Re: Smart textual editors

> > I was looking for smart textual editors. By smart, I mean editors
> > which might be doing data flow analysis and such things even while the
> > editing is in progress so that they can point out the errors to the
> > programmer. (e.g. if certain part of the code is unreachable, then it
> > might give hints to the programmer etc.)


Jacob Navia wrote:
> Having implemented a syntax analyzing editor, I think the editor you want
> is out of the question for the foreseeable future (2-3 years...).


> This simple analysis is very difficult to do in real time: If you happen
> to type a '/' just before a '*' all the text until the end of the file
> will be a comment, and has to be changed (redrawn). The editor has to
> scan each character you type looking for 'interesting' ones, like '/', to
> avoid rescaning the whole file at each character typed.


Given the performance of modern machines, I don't think it would be a true
problem to have a parser going through the entire source when the system is
idle, and which simply does not analyze any further if a syntax error is
found (in which case it might even display a non-intrusive message at the
bottom of the screen). The analysis would be interruptable. If the user
presses a key, the analysis is cancelled, and started again later.


If the language is reasonably easy to analyze (I guess that C and C++'s
preprocessor would make the taks quite more difficuly) I believe - without
formal evidence, though - that this kind of brute force approach could be
applied successfully.


We have a Modula-2 oriented editor with a syntax checker that analyzes over
3000 lines per second on a pentium, and it was not even remotely optimized.
I agree that semantical analysis might prove much more difficuly, but my
experience would make me believe that it is perfectly feasible.


In my opinion, of course...


Regards,


darius
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