lrs@esl.esl.com (Lynn Slater) (02/14/89)
> Poking around a friend's NeXT machine, I couldn't find the source for > the emacs, gcc and gdb that were present. You are not any more blind than I am. I expect to ask Next for all these sources and to send them the media on which to copy them. This will be a good test of their respect for the gnu copylefts. -*- On supporting gnu better on the next: Wish list/call for suggestions Emacs: Objective C minor mode of C mode Next error regular expression to recognize Objective C errors The gnu emacs/gdb interface seems to work well; Next seemed surprized May want to try a speaker/listener between independent gdb and emacs processes so that emacs will scroll and display whatever gdb is doing, even if gdb is in another window. PSwrap mode Postscript mode (A really nice mode would know the number of operands needed for every postscript operator and would match beginning and end of expressions like lisp matches parens.) Better auto-mode-alists for all these new standard file suffixes. Lookup (ala the "man" command) of next document libraries. Search/lookup of method names and declarations/implimentions. Maybe enhance "tags" for objective C declarations. Slight change to find-tag command for objective C syntax. NextStep Application features: Allow gnu to be the target of a command cell (MMI item) action. Have gnu ask the cell for some sort of textual tag and use that tag as a lisp expression to execute. This would allow people to use the interface builder to make menus for emacs. Have gnu lisp types that hold or translate into nextstep object id's Allow gnu to have "outlets" that issue commands to other next objects. Running gnu emacs not from a terminal emulator: Would require efficient postscript paint/scroll code. The text object may be unacceptable because it keeps its own text store; gnu emacs does this very well already. Also, text objects would not allow for two windows editing a common buffer and updateing each other. Would be easiest to impliment if Next made available certain portions of the text object or terminal emulator paint/scroll code. There seems to be many implicite requirements of being a good textual object in Next; I would hate to have to find them one by one by trail and error. Features that could result: scrollbars resizing mouse support Next menus for completions; replace try-completion code so that the next menus are used for file names, M-x commands, and all other completions. Next does this for file names, maybe they can make this capability generalized and available to all. I suspect that the multi-window changes being inserted by R. Stallman for X11 in release 19 will help make a multi-window next support package. Attempt to make gnu emacs "run native" on the next window system should probably await release 19. Make: I wish that next would switch to gnu make rather than the old and painfull unix make. Maybe they can do this before the 1.0 release. GDB: Would be nice to make gdb a nextstep application with menus, windows, pictures of the stack, etc. Interface to independent emacs via speaker/listener. This would let folks use their favorate editor to change the code on the fly rather than just seeing the code on the GDB screen. -*- The above was a quick and dirty core dump of immediate ideas for gnu and the next. I am hoping that somebody will just send code for all the above but realize that this hope is not realistic at this time. Alternatively, I am looking for comments/suggestions, code fragments, developer reviews, and volunteers/interested parties. I may be doing some of the above but have limited time and limited access to a Next machine. I hope that others will join this effort with the goal that Emacs and other gnu products will become good and friendly citizens of the Next environment and be viable alternatives even for those new users who will be accustomed to standard NextStep applications. =============================================================== Lynn Slater -- lrs@esl.com ESL/TRW 495 Java Drive, Box 3510, Sunnyvale, Ca 94088-3510 Office (408) 738-2888 x 4482; Home (415) 796-4149 ===============================================================