IDE support for Scala scripting - scala

I plan to try some exploratory programming with Scala, e.g. loading some scala source files and call the functions defined in these source files interactively, maybe doing some plotting in the between.
I want to keep a scripting source file, and occasionally send some lines in it to the scala console using a short-cut such as Ctrl+Enter.
Which IDE supports scripting well?

The Scala plugin for Eclipse offers two different interpreters. One is the standard REPL, simply integrated within the IDE, the other one is the Run Selection Interpreter which may be very handy for the kind of experimentation you'd like to do, give it a try.

The Scala plugin for eclipse is the best out there .
http://www.scala-ide.org/
With the Run Selection Interpreter you can achieve what you want :
An expression can be executed in the interpreter by selecting text in
any Scala editor and either selecting the toolbar button (see
screenshot) or by using the Ctrl+Shift+X key combination (Cmd+Shift+X
on the Mac). The key combination can be changed by going to Keys ->
Preferences and changing the binding for the command "Send Selection
to Scala Interpreter"

In latest version of scala plugin for IntellJ Idea 11 (Nika EAP) scala console works much better. Read more in plugin blog http://blog.jetbrains.com/scala/2011/10/19/scala-language-console-nika-builds/

you can try Slate while I am still heavily developing. Although, for basic scripting, you can probably do command line as well. Almost all IDEs support integration with the interpreter btw.

It is obligatory to mention emacs here. Can emacs do _? Yes, emacs can do that!
In all seriousness, though, you might want to google around for "scala mode emacs" and see what you can find.

Related

How to setup a new language IDE

At work we are using a proprietary language and to program we are using Notepad++ with a simple code highlight. That is really annoying so, what I want to do is to invest some time to setup a text editor or an existing IDE to support my language.
I've googled a lot and there are so many options and before starting to work I wanna ask to you what is the best choice.
What I want to do is to have, like an IDE, a syntax highlight, a window with the function list tree, with the local function variables inside the same subtree, maybe text autocomplete (if I type "pro" I would like to see the suggestion "procedure" and if I press enter it will write for me something like
procedure "name" {
--code--
}
with the cursor on "name" ready to change it.
etc etc...
Can you suggest me the right path to follow?
Is it to keep using Notepad++? With sourcecookifier? functionlist?
Or I have to change to another text editor?
Or there is some famous IDE like Eclipse, NetBeans etc that allow to easily add my own language?
PS. my language is pretty simple, I don't have complex structures, is Pascal-like. Something like that:
variable int xyz
PROCEDURE asd
BEGIN
END PROCEDURE asd
I would recommend you to stay with Notepad++ and extend it with some plugins and configuration. This would be fairly quick and easy to set up and still give a big win, even though you might not be able to get all the nice features of something like Eclipse. But since you already know the Notepad++ it wouldn't require learning an entirely new tool.
Some plugins that I have found useful
Function List
Light Explorer
XBrackets Lite
There are probably a lot more that can be useful to you.
Notepad++ also got some built in auto-completion functionality that can be enabled in the settings.
Have you evaluated Eclipse XTEXT ?
What is Xtext?
Xtext is a framework for development of programming languages and domain specific languages.
The only IDE I have used for the last few years is Eclipse. There are lots of other IDEs available, also notable and popular is Netbeans. There are many others. It's important to note that all IDEs have their fans, but I can only speak to Eclipse.
Eclipse is a platform, which means it is an application on which you can build other applications. Eclipse provides a framework which you can customize and extend to produce a working application. It takes care of the user interface, preferences storage, modularisation using OSGi, and lots of other things.
Eclipse has facilities to support what you're looking for:
Syntax highlighting in the editor.
The Outline View provides function and variable listing in a tree
Autocompletion and Suggestions (activated by hitting ctrl-space)
Code Templates to fill out files and procedures etc.
The disadvantage is that customising and extending Eclipse to do what you want isn't trivial. Having written a language debugger for Eclipse, I can tell you that leveraging Eclipse's platform helped enormously, but there's a learning curve. You'd essentially have to be coming up with a new set of plugins to provide your highlighting, outlining, autocomplete suggestions and templates (I'm not sure if template support is built into the platform or not).
So I would say, unless you can find some sort of extensible editor for Eclipse - I know Aptana is extensible for tag-based markup - you are probably as well staying with your existing tooling.
Do explore the other IDEs though - I've heard good things about IDEA as well as Netbeans. :)
Good luck!
I can recommend SynWrite editor. Good support for external languages, fully customizable. (Editor of new lexers is there)

Is there any text editor for Mac that can be configured to have, or already has, autocomplete for Lua?

