Roadmap.md - compiler-explorer - Rivoreo Source Code Repositories

 # Compiler Explorer Road Map

 CE was started in 2012 to serve my needs at [my company](http:/drw.com) in terms of showing how
 C++ constructs translated to assembly code. It started out as a `tmux` session with `vi` running in one
 pane and `watch gcc -S foo.cc -o -` running in the other. Since those days it's now a public website
 serving the C++, Rust, Go and D communities and performs around 20,000 compilations per day.

 This document is an attempt to capture thoughts on the future direction of Compiler Explorer.

 ## Areas to improve

 ### Mobile client support

 CE's UI doesn't work well with mobile clients. The editor doesn't work well on many mobile clients, and the
 layout doesn't lend itself well to small screens.

 Ideas for improving mobile support include automatically folding up all the panes into a single tab upon
 detection of a mobile client. This would require a bunch of fixes in the
 underlying [UI library](http://golden-layout.com) as this doesn't properly work with mobile and tabs.

 Perhaps a read-only simplified view would work better: the main reason one brings up the CE website is to
 look at tweeted links rather than author content.

 ### UI improvements

 The UI has a number of things that need improving:

 * Multiple editor windows
 * Saving and restoring from browser-local storage
 * Handling the loss of data if one has a work-in-progress CE window open and then clicks another CE link.

 ### Diff view

 A frequently requested feature is to be able to diff output. A large patch was provided by @Voxelf which
 helped spur on the development of the new UI, but the diff view he created has yet to be merged. There's
 a possibility that moving to the [Monaco](https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/) editor will not only
 give a better editing experience, but also bring pretty much free diff windows out of the box.

 ### Execution support

 Another big ticket item is to allow executing of the user's code. This is fraught with security issues, and
 brings up a number of UI and API considerations. Compiling code every time to execute with different params
 seems wasteful, so caching seems good; but in a multi-instance setup a shared cache woudl be needed. Perhaps
 a backend system that caches the executables (and makes them downloadable; at least for some compilers where
 license allows), and stores the binaries in ephemeral, shared storage. This same backend system could also
 be used to store code, and could be part of a whole new way of sending and sharing code (if made permanent
 storage).

 ### Support more compilers

 Most of the open tickets are to do with adding new compilers, or fixing issues with existing compilers.
 Continuing to add more compilers and make it easier for others to submit PRs to add new compilers is
 very important.

 ## Tensions

 There's an inherent tension between the standalone, run-it-yourself version of CE and the scalable, AWS-backed
 CE instance. Care must be taken to keep the standalone version usable, not least as the majority of CE's
 development is done on a laptop during a commute (with little or no internet access).

 ## Priorities

 Above all, the priority is to keep the main CE site up, stable and dependable. After that, features are
 added honestly in the order that is most useful and interesting to the primary developer (Matt Godbolt).

 ## Non-goals

 CE will remain ad-free, open-source and non-commercial. There's no plans at all to add "freemium" content.

 ## 2017 goals

 With all this in mind, the tentative goals for 2017 are:

 * Move to the Monaco editor
   * Implement diff view
 * Come up with a decent secure solution for code execution
 * Design an API that can handle remote code execution and download needs
 * Implement remote execution UIs

 These goals will be refined as time ticks on.
	# Compiler Explorer Road Map

	CE was started in 2012 to serve my needs at [my company](http:/drw.com) in terms of showing how
	C++ constructs translated to assembly code. It started out as a `tmux` session with `vi` running in one
	pane and `watch gcc -S foo.cc -o -` running in the other. Since those days it's now a public website
	serving the C++, Rust, Go and D communities and performs around 20,000 compilations per day.

	This document is an attempt to capture thoughts on the future direction of Compiler Explorer.

	## Areas to improve

	### Mobile client support

	CE's UI doesn't work well with mobile clients. The editor doesn't work well on many mobile clients, and the
	layout doesn't lend itself well to small screens.

	Ideas for improving mobile support include automatically folding up all the panes into a single tab upon
	detection of a mobile client. This would require a bunch of fixes in the
	underlying [UI library](http://golden-layout.com) as this doesn't properly work with mobile and tabs.

	Perhaps a read-only simplified view would work better: the main reason one brings up the CE website is to
	look at tweeted links rather than author content.

	### UI improvements

	The UI has a number of things that need improving:

	* Multiple editor windows
	* Saving and restoring from browser-local storage
	* Handling the loss of data if one has a work-in-progress CE window open and then clicks another CE link.

	### Diff view

	A frequently requested feature is to be able to diff output. A large patch was provided by @Voxelf which
	helped spur on the development of the new UI, but the diff view he created has yet to be merged. There's
	a possibility that moving to the [Monaco](https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/) editor will not only
	give a better editing experience, but also bring pretty much free diff windows out of the box.

	### Execution support

	Another big ticket item is to allow executing of the user's code. This is fraught with security issues, and
	brings up a number of UI and API considerations. Compiling code every time to execute with different params
	seems wasteful, so caching seems good; but in a multi-instance setup a shared cache woudl be needed. Perhaps
	a backend system that caches the executables (and makes them downloadable; at least for some compilers where
	license allows), and stores the binaries in ephemeral, shared storage. This same backend system could also
	be used to store code, and could be part of a whole new way of sending and sharing code (if made permanent
	storage).

	### Support more compilers

	Most of the open tickets are to do with adding new compilers, or fixing issues with existing compilers.
	Continuing to add more compilers and make it easier for others to submit PRs to add new compilers is
	very important.

	## Tensions

	There's an inherent tension between the standalone, run-it-yourself version of CE and the scalable, AWS-backed
	CE instance. Care must be taken to keep the standalone version usable, not least as the majority of CE's
	development is done on a laptop during a commute (with little or no internet access).

	## Priorities

	Above all, the priority is to keep the main CE site up, stable and dependable. After that, features are
	added honestly in the order that is most useful and interesting to the primary developer (Matt Godbolt).

	## Non-goals

	CE will remain ad-free, open-source and non-commercial. There's no plans at all to add "freemium" content.

	## 2017 goals

	With all this in mind, the tentative goals for 2017 are:

	* Move to the Monaco editor
	* Implement diff view
	* Come up with a decent secure solution for code execution
	* Design an API that can handle remote code execution and download needs
	* Implement remote execution UIs

	These goals will be refined as time ticks on.