kent@lloyd.camex.uucp (Kent Borg) (11/03/88)
In article <1151@usfvax2.EDU> pollock@usfvax2.UUCP (Wayne Pollock) writes: >Below is a LSP program (re-pretty-printed to save screen space; why oh why >can't I turn this option off?). ... Because it is not an `option'. Rich explained this a while back. What I remember: One of the reasons LSP has such a fast turn around is that when you say `Compile' a lot of (all of?) the parsing of your program is already done, it happened when you typed the `;' for that line. The compiler is storing your program in some tight, tokenized, internal form. This has the natural side effect striping out formatting information that the compiler has no use for. Remember back when you were playing around with interpreted BASIC? You typed in `print' (or `?') but the listing said `PRINT'. Similar effect. Certainly the pretty printing could be avoided without loosing the fast turn around and source code debugging LSP does so very well, but I can see how these changes would be far from trivial and not without cost in time and space. That coupled with idea that pretty-printing might be a _feature_ helps explain why it is the way it is. LSP 2.0 is supposed to allow the user lots of opportunity to twiddle the pretty printing parameters--but it is still part of the product. Personally, though I like the pretty printing, I do have some gripes: It will sometimes `kidnap' an end statement from old code when I am adding new code, leaving me unbalanced (more than usual I mean). In this case it is looking at my work too soon. On the other side it is sometimes hard to get it to reconsider a line once I have fixed a typo. This was a particular problem for a class I recently taught at the Boston Computer Society where LSP was used for examples. Students would have a perfectly fine Pascal statement sitting on the screen, but the editor was still upset over an earlier typo. In this case it is looking at our work too late. This incremental stuff is complicated, and when I think about it, I am impressed with how gracefully they do it. Further consideration for all you grumblers: LSP is great and there are ways they could make it still better. Getting rid of the pretty printing will not be trivial. Do you really want them to take time away from making substantial improvements just to fix this? Wouldn't you rather get inline assembly code, or something else that actually adds power to the product? If so, say so, and don't complain so much. (Personal LSP request: Editor support of arrow keys, option arrow keys, command arrow keys, shift option arrow keys, etc.) Kent Borg kent@lloyd.uucp or hscfvax!lloyd!kent
singer@endor.harvard.edu (Rich Siegel) (11/05/88)
In article <244@lloyd.camex.uucp> kent@lloyd.UUCP (Kent Borg) writes: >(Personal LSP request: Editor support of arrow keys, option arrow >keys, command arrow keys, shift option arrow keys, etc.) Consider this: In version 2.0 Arrow keys move as you expect. Option-Left and and Option-Right arrow move t oprevious and next semantic unit (a token, that is). Option-Up and Option-Down move to the previous or next procedure/function. Command-Left and Command-Right arrow move to beginning/end of current line, Command-Up and Command-Down arrow move to top/bottom of window. Command-Mouse Down in the title bar gives a list (in order of implementation) of all procedures in the file. Command-Option mouse down gives the same, sorted alphabetically. Selecting an item takes you to the beginning of that prorcedure. Option-Mouse gives a listing of units USED by the current file, and choosing an item opens the source file that contains the unit. --Rich Rich Siegel Staff Software Developer THINK Technologies Division, Symantec Corp. Internet: singer@endor.harvard.edu UUCP: ..harvard!endor!singer Phone: (617) 275-4800 x305 Any opinions stated in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Symantec Corporation or its employees.
pollock@usfvax2.EDU (Wayne Pollock) (11/12/88)
The fact that the code is stored in some tokenized form is of course why
you can't turn off the pretty printing *all of the time*. What I want, some-
thing like a "hard return" (say, command-return) to always break a line could
fairly easily be added in without a lot of hard work. Even just a wrap-around
margin at column 80 would make me happy - horizontal scrolling is for the
birds! (I wanna see my program!) Also some way of joining two lines into
one should be available (for those "end else statement" lines); Given the
limited screen space available (yes someday I will buy a 19" monitor), I want:
a) to see the whole program without any horizontal scrolling, and
b) to see as much of my program as possible in one screen (e.g., don't put
else and end on separate lines).
And as you say, LSP is truly a great product at a very good price; I suppose
I should be happy enough - its just that I want it ALL!!!
Wayne Pollock (The MAD Scientist) pollock@usfvax2.usf.edu
Usenet: ...!{uflorida, codas}!usfvax2!pollock
GEnie: W.POLLOCK