[comp.windows.ms.programmer] Syntax Checker -- programmers environment

gt3070b@prism.gatech.EDU (Jeff Watkins) (01/27/91)

Well,
	I consider myself rather prolific.  In the last few
days I have patched a parser generator to produce a windows
parser.  I have wrapped a shell around it that is merely 
temporary.

	What I have uploaded to cica is a Microsoft windows 
c syntax checker.  It does not work very well.  It requires 
that the file be preprocessed.  It does not do anything with 
the symbol table that it generates.  It will only run once.  
Multiple instances are okay.  If you try to check a second 
file, it UAE's.  It also UAE's in the middle of long files.  
These are all known bugs.  Report them anyway, but I do know 
about most of them.

	What I am asking for...
	Please look at this.  Sit back, have an instance of 
your favorite recreational beverage, and send me your ideas.  
What I am looking for is ideas for what should be in the 
browser, what the checker should do, how they should 
interface, etc.

	A little history of this project.  My room-mate and
I are smalltalkers.  Currently I am employed to write 
windows code for Lotus (used to be Samna...) as a CO-OP 
student.  As part of trying to learn the layout of the Ami 
Pro code, I wished for a browser like is featured in 
Smalltalk.  We started talking, my room-mate and I, and came 
up with a browser for c code under windows.
	In order to get the code into the browser, it must be 
imported.  The import process will be done by future versions 
of C-Fast (Is this name taken?  It is the file name of the 
particular C grammar I used).  The managing scheme will be 
done by the browser.  I am planning to build a symbol table and 
then store it to disk.  In the process, the imported file gets 
a syntax check run over it (`cus we don't want bad code in the 
browser).
	Code can be written in side the browser.  This code 
does not reside in standard c text files.  The browser will 
implement incremental compilation.  If a section of code has 
not changed in some time, it will syntax check it, and then pass 
it to the c compiler of your choice (mine is zortech).  All 
without you ever touching anything.
	The editing features of the browser include 
hot-links within your code.  Basically if you select a word 
that happens to be a variable. You can open another browser 
for this variable: you can find all the routines that use 
this variable -- not routines that have variables of the same 
name, but THIS variable.  Or if the variable is of a structure 
type, you can browse on the structure.

So, I hope you will play with this pitiful example program 
and let me know what you think.

ciao
jeff

-- 
Jeff Watkins                       jwatkins@cadsun7.gatech.edu
Convergent Media Systems           (404) 315-0105 voice  (404) 315-0231 data
"I speak for no-one. AND NO-ONE SPEAKS FOR ME... oh, yes, _dear_...gotta go..."