Re: "is ada dead?" A challenge for all of us?

["McDoobie" <chris@dont.spam.me>]

In article <dKZ27.26879$B56.4674508@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com>,
"chris.danx" <chris.danx@ntlworld.com> wrote:


> Could you define State Of The Art IDE for me please?
> 
> 
> A while back I had the idea for an IDE that could handle different
> compilers, and didn't need things on the PATH.  Anyway, I didn't get
> very far, but recently I've been looking at the idea again, possibly
> using GWindows, and I'm looking for ideas.
> 
> I was thinking of an IDE for Windows with some of the following
> 
> - Syntax Highlighting
> - Project Management facilities
> - Code Completion (good for long package structures like x.y.a.b.c ?)
> - Possibility an Object browser
> - Ada Aware
> - Non Specific Compiler support
> - and others
> 
> What other features would you like to see?  What features would you not
> like to see?
> 
> I would be willing to contribute time to this since my current project
> isn't anywhere near the coding stage (not that coding of an IDE would
> start straight off: DESIGN COMES FIRST), but I have a large gap in my
> time to fill (until october) and would be genuinly interested in a SotA
> IDE for Ada 95.  Development wouldn't stop after october, just slow down
> a little (if i was the only developer!).
> 
> I would hope the project to be open source, possibly under the GPL or X
> something or other licenses.
> 
> Regards, Chris Campbell
> 

I would find an interface similar to Forte to be appealing. However, a 
couple important features would be extensive hotkey support (aka LyX), 
and customization of the look and feel.  I'm pretty open on what and how
many features it contains, as long as each "feature" has a real reason for
being there. It obviously should have plugins for working with an external
debugger(GVD anyone?), and the LRM and Annexes in a Help dialogue that's
easy to get to.

Anyways, that's kinda what I like to see.

Dont mind these guys that are busting your chops about Emacs.  If that's
what they like, then nothings stopping them from using it.  I certainly 
see the value in having an Emacs Ada-mode, and I beleive it should be 
supported by those who use Emacs to write Ada code. But sometimes Emacs 
(and vi) people can start to sound like a bunch of Jehovas Witnesses.
(JWs please dont take that remark personally.)

  I currently like to fiddle around with Grasp. It's currently my second 
favorite editor. My most fav is vi.

Dont know if this helps.

McDoobie
chris@dont.spam.me