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Re: [e4-dev] Work on Java-like languages in e4 
Hi all,

I'm the lead of the Object Teams project[1], which provides a compiler
and an IDE for the OT/J programming language under a common umbrella.
We started modifying the Eclipse Java compiler in 2003, later added UI
support which involved lots of copy&paste from JDT/UI. In 2006 we had
the OT/Equinox technology in place for writing Eclipse plugins in OT/J,
which involves bytecode weaving similar to Equinox Aspects.
Since then we have refactored all copy&paste code into OT-plugins which
now weave into 17 plugins of the Eclipse SDK, mostly from JDT and PDE.

Only for JDT/Core we are still maintaining a source-level fork.
After we joined the Indigo release train just a week ago, the previous
week has seen a lively discussion around the issue of patch features,
concluding that patch features are not allowed on the train [2].
BTW, for the sake of that discussion I just created a wiki page [3]
which discusses various aspects of our JDT/Core fork.

Also, as a result from seven years of involvement with the JDT/Core
I recently became a committer for JDT/Core.

From all this I have a vital interest to participate in the e4-JDT
efforts.

In order to set the right expectations, let me outline my personal
goals for this effort:
- Top priority is working towards making more tools mutually compatible.
- I see a high priority in advancing the "business model" behind those
  kinds of re-use and adaptation that the various projects in this 
  group apply.
In contrast to some other folks in this group I have no specific agenda
for addressing specific API in a specific order, since we have 
modifications in almost every part of the JDT/Core, and advances in 
this e4-JDT effort will only gradually help decoupling our code from
JDT/Core. I expect the fork to persist for several years to come.

In many respects I'm actually quite happy with our current architecture.
It provides a very seamless integration, works well in practice and has
shown good maintainability over the years. However, we lack experience
in multi-language combinations. As a fundamental step in that direction
I propose to setup a common test environment, where all our test suites
can be executed on arbitrary combinations of our tools.

Naturally, as a first step towards this compatibility several issues
in the underlying infrastructure need to be addressed (e.g. [4],[5]).
So release engineering, provisioning and all this are important issues
for me, too.

I'm looking forward to some great co-operation,

Stephan Herrmann
GK Software AG

PS: I recently sent a note to the jdt-hackers list a google, trying
to gather some folks at ESE (which didn't work out). I guess the 
e4-JDT project will now make that list obsolete :)

[1] http://www.eclipse.org/objectteams
		Eclipse Object Teams Project
[2] https://bugs.eclipse.org/330312
		Rules for project patches in the train
[3] http://wiki.eclipse.org/OTJdtCore
[4] https://bugs.eclipse.org/329784
		Touchpoint instruction for incremental changes to program properties
[5] https://bugs.eclipse.org/330534
		Discussion on how to solve OT/J issues about joining the Indigo release train

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