[M3devel] merits/demerits of cm3ide

[Olaf Wagner]

Well, some people have used Reactor/cm3ide and liked it. There have been
several requests for it in recent years.

It's certainly no match for a large IDE framework like Eclipse, but
it's the only GUI for the compiler we have.

As for it not being an IDE, I do not really agree; it should already
integrate compiling, shipping, source viewing, searching, pretty
printing. And it integrates on the level of language elements likes
types, interfaces etc.

We should also be able to integrate a debugger (at least m3gdb); this
has been done to gdb with other GUIs, too.

I'd also like to see an M3 plugin for Eclipse, but nobody seems to
be working on that. I myself am still happy with my XEmacs editor
whenever I actually get to browse or write code ;-)

So just view it as an offer and keep not using it if you don't like
it. There are so many things that need work in the cm3 system that
work won't get short during the next years.

Olaf

Quoting Jay K <jay.krell at cornell.edu>:

>   > cm3ide
>   > more later
>
> Being at the mercy of the rapidly changing web browsers is a very   
> sharp double edged sword.
>
> An IDE with no editor and no debugger..is not an IDE.
> Maybe it is a source browser.
>
> Maybe an IDE is not worth it.
>
>   People are very slow to change editors.
>
>   Debuggers are hard to write.
>
> Probably better to try integrating with an actual IDE like   
> VisualStudio or Eclipse.
>
>  Or to have a decent enough language, library, build system, that   
> the language doesn't
> need such costly support. Maybe we do have such a think.
>
> Hyperlinking the source is nice, but all I need is "find in files".
> I can open the documentation from a file system browser, which
> open it in a web browser. I should just be able to use online
> documentation anyway, not local stuff.
>
> Having the real compiler output enough information
> such that writing other lanugage-aware tools, such
> as hyperlinked source generation, is also good.
> Too many systems have their IDE write another parser,
> and no two parsers agree. However it is a tough problem,
> because the compiler's job is different than a source
> browser. For example, a compiler must reject incorrect
> source, but a source browser should be lenient.
>
> Relying on the browser is a cheap way to get a somewhat
> decent somewhat portable very limited gui.
> That's about it.
>
> I don't think it is fixable.
> It's just pretty much all wierd and wrong.
>
> I was quite shocked the first time I used it, having
> heard it described as an IDE.
-- 
Olaf Wagner -- elego Software Solutions GmbH
                Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25 / Gebäude 12, 13355 Berlin, Germany
phone: +49 30 23 45 86 96  mobile: +49 177 2345 869  fax: +49 30 23 45 86 95
    http://www.elegosoft.com | Geschäftsführer: Olaf Wagner | Sitz: Berlin
Handelregister: Amtsgericht Charlottenburg HRB 77719 | USt-IdNr: DE163214194