CShake <cshake+pov### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> > For instance, on my Windows XP machine the following code can be sped up to
> > parse *** 25 TIMES FASTER *** by un-commenting the second line:
>
> This is because each time a macro is called that is in a different file,
> the entire containing file is reopened, right? (I remember that from
> something in the documentation)

Exactly.

> Thinking about that, I'd like to add 'storing macros in memory' for
> anything called more than once to the 4.0 SDL wishlist. Most other
> compliers do that as far as I know, but I do understand reasons behind
> the current behavior, since macros can be huge and all.

I would have taken for granted that if POV 4.0 SDL would operate on bytecode
basis, *all* macros of included files would reside in memory.

But I guess it would also be possible to first compile any files encountered
into bytecode files (unless the compiled files already exist and are
up-to-date), and then load macros from there, using some invocation counter to
decide whether to unload a macro again after use or keep it in memory.

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