Re: [e4-dev] 4.3 Plans / API etc

[Sopot Çela <sopotcela@xxxxxxxxx>]

I also think the bug blocking e4 extensions to the IDE is the most pressing issue to address at the moment ( https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=376486 ).

Eclipse platform developers come in two shapes RCP and Plugin devs. At the current state the plugin developers are totally left out of reach for e4. I haven't heard the phrase "develop an e4 plugin" on our channels yet. We had a lot of good things when we released 4.2 in terms of great feedback and I predict this will also be true when we get plugin developers on board. It's a huge piece of the pie that we are letting out and also a huge piece of feedback. 

Secondly I would like us to address the issue of documentation. I agree that there are API and code situations to handle (timerExec is the motherbugger IMO) but we also need to address the complete lack of documentation regarding this same API that we are trying to stabilize. This will contribute to adoption also which will allow more feedback and ultimately better product. In the forums the question "Is there any documentation on e4 except the code repo?" is becoming more common that we should be comfortable with. Again time spent writing this documentation should bring a ROI worth the effort. We should think out of the e4-experienced-programmers shell and put ourselves in the shoes of a guy who tries to make sense just from the method name and the arg list.

Sopot

On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 8:54 PM, Eric Moffatt <emoffatt@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Finally ! With 4.2SR2 on its way out the door I finally  get to turn my focus back to 4.3 and the future.

First off is a big thank you to everybody involved for either helping out or at least being patient about not being as free to change e4 as I know you'd like.

This will be a discussion topic for this week's e4 meeting and everybody is welcome.

Where are we ?

I ask the question because most of the last year and a half is just a blur to me. I know we've talked about many things but I've certainly lost track of most of them. Please speak up if there are things that we've been holding off on in order to have a stable foundation for the service release(s).

My highest priority concern is to nail down the API (since I have to present it at EclipseCon...;-). We can still make changes in the API and model while getting the information together but only if we start pretty soon. This will allow us to make some of the changes we've already discussed like Parts within Parts...I'd like to get a working group together to hammer out the details (maybe we could schedule some meetings at least at the beginning ?).

I'm in the process of gathering up what we have so the first question is how would we like to do that, In a bugzilla (with related ones for each area CSS, Model, DI, services) ? In  a GoogleDoc ? Some other way ?

Where do we want to go ?

As the effort on the compatibility layer starts to subside (we're not finished but we are down to true corner cases now IMO) we should be examining how we move the whole platform forwards over time. The two main themes I'm aware of are:

- Moving the platform towards a platform agnostic approach (i.e. not so closely tied to SWT) by examining where we can add new agnostic superclasses into our current code...

- Blurring the current separation of e4 and the IDE by
   - allowing current IDE features to be used in e4 without having to bring in the whole IDE
   - allowing the IDE to host e4 implementations by loosening up some of the constraints in our current extension points / API

Are there others ?

Ah, time to have some fun :-) I really want to have some 'real' New & Noteworthy entries for M6 forwards, I'm sick of having to answer the question "What can Eclipse 4 do that 3.x couldn't?" with the word "Nothing"...split editors anyone ?

Thanks again,
Eric



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