From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,15890893c0618a8a X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) Subject: Re: [Q] Tools for Ada Quality and Style Date: 1996/05/02 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 152573969 references: <9604301327.AA12571@eight-ball> <4m860r$2c5@rational.rational.com> organization: Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-05-02T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Bob said "I'm a little surprised, Robert, that you don't prefer the tool approach". I type very fast, anything that inteferes with my typing I consider a menace that slows me down. Note that my critical point here is that different people have different ways of working. One of the nice things about an open environment like GNAT is that you choose the set of tools you want according to your own taste. Some people like everything done for them, other people like nothing done for them. No one has to reformat my code -- it is ALWAYS formatted right in the first place, my fingers just don't know how to type unformatted code. Indeed I could never think I had "finished a device driver" if the code was not properly formatted. As I mentioned before, most pretty printers do not handle comments well (how could they, comment layout has an aesthetic that is beyond simple minded tools), so I don't like depending on them. Discussions about what approach or tools to use are useful only to the extent of informing people that various options exist. Arguments that say one approach is better than another when it comes to trivial issues like what editor to use seem fruitless to me. The only requirement I have is that the system I have not impose on me. I use EPM has my editor, and I find it fine, with one exception. On the rare exeptions that I type a bit of C, EPM gets enthusiastic and automatically inserts idiotic templates. No doubt there is a way to suppress this, but I type C so rarely I have not bothered to find out. Similarly I find it intolerable to have on the fly syntax checking in an editor. But that doesn't mean I think it is a bad thng to have such capability around -- some people find it useful. Just so long as I can turn it off! I realize that some people like integrated systems where everything is decided for you, but you do give up something for this. THe ability to pick and choose your tools can be a very valuable capability in a rich environment where there are many tools to choose from.