I know TextWrangler shows the option, but it doesn't actually do anything. So what I want is autocomplete, either with a key combination, or while I type.
Syntax coloring/highlighting is a requirement as well, though I know Xcode and TextWrangler have that.
You might want to use Lua Development Tools for this purpose. It has syntax coloring, plus it is doing smart autocomplete, depending on what your actual context is (required modules, ...)
It is an Eclipse Technology project, and it is Open Source! (EPL license).
Project web page - http://www.eclipse.org/koneki/ldt
Installation via Eclipse Marketplace - http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/lua-development-tools-koneki
I don't know if you have seen this page, but it seems a good place to start:
http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaEditorSupport
If I search for "completion" I get:
Decoda (Win)
LuaEdit (Win)
DForD (Win)
NsEditor (Win)
Visual Studio + LuaLite
Eclipse + LuaEclipse or LunarEclipse (java)
I personally use Vim + SuperTab (which only auto-fills with things that you have previously written).
There's a nice plugin for IntelliJ IDEA for Lua. IntelliJ IDEA is really nice, though kind of biggish.
Aside of that there is also TextAdept which is a lot smaller, and 100% configurable in Lua.
And probably a bunch of others.
If you want full (semantic) autocompletion, you should try lua-inspect (source code), which can be installed in the SciTE editor, and also into ViM using vim-lua-inspect.
It uses Metalua to fully parse the source code into AST and then performs code analysis. Apart from simple keyword-based syntax highlighters, it can:
differentiate between local/global variables, parameters and unused variables
jump to the definition of a variable/function
autocomplete table members
correctly rename variables/functions (not only definitions but also uses)
Even though it is not yet stable, and tends to hang on large scripts, it is very usable for standard Lua programs, mainly for it's intelligent autocompletion and renaming.

perl editor/IDE similar to source insight for C

I have recently started working with Perl. Googling reveals a number of editors but I am unable to find an editor that will help me navigate a large body of Perl source code. One of the features that I am looking for is the ability of the IDE to integrate with different modules and allow me to jump from one to another. If possible, it will also help if one can see the which function calls what.
I used source insight for C programming and it provides these very useful features. Am looking for similar features in perl.
Help appreciated
Have you looked at Padre? It is a Perl IDE developed by the Perl community.
I'm just giving EPIC a chance.
http://www.epic-ide.org/
Its an Eclipse plugin utilizing a mighty IDE. The advantage I see in using EPIC over Padre is the fact that eclipse can do all sorts of languages and I don't have to get used to multiple different editors every time.
Another great aproach for Perl programming is using emacs. Yes ... its old but I had quite some joy while getting into Perl.
cu
Roman
Komodo IDE, from Active State is also quite good. I haven't used any other Perl IDEs so cannot make comparisons. Most of the features that you are looking for I believe are available in Komodo.
On a side note: The feature that I most appreciated in Komodo was visual debugging.
I mainly use jEdit for Perl programming.
The PerlSideKick plugin, allows you to navigate huge Perl modules (mainly just a plugin for the SideKick plugin).
But there's not much to give you that easy Shift+click navigation you get from Eclipse. jEdit is 100% programmable through Beanshell macros (and JavaScript and Python and JRuby...). So, you can do some of this yourself. So there would be work involved.
For example, it been close enough for me to create "Selection macros" that will allow certain actions on the package or name either highlighted or at the caret. For example, open up the module indicated by the package name.
The Navigator plugin will at least remember where you were last across files.
You might be able to do cross-module navigation through one of the tags plugins
So this won't get you all the way you'd want to go, but it will get you some of the way, and for $0.
It has the most configurable source highlighting this side of writing Emacs-LISP.
It does FTP and remote editing cleaner than most editors I've used.
You can build up a library of Beanshell (shorthand Java) scripts that really help you get what you want done.
Just remember that this recommendation comes with caveats. I have found EPIC quite sub-standard for my use.

Another Java vs. Scala perspective - is this typical?

