More than one compiler

[Manuel Flamerich]

I'm trying to add support for java in KDevelop, so I added the "Java" tab
to avoid editing in the "Header/Resource" tab. I liked the proposal of an
independent KJDevelop, but I really don't know how to start such thing.
I'm a newbie in KDevelop and KDE, but I have a lot of experience in Java.
I'm using KDevelop as a Java IDE because I really hate any other Java IDE I
tried (and I tried a lot of them). I just want a very good source code
editor, integrated with CVS, etc, but not necessarily a visual bean builder.

I want an opinion about the best way to handle the java support:
 - hacking KDevelop, or
 - try to make a KJDevelop based on KDevelop code.


At 11:03 AM 7/23/99 +0300, you wrote:
>
>Well, KDevelop can be used for developing Java apps, if you create a "custom
>project" from the wizard and hack a little bit the ".kdevprj" file.
>You may use mmake (www.tildeslash.com/mmake/) to generate makefile for java
>projects.
>However, the support for java projects in KDevelop is poor, that is, .java
>files are viewed in "Header/Resource" tab (I think they should go to
>"C/C++"("/Java") tab), there is no classview, no java documentation support.
>You can only edit your java files, compile them via mmake generated makefile,
>and run your java app. using a shell script.
>
>Two weeks ago I tried to add Java support to KDevelop and after hacking
>application wizard I realised that the job is not trivial at all. Though java
>syntax is very close to the C/C++ syntax, there are a lot of differences:
>- packages: java projects make intensive use of packages, while C++ namespaces
>are rarely used
>- nested & anonymous classes: very common in java (adapters & listeners in
>delegation model), but no anonymous classes support in C++
>- interfaces: very common in java, not found in C++
>- there are no header files for java. Declarations and definitions of java
>methods are the same
>- access qualifiers for class members are member-oriented in Java, and not
>section-oriented, as in C++
>etc,
>All these differeces may have a big impact on a Java IDE look'n'feel. That's
>why maybe it would be easier to create an independent java IDE (KJDevelop :-))
>based on KDevelop code and at some moment in future (when both of them will
>reach some maturity) join the both IDEs in what would be called "KDevelop
>Studio".
>I would like to develop such an IDE, but ONLY if there are enough requests for
>it, and if some (KDE) programmers will join me. I have a lot of experience
>(2.5+ years) with java (since jdk 1.0.2) and C/C++, but not much experince
with
>KDE.
>
>Catalin.
>
>> > >Hi all. The new version 0.4 of Kdevelop is great.
>> > >Is there a posibility to be supported more compilers (Pascal, Java e.t.)
>> in
>> > >KDevelop so it will become to "KDevelop Studio" :-)
>> 
>> Well, the basics of this are trivial, because KWrite already supports syntax
>> highlighting for many other languages and just plugging in an outside
>> compiler wouldn't be difficult at all.  I'm not familiar with Java
>> makefiles, but I don't think even they would be too bad.  HOWEVER, all of
>> the class browser stuff would need some work to parse Java files.  Still,
>> there might be enough free stuff out there (does Kaffe have a javadoc tool?
>> That should include a very simple Java parser), that I think it will surely
>> happen someday.  I think that most people are pretty tied up on other parts,
>> e.g. bugfixing, CVS integration, function database, intellisense, etc.  If a
>> Java expert were to join the project, this could happen in no time at all.
>> Until then, you can take a look at Freebuilder (www.freebuilder.org).  They
>> got off to a good start, but the last version I saw didn't have a class
>> browser.  And of course, Swing on Linux tends to be pretty memory hungry.  I
>> also haven't seen an update in ages, so I don't know how active it is.
>> Pascal is probably a little trickier, as it doesn't have Java's C-like
>> structure.
>> Good luck!
>> --JZ