Re: [eclipse.org-architecture-council] Javascript: a bug that makes me r

[Michael Scharf <eclipse@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 2015-07-06 20:11, Doug Schaefer wrote:

> Some of this, though, is differences in philosophy or maybe just
> terminology. I would find it hard to differentiate a “smart” editor
> from an IDE if the IDE is done right.

I think one fundamental difference is that in a "smart" editor,
the text editor is the central abstraction and tools integrate
onto that editor. In an IDE, like eclipse, editors are tools and
there is not "one" editor, but many different editors based on
a low level editor toolkit.

> Not sure we’ve ever sat down and defined what an IDE was other than
> a development environment that integrates the tools you use for
> development, like build and debug and analysis tools, into a
> seamless flow.

I think in eclipse "integrates the tools" means most of the time
"rewrite the tools in Java". There is no generic way to integrate
external tools. It may have to do with the fact, that the early
Java versions had severe problems in managing external processes
and that windows behaves significantly differently than unix based
systems (I guess those are the reason why JGit exits and EGit is not
using the external git tools).


> A “smart” editor is a good editor that integrates the tools you use
> for development. Once you add support for debugging is it really an
> editor anymore or has it morphed into an IDE. Emacs, IMHO, is an IDE
> that way with build integration and error markers.

I think another distinguishing factor is that "smart" editors use text
files to configure almost anything. IDEs often add graphical UIs to
manage all kind of configuration. "Smart" editors assume, that
developers are best at managing text files and that the actual "work"
is done by external tools. With a real editor, there is never a need
to touch your mouse...  IDEs try to guide the user with rich views and
dialogs and try to do as much as possible to within the IDE, because
that gives a richer integration.

Summary: "smart" editors are text centered, in IDEs the text
editor is one of many tools.

Michael