I have been reading about Scala for a while and even wrote some small programs to better understand some of the more exoteric features.
Today I decided to do my first "real project", translating some 60 lines of ugly Java code to Scala to rewrite it using the better pattern-matching features (why? because the Java version was becoming hard to maintain due to excessive combination of regex and conditionals).
About halfway through the editing process, Eclipse thew up this error:
alt text http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1243/errorms.jpg
I get the general impression that the Scala IDE in Eclipse is a lot buggier and less complete than its Java equivalent. Is this correct or do I just have a bad installation? Is there a better IDE for Scala?
I really like IntelliJ Idea Community Edition's Scala support. I've been using it from it's early days. I've also tested Netbeans and Eclipse plugins but I really don't like them that much. Especially all Eclipse Scala plugins are crap. I also tested Textmate Scala bundle, which is very nice but doesn't offer auto completion.
Here is my Scala Ide top list:
IntelliJ Idea Community Edition
Netbeans
Textmate (This is here, since I really like Textmate for writing Rails applications)
Eclipse
When you learn IntelliJ Idea keyboard shortcuts and add some live templates you can be very productive programmer. Furthermore, if you buy the Intellij Idea Ultimate Edition you can even share the settings with multiple computers or with your team.
What I suggest:
Download IntelliJ Idea Community Edition
Install the Scala plugin
Learn the keyboard shortcuts: Windows and Linux, Mac
Configure Live Templates when you get more familiar with the ide
The Eclipse IDE Scala support has not been great for some time, but is now receiving additional development effort alongside the introduction of Scala 2.8, and appears to be improving. For Scala 2.7 I have found the Intellij plugin to be in a better state.
One problem that both of these plugins have is that Scala itself is a moving target - Scala 2.8 has introduced additional syntax and structures to Scala 2.7.
From my own experience with Eclipse, using it for languages other than Java is never quite as good.
You might find this post of interest.
I get the general impression an IDE for a new, young, niche language is a lot buggier and less complete than a widespread, supported, mature language
Try Netbeans. Its plugins are generally of a simpler construction anyway, so should have less 'gotchas'
One point to make is that it is possible that people are still put off IntelliJ because they assume that the licence is expensive, especially if they are happy with Eclipse and are unaware of the Community Edition which is free and open source.
I cannot give any comparison with the other IDEs as I have always used IntelliJ, however the Scala support is certainly good, all things considered, and getting better.
We are using Eclipse Scala plugin at work and working with it is quite terrible. One cannot really trust reported errors inside IDE, runtime exceptions are the order of the day. Our best experience is with build from 25-11-2009.
At home I play with IntelliJ 9 and its Scala plugin and I find it much much better. I am newbie to IntelliJ but I am very impressed with all those little details which (once you get used to them) increase your productivity... a lot.
The drawback is in IntelliJ there is no compile-error reporting on the fly (at the time you're writing code) yet implemented and only Scala up to 2.7 is supported (2.8 by nightly builds only), but there are NO runtime exceptions while working with the IDE. I would recommend you to try IntelliJ, community edition at least.
I never really get on with IDEs at the best of times because they are usually pretty awful at actual text editing, but Eclipse's Scala plugin is particularly brittle to the point that projects "forget" that they are Scala after a while. Battling Eclipse seems to consume more effort than it saves. I just went back to my Emacs and sbt REPL in a terminal.
A light play with IntelliJ confirmed that it does at least do the job as a Scala IDE, but again I didn't care for its editor. It's also commercial software. However, if you are seeking a robust Scala IDE, this is perhaps where you should be looking.
What I have since settled on is perhaps perverse and not for the newcomer, but suits somebody who has definite opinions about their text editor. ENSIME is an editor plugin and server component that adds what you need from a Scala IDE to Emacs. It also claims support for vim, Atom, and Sublime, but I've not tested these. Occasionally it also has a bad day—obscure kinds of macros particularly confuddle it—but it generally does the job.

Eclipse Style Function Completions in Emacs for C, C++ and JAVA?

How Do I Get Eclipse Style Function Completions in Emacs for C, C++ and JAVA?
I love the power of the Emacs text editor but the lack of an "intellisense" feature
leaves me using Eclipse.
M-/ is a quick and dirty autocomplete based on the contents of your current buffer. It won't give you everything you get in Eclipse but is surprisingly powerful.
I can only answer your question as one who has not used Eclipse much. But! What if there was a really nice fast heuristic analysis of everything you typed or looked at in your emacs buffers, and you got smart completion over all that everywhere, not just in code?
M-x load-library completion
M-x global-set-key C-RET complete RET
When I was doing java development I used to use the:
Java Development Environment for Emacs (JDEE)
The JDEE will provide method name completion when you explicitly invoke a jdee provided function. It has a keyboard binding for this functionality in the jdee-mode.
The CEDET package provides completion for C/C++ & Java (and for some other languages). To initial customization you can take my config that i use to work with C++ projects
Right now, I'm using Auto Complete for Emacs. As a current Visual Studio and ex-Eclipse user, I can say that it rivals both applications quite well. It's still not as good as Microsoft's IntelliSense for C#, but some would say that C++ is notoriously difficult to parse.
It leverages the power of (I believe) the Semantic package from Cedet, and I find it feels nicer to use when compared to Smart Complete. It completes C++ members, local variables, etc. It's pretty good. However, it falls down on not being able to complete overloaded methods (it only shows the function once with no parameters, but thats a limitation of Cedet I believe), and other various things. It may improve in future though!
By the way, I could be wrong here, but I think you need an EDE project set up for the class member completion to work (just like you would normally with Semantic). I've only ever used it while having an EDE project, so I assume this is true.
Searching the web I find http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/EmacsTags#toc7 describing complete-tab in etags. It is bound to M-Tab by default. This binding may be a problem for you
Also, etags has some limits, which may annoy you...
The link also points to CEDET as having better symbol completion support.
Have you tried the emacs plugin for eclipse?
http://people.csail.mit.edu/adonovan/hacks/eclipse-emacs.html
I've written a C++-specific package on top of CEDET that might provide
what you want. It provides an Eclipse-like function arguments hint.
Overloaded functions are supported both for function arguments hint
and for completion.
Package is located here:
https://github.com/abo-abo/function-args
Make sure to check out the nice screenshot:
https://raw.github.com/abo-abo/function-args/master/doc/screenshot-1.png
auto-complete-clang is what you want. Can't go wrong with using an actual C++ compiler for completions.
The only problem it has is there's no way to know what -I and -D flags to pass to the compiler. There are packages for emacs that let you declare projects and then you can use that.
Personally, I use CMake for all C and C++ work so I wrote some CMake code to pass that information to emacs through directory-local variables. It works, but I'm thinking of writing a package that calls cmake from emacs so there's less intrusion.