RE: [FR-devel] Thoughts on FR (editing, code-assist, refactoring)

[Curt Hibbs]

Hal E. Fulton wrote:
>
> Rich,
>
> My power supply on my Linux box died... so
> I currently can't get at my code.
>
> But I've been thinking further about this.
>
> I'll fwd to the list also to get others'
> ideas.
>
> It seems to me that the Scintilla interface is
> rich and powerful, but not necessarily intuitive
> or Rubylike (or even OO).
>
> What I'm thinking of is a class that will serve
> as an additional layer of abstraction above the
> Scintilla interface -- call it FRedit for now,
> in the absence of a cool name.
>
> The advantages of this would be:
> 1. A more Rubylike OO interface
> 2. Independence from Scintilla API (for the time
>    when other editors are pluggable)
>
> I know this seems like "wrapping a wrapper" -- but
> I think it's worthwhile. Only downside might be
> degraded performance. (An alternative might be to
> change scintilla.iface, but those changes might be
> really massive.)

I think this is a very good idea. Especially if it presented a higher-level
interface than scintilla's -- one that is more oriented towards high-level
editing/code-assist/refactoring operations. This would be even more
attractive if/when we someone makes an Aeditor plugin that can act as an
alternative/replacement for scintilla.

> Then on top of that, I'm (tentatively) thinking of
> a class that would offer access to FRedit (through
> delegation) and likewise to the parser. (If we're
> going to do refactoring or even code-assist
> operations, we often need access to the parser as
> well as the editor.) Advantages are:
>
> 1. Parser also (hopefully) becomes pluggable
> 2. Class can save state from parser and editor so
>    that they play well together
> 3. A single unified class can be used for macros/
>    scripting, code assist, and refactoring.
>
> What are your thoughts here (and others')? Am I
> off-base in some way?

I think you are right on track. I look forward to hearing more details as
your plans progress.

Curt