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Is Emacs Lisp compiled?
Emacs Lisp has a compiler that translates functions written in Lisp into a special representation called byte-code that can be executed more efficiently. The compiler replaces Lisp function definitions with byte-code. When a byte-code function is called, its definition is evaluated by the byte-code interpreter.
What is byte compile?
Byte-compilation is a function of Emacs that transforms Lisp into byte-code. Byte-code, run by an interpreter in Emacs, can be executed more quickly than Lisp. Replace [file to byte-compile] with the name of the file you want to compile. The compiler will take the file, which should end in the extension .
What is an .ELC file?
What is ELC file? ELC filename suffix is mostly used for Emacs Compiled Lisp Format files. Emacs Compiled Lisp Format specification was created by The GNU Project. Files with ELC extension may be used by programs distributed for Linux, Mac OS, Windows platform.
How does a byte code gets executed?
A bytecode program may be executed by parsing and directly executing the instructions, one at a time. For example, Java and Smalltalk code is typically stored in bytecode format, which is typically then JIT compiled to translate the bytecode to machine code before execution.
Is bytecode interpreted or compiled?
The byte code is then compiled and/or interpreted to run the program. Java does both compilation and interpretation, In Java, programs are not compiled into executable files; they are compiled into bytecode (as discussed earlier), which the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) then interprets / executes at runtime.
Can a Elisp file be byte compiled in Emacs?
Emacs lisp files can be byte compiled. Byte compiled elisp file has file name extension .elc . Normal elisp file is .el. Byte compiled elisp files will load faster, and also run faster. (by a simple test of a loop, it seems to run about 4 times faster.)
What’s the name of the compiled file in Emacs?
CompiledFile. EmacsLisp source files have extension ` .el ’. Byte-compiled files have extension ` .elc ’. If both source and byte-compiled files are present for the same library at the same place in your ‘load-path’, Emacs will load the byte-compiled file, not the source file. This can be a source of confusion.
When to use ELPA to install packages in Emacs?
When you use ELPA to install packages, they are automatically byte compiled. [see Emacs: Install Package with ELPA/MELPA] As of today ( 2016-01 ), for init files and light-weight packages, byte compile doesn’t make any noticeable speed difference.
When do I need to recompile my Elisp files?
When you upgrade to a new emcas version, or upgrade packages, or bring over your byte compiled elisp directory from one machine to another, you should recompile your elisp files, because often, emacs has some incompatible elisp changes, and big packages may fail without recompile.