GNU Info

(emacs-lisp-intro.info)Divide and Conquer

---

Next: Words and Symbols Prev: Words in a defun Up: Words in a defun

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Divide and Conquer
==================

   Described in one phrase, the histogram project is daunting; but
divided into numerous small steps, each of which we can take one at a
time, the project becomes less fearsome.  Let us consider what the
steps must be:

   * First, write a function to count the words in one definition.  This
     includes the problem of handling symbols as well as words.

   * Second, write a function to list the numbers of words in each
     function in a file.  This function can use the
     `count-words-in-defun' function.

   * Third, write a function to list the numbers of words in each
     function in each of several files.  This entails automatically
     finding the various files, switching to them, and counting the
     words in the definitions within them.

   * Fourth, write a function to convert the list of numbers that we
     created in step three to a form that will be suitable for printing
     as a graph.

   * Fifth, write a function to print the results as a graph.

   This is quite a project!  But if we take each step slowly, it will
not be difficult.