Re: [jdt-dev] Clarifications for : JDT e4 contribution: improve support

[Andy Clement <andrew.clement@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Olivier,

> Who would be willing to be involved in this e4 incubation project ?
I would like to be involved in the e4 effort.

My credentials are:
- I lead the AspectJ Eclipse project, which at its heart is a modified
JDT compiler (modified grammar, modified type resolution system,
integrated backend weaving process that runs post compilation)
- I look after the integration of the groovy compiler with Eclipse JDT
that forms the basis for Groovy-Eclipse.  This is where JDT is
extended to support the 'plugging-in' of another language compiler.
JDT then delegates to that other language compiler at appropriate
points (parsing, resolution, code generation).

As you can imagine, this makes me more of an jdt-core guy than a
jdt-ui guy.  I work with Andrew Eisenberg who looks after the UI bits
and pieces.

I certainly wouldn't be proposing to go in and change-the-world and
drop all the patches in for Aspectj/Groovy-eclipse extensibility.  I
think things have to be much more controlled than that.  I'm always
concerned about the impact of any changes on the compilation of pure
java (and the experience pure-java developers will have down the
road), so my initial thinking has been around quite minor initial
changes:
- visibility changes (private>protected) to enable overriding behaviour
- extraction of some pieces of codes into helper methods (which can
then be overridden)

and then growing from there.  Even just a few changes of the above
nature would limit how messy my job is when patching a new release of
JDT for use by AspectJ and Groovy-Eclipse.  The type system changes
that AspectJ makes, and the way in which groovy is plugged into JDT
would need more serious thought before I think they'd be suitable to
commit into jdt core.

A 'side-project' I am working on is building a compiler for projects
composed of all 3 languages (java/aspectj/groovy) and anything we
could do in e4 going forward would hopefully simplify that.

cheers,
Andy
---
Andy Clement
SpringSource

On 15 July 2010 10:32, Olivier Thomann <Olivier_Thomann@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Before starting an e4 incubation project to have a JDT support in e4, I
> think it is good to clarify the staffing of this project.
> I expect any people that are interested by this topic to apply for commit
> rights on this project.
>
> The actual JDT team cannot provide team members on this project on a
> regular basis. Ