Thread: What features do you want in an IDE?
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Unread 19-04-2007, 23:43
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Re: What features do you want in an IDE?
Thank you for the suggestions, from the Eclipse people as well (that is, me). Truthfully, I'd beg for this kind of input.

I can say that, at least for Eclipse, many of the features won't happen. Especially things dealing with other plugins and core functionality. (Do you really want to commit when it builds every time you save? That's a lot of committed syntax errors.)

Things that won't change in Eclipse (too much work and a maintainence hassle):
  • the UI. But it's already docked (nothing floats)
  • "FireFox-style find" -- Too much change in core functions (We couldn't use the Eclipse update sites anymore.)

Most of the other stuff is doable, given enough support to convince me to do so. So here's what will change:
  • The CDT will need to be heavily modified to work at the level wanted. Already slated for modification to handle additional keywords. We'll see
  • Distribute a C formatter to plug into the CDT
  • Assuming we can get licenses to work out, the code conveniences mentioned (Note to Kevin Watson and WPILib authors: Be generous, please!!!)
  • Auto-managing projects
  • Loader (probably based on JIFI), including the associated buttons

If anyone wants an idea how this may work with the features of CDT build manager, I will freely distribute our code as an Eclipse project. (It has multiple build profiles depending on how much of Kevin's code you want to include.)

Down the road, I may include some "code manager/generator" functionality. Things like terminal menu generators, joystick mappers, interrupt routines, etc. (Again, a lot of this may depend on how much I can get Kevin Watson on board.)

As far as switching between IFI/WPILib, there's such a fundemental API change that it just doesn't make sense to have the same project do both. But having them both as base project templates makes sense. (Write to IFI, WPI, and Kevin Watson: back these IDE projects!)

Shameless plug. Here's what's already there:
  • Smart syntax handling: coloring, auto indent, etc. (not formatting, though
  • Finding definitions/declarations (except in the definitions of macros, which I think is odd...)
  • Autocomplete (At least for Java, I'd have to double-check C) (Intellisense is just preselecting the item you last used)
  • Built-in CVS client and Subversion plugin available (included in one of my distributions)
  • Refactoring
  • Multiple projects (in multiple languages)
  • Platform independence (although the same package won't run on multiple platforms due to platform-specific code)

Also, I could use volunteers to write parts of this.

And again, many thanks for the input!