Description Lukas Eder 2021-03-04 05:01:08 EST

Assuming this setup:

// ---------------------------------------------------------------
interface Interface {}
class C {}
class D extends C {}
// ---------------------------------------------------------------

Having worked with other languages, I sometimes forget whether some type is an interface or a class, I just want to extend/implement it as a trait. I would then like to go to the D class's "extends" section, and start typing:

// ---------------------------------------------------------------
class D extends C, Inte {}
// ---------------------------------------------------------------

The rationale here being that at this point, I might not even be sure about whether D is a class or interface. These syntactic differences are mostly ceremony, not useful. If C and D were interfaces, then this would work:

// ---------------------------------------------------------------
interface D extends C, Inte {}
// ---------------------------------------------------------------

I wish that content assist would offer me to choose Interface and make me aware of the fact that it's not a class and that my hypothetical syntax is incorrect, and fix it for me to become this:

// ---------------------------------------------------------------
class D extends C implements Interface {}
// ---------------------------------------------------------------

I know that this may appear a bit unusual to someone who is very well aware and deeply cares about Java syntax. But to me, a user who just wants the language and IDE to Do The Right Thing™, this arbitrary syntactic distinction is often a cause of cognitive friction kicking me out of the flow, rather than anything useful.

Hence, if Eclipse could "Do The Right Thing™" here, I would be delighted :)

Alternative suggestion: IntelliJ includes "Interface" in the content assist, and then offers a quick fix to turn the invalid syntax "extends C, Interface" into "extends C implements Interface"