freebsd-dev/contrib/awk/FUTURES
sheldonh b725e888cf Virgin import of GNU awk 3.0.4, which fixes at least a memory mis-
management problem involving custom print formats.

PR:		13615
Reported by:	Scott Hazen Mueller <scott@zorch.sf-bay.org>
1999-09-27 08:51:04 +00:00

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This file lists future projects and enhancements for gawk. Items are listed
in roughly the order they will be done for a given release. This file is
mainly for use by the developers to help keep themselves on track, please
don't bug us too much about schedules or what all this really means.
With the 3.0 release, we are acknowledging that awk is not PERL, nor should
it become PERL. (To paraphrase Dennis Ritchie, "If you want PERL, you
know where to get it.")
The focus on the future is thus narrowed to performance and functional
enhancements, with only minor plans for significant new features.
For 3.0
=======
DONE: Move to autoconf-based configure system.
DONE: Allow RS to be a regexp.
DONE: RT variable to hold text of record terminator
DONE: split() with null string as third arg to split up strings
DONE: Analogously, setting FS="" would split the input record into
individual characters.
DONE: Generalize IGNORECASE
- any value makes it work, not just numeric non-zero
- make it apply to *all* string comparisons
DONE: Incorporate newer dfa.c and regex.c
DONE: Go to POSIX regexps
DONE: Make regex + dfa less dependant on gawk header file includes
DONE: Source code formatting cleaned up and regularized
DONE: Clean up code by isolating system-specific functions in
separate files.
DONE: General sub function:
gensub(pat, sub, global_flag[, line])
that return the substituted strings and allow \1 etc.
in the sub string.
DONE: Add AWKPATH to ENVIRON if it's not there
DONE: Undertake significant directory reorganization.
DONE: Extensive manual cleanup:
Use of texinfo 2.0 features
Lots more examples
Document posix regexps
Document all of the above.
In 3.1
======
A PROCINFO array to replace /dev/pid, /dev/user, et al.
DONE: Use mmap to read input files on systems that support it.
Add `abort' statement a la Thompson awk.
Consider removing use of and/or need for the protos.h file.
Use a new or improved dfa.
Integrate GNU NLS support.
Bring out hooks for NLS support into gawk itself.
DBM storage of awk arrays. Try to allow multiple dbm packages.
Use GNU malloc.
DONE: Do a reference card.
? Have strftime() pay attention to the value of ENVIRON["TZ"]
Additional manual features:
Document use of dbm arrays
Document NLS support
? Add exercises
? Add an error messages section to the manual
? A section on where gawk is bounded
regex
i/o
sun fp conversions
For 3.2
=======
Add a lint check if the return value of a function is used but
the function did not supply a value.
Do an optimization pass over parse tree?
Make awk '/foo/' files... run at egrep speeds
For 4.x:
========
Create a gawk compiler?
Create a gawk-to-C translator? (or C++??)
Provide awk profiling and debugging.