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Remove the pipes compiler
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The pipes compiler produced data types that encoded efficient and safe
bounded message passing protocols between two endpoints. It was also
capable of producing unbounded protocols.

It was useful research but was arguably done before its proper time.

I am removing it for the following reasons:

* In practice we used it only for producing the `oneshot` and `stream`
  unbounded protocols and all communication in Rust use those.
* The interface between the proto! macro and the standard library
  has a large surface area and was difficult to maintain through
  language and library changes.
* It is now written in an old dialect of Rust and generates code
  which would likely be considered non-idiomatic.
* Both the compiler and the runtime are difficult to understand,
  and likewise the relationship between the generated code and
  the library is hard to understand. Debugging is difficult.
* The new scheduler implements `stream` and `oneshot` by hand
  in a way that will be significantly easier to maintain.

This shouldn't be taken as an indication that 'channel protocols'
for Rust are not worth pursuing again in the future.
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brson committed Aug 1, 2013
1 parent 7daea7c commit 4b3e766
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Showing 23 changed files with 3 additions and 2,369 deletions.
6 changes: 2 additions & 4 deletions src/libsyntax/ext/base.rs
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -81,8 +81,8 @@ pub enum SyntaxExtension {
// An IdentTT is a macro that has an
// identifier in between the name of the
// macro and the argument. Currently,
// the only examples of this are
// macro_rules! and proto!
// the only examples of this is
// macro_rules!

// perhaps macro_rules! will lose its odd special identifier argument,
// and this can go away also
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -197,8 +197,6 @@ pub fn syntax_expander_table() -> SyntaxEnv {
syntax_expanders.insert(intern(&"module_path"),
builtin_normal_tt(
ext::source_util::expand_mod));
syntax_expanders.insert(intern(&"proto"),
builtin_item_tt(ext::pipes::expand_proto));
syntax_expanders.insert(intern(&"asm"),
builtin_normal_tt(ext::asm::expand_asm));
syntax_expanders.insert(
Expand Down
63 changes: 0 additions & 63 deletions src/libsyntax/ext/pipes/ast_builder.rs

This file was deleted.

82 changes: 0 additions & 82 deletions src/libsyntax/ext/pipes/check.rs

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106 changes: 0 additions & 106 deletions src/libsyntax/ext/pipes/liveness.rs

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84 changes: 0 additions & 84 deletions src/libsyntax/ext/pipes/mod.rs

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1 comment on commit 4b3e766

@pcwalton
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r+

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