
   useful in SciTECO as well!
   FX would be available as well, but is perhaps best reserved
   for some mmenonics.
   An elegant alternative might be to introduce single-character
   stack operating commands for duplicating the last AND the last two
   arguments. However, this will not help for cutting a number of lines.
 * For symmetry, there should be a command for -W,
   eg. P. Macros and modifiers are obviously not a solution here
   since they're too long.
 * Visual selections via `...'.
   Allows them to be used recursively (eg. as a tool in macros).
   Returns the buffer range.
 * Perhaps there should be a built-in command for joining
   lines as has been requested by users.
   ^J (caret+J) would still be free.
 * Buffer ids should be "circular", i.e. interpreted modulo the
   number of buffers in the ring. This allows "%*" to wrap at the
   end of the buffer list.
 * instead of 0EB to show the list of buffers, there should perhaps
   be a special TAB-completion (^G mode?) that completes only buffers
   in the ring. It should also display the numeric buffer ids.
 * properly support Unicode encodings and the character-based model
   * link against libncursesw if possible
   * translate documents to Unicode strings
   * a position refers to a character/codepoint
 * Progress indication in commandline cursor:
   Perhaps blinking or invisible?
 * Command to free Q-Register (remove from table).
   e.g. FQ (free Q). :FQ could free by QRegister prefix name for
   the common use case of Q-Register subtables and lists.
 * TECO syntax highlighting.
   This should now be relatively easy to implement by reusing
   the parser.
 * multiline commandline
   * perhaps use Scintilla view as mini buffer.
     This means patching Scintilla, so it does not break lines
     on new line characters.
   * A Scintilla view will allow syntax highlighting
 * improve speed of GTK interface
 * command line could highlight dead branches (e.g. gray them out)
 * Add special Q-Register for dot:
   Would simplify inserting dot with string building and saving/restoring
   dot on the QReg stack.
   Since [. is currently not valid and [[.] is cumbersome, there should be
   a special syntactic workaround to allow [.. or perhaps we'll simply call
   it :, so you can write [:
 * EL command could also be used to convert all EOLs in the current
   buffer.
 * nEL should perhaps dirtify the buffer, at least when automatic
   EOL translation is active, or always (see above).
   The dirty flag exists to remind users to save their buffers and
   nEL changes the result of a Save.
 * exclusive access to all opened files/buffers (locking):
   SciTECO will never be able to notice when a file has been
   changed externally. Also reversing a file write will overwrite
   any changes another process could have done on the file.
   Therefore open buffers should be locked using the flock(), fcntl()
   or lockf() interfaces. On Windows we can even enforce mandatory locks.
   A generic fallback could use lock files -- this would guard against
   concurrent SciTECO instances at least.
 * Multi-window support is probably never going to realize.
   Perhaps we could add a Gtk-frontend option like -X for opening
   all filenames with the same options in separate processes.
   For the Curses version, you will need a shell wrapper, or we could
   add an environment variable like $SCITECO_LAUNCH that can be set
   to a command for launching a new terminal.
   For multi-window SciTECO to work properly, file locking is probably
   a must as it is otherwise too easy to confuse SciTECO if multiple
   instances open the same file.
 * Touch restored save point files - should perhaps be configurable.
   This is important when working with Makefiles, as make looks
   at the modification times of files.
 * There should really be a backup mechanism. It would be relatively
   easy to implement portably, by using timeout() on Curses.
   The Gtk version can simply use a glib timer.
   Backup files should NOT be hidden and the timeout should be
   configurable (EJ?).
 * Error handling in SciTECO macros: Allow throwing errors with
   e.g. [n]EE<description>$ where n is an error code, defaulting
   to 0 and description is the error string - there could be code-specific
   defaults. All internal error classes use defined codes.
   Errors could be catched using a structured try-catch-like construct
   or by defining an error handling label.
   Macros may retrieve the code and string of the last error.
 * Once we have our own function call stack,
   it will be possible, although not trivial, to add support for
   user-definable macros that accept string arguments, eg.
   EMq<param>$
   This will have to switch back and forth between the macro and
   the invoking frame supplying the macro (similar to a coroutine).
   In the most simple case, a special command returns the next character
   produced by the callers string building machine including rubout and
   the user will have to implement rubout-support manually.
   For a lot of common cases, we could also allow a string building
   construct that symbolizes the string parameter supplied by the
   caller. This could activate interactive processing in the macro's
   current command, allowing you to easily "wrap" interactive commands in
   macros. The same construct would also be useful with
   non-interactive commands as a way to store the supplied parameter
   using EU for instance.
 * Adding a secret command line option to process immediate editing
   commands in batch mode with undo would allow us to add some
   test cases that otherwise only occur in interactive mode.
 * Emscripten nodejs port.
   This may be a viable way to run SciTECO "cross"-platform, at least
   for evaluation... on UNIX-like systems in absence of prebuilt binaries.
   I already got netbsd-curses to build against
   Emscripten/nodejs using some UNIX shell wrapper calls, so practically
   all of SciTECO can be run against nodejs as a runtime.
   I'm not aware of any (working) alternatives, like cross-compiling
   for the JVM.
 * Windows supports virtual terminals now. See:
   https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/console/classic-vs-vt
   Perhaps we should transition from PDCurses to something using
   terminal escape sequences like ncurses for Windows.
 * Currently, you cannot pass UTF-8 parameters to SciTECO macros.
   This is not critical since we don't support Unicode anyway.
   Sooner or later however we should use g_win32_get_command_line().

Optimizations:
 * teco_string_append() could be optimized by ORing a padding
   into the realloc() size (e.g. 0xFF).
   However, this has not proven effective on Linux/glibc
   probably because it will already allocate in blocks of
   roughly the same size.
   Should be tested on Windows, though.
 * Scintilla: SETDOCPOINTER resets representations, so we
   have to set SciTECO representations up again often when
   working with Q-Registers. Has been benchmarked to be a
   major slow-down.
   This should be patched in Scintilla.
 * commonly used (special) Q-Registers could be cached,
   saving the q-reg table lookup
 * refactor search commands (create proper base class)
 * Add a configure-switch for LTO (--enable-lto).

Documentation:
 * Code docs (Doxygen). It's slowly getting better...
 * The ? command could be extended to support looking
   up help terms at dot in the current document (e.g. if called ?$).
   Furthermore, womanpages could contain "hypertext" links
   to help topics using special Troff markup and grosciteco support.
 * The command reference should include an overview.
 * Write a cheat sheet. Either on www.cheatography.com, or
   using Groff and include with SciTECO.
 * Write some tutorials for the Wiki, e.g. about paragraph
   reflowing...
   Object-oriented SciTECO ideoms etc. ;-)