From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Jan 29 16:39:27 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id QAA28050 for hackers-outgoing; Mon, 29 Jan 1996 16:39:27 -0800 (PST) Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with ESMTP id QAA28039 for ; Mon, 29 Jan 1996 16:39:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from msmith@localhost by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.6.12/8.6.9) id LAA12325; Tue, 30 Jan 1996 11:20:38 +1030 From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199601300050.LAA12325@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: compilers To: terry@lambert.org (Terry Lambert) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 11:20:37 +1030 (CST) Cc: rnordier@iafrica.com, pblonde@agrium.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <199601292122.OAA04545@phaeton.artisoft.com> from "Terry Lambert" at Jan 29, 96 02:22:21 pm MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk Terry Lambert stands accused of saying: > In the other hand, the pointer-timeout in the MS debugger is sexy. You > put the point on a variable in the cose window, wait a second, and it > displays the value of that variable. ddd (and less intuitively) gdb do this. > The ability to click on a compiler error for a multifile project and have > it pull up an editor with the curs at the offending location in the > correct source file is also nice. Emacs' compile mode does this. > The ability to "auto-generate" makefiles with all dependencies is nice. > Many programmers (all right, not me) don't want to know what the Makefile > syntax is; they just want it to work. The BSD makefile templates take care of much of this. > The application builder is nice. It would require the adoption of a > standard GUI library to make it work in BSD, but it may be worth it. Indeed. Or for one of the Tk GUI designers to actually work 8) > The ability to click on functions and manifest constants, etc., and > go between their references and their declaration is nice. The same > for displaying the value for manifest constants. Many of the emacs language modes do this, IIRC. > The man page interface is so-so -- I prefer DEC's LSE for that. 8-). Not to mention the expanding program templates. I'm homesick already 8) > An IDE means that a programmer doesn't have to know a lot of the details > of the platform before they can start coding and end up with things that > run. This is, I think, an overriding benefit. Er, no. An IDE means all the tools that the programmer uses to produce the end product are hung off the same set of menus. Lucid/Xemacs was developed heading in this direction. Whilst some of the tools that would be required are decidedly nontrivial, it _is_ the logical starting point. (And a great discouragement for anyone not familiar with lisp 8( ) > Terry Lambert -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] "wherever you go, there you are" - Buckaroo Banzai [[