Re: Java IDEs *Le sigh*
"Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> wrote in message
news:44575752$0$654$bed64819@news.gradwell.net...
Oliver Wong wrote:
Are you thinking of "Run configurations"? You get to specify the
command line arguments passed to your program and the JVM in those
things, as well as the "working directory", which JRE to use, the
classpath, and environment variables. It's a pretty natural and useful
concept to me.
Not to me. Consider:
What you post next are all very valid complaints and feature ideas. Have
you considered submitting these as RFEs to the Eclipse team?
Why should I have to define one of these things at all ? Why can't I just
right click on main() and say "run this" or "debug this" ?
I believe you *can* do that (except you'd click on the file rather than
the main method itself). There is a side effect of a run configuration
automatically being created for you. I imagine there might be a slight
problem if you wish to start execution at a given entry point, and more than
one run configuration is defined on that entry point. Eclipse could then
prompt you for which one you wanted, or it could by default always run using
a "blank" run configuration point when you clicked on a method to execute
it, and only use your configurations when you explicitly select them.
Come to that, why am I restricted to running main() ? There's no logical
or
technical reason I shouldn't be able to start execution at any static
method
(perhaps restricted to ones with simple argument types -- like String[]).
Or start execution by invoking some constructor, as I heard BlueJ does.
Perhaps the run configuration could even accept arbitrary code to execute
within a static context.
I'm not saying that the ability to save such a configuration (with
"advanced"
options about VM configuration, etc) wouldn't be useful. But only /as/ an
advanced option.
Why are breakpoints etc, not associated with a "Run configuration" ? If
that's
a good name for the concept, then I'd definitely expect each configuration
to
have its own breakpoints (depending on what I'm interested in).
Agreed, and it'd be nice if you could easily share these breakpoints/run
configurations, so as to help pinpoint a bug in a colleague's code.
Why do I have to clean the blasted things up ? Shouldn't they be
associated
with a project or something ? In my current Eclipse session I have 10 run
configurations, and only two refer to any currently open project. Indeed
most
of the zombies refer to code which is no longer in Eclipse at all.
Another good idea.
[...]
I suggest that it is not that Eclipse has been designed for
people who think like you, but that you have used Eclipse for long enough
to
have internalised the impoverished "abstractions" that it offers, and no
longer
see the deficiencies therein.
You're probably right.
- Oliver