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From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: syntax completion - a bad thing?
Date: 1997/02/08
Message-ID: <dewar.855461813@merv>#1/1
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references: <32F91629.5F9@vsl.com.au> <dewar.855234467@merv>
 <32fa1450.32791176@news.logica.co.uk>
organization: New York University
newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.os.vxworks
Date: 1997-02-08T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


Steve said

<<Ahh! But the problem occurs with the EDITOR. Apex is a development
environment (editor, config control, &c) - When you are using the
editor, you get syntax completion (unless you turn it off). I have
used Apex (and the earlier Rational 'delta' boxes) and encountered
bugs resulting from erroneous code completion - usually an 'end if' in
the wrong place. The editor seems to look for a blank line sometimes
(presumably when indentation does not help) and puts the end if there.
IMO completion is helpful if you force it after keywords to get a
template IF you are writing a new subprogram. On existing code it is
more trouble than it is worth. My approach was to use vi on existing
code and the Rational editor to create new stuff.>>

Ah, sure, yes the Rational EDITOR does like to molest source as you
enter it. A lot of programmers like this and find it useful, and as
you point out it is an option you can turn off. Personally I hate
editors that do *anything at all* to the text I am entering, I don't
even like the Ada mode in EMACS, and I think that editors that produce
"useful" templates (like the default mode of EPM on OS/2 editing a C
file, or DEC's LSE) are a menace.

But this is a place where tastes differ VERY widely, and the important
thing is that these kind of features should be configurable in your
environment. And indeed using vi seems a quite reassonable "work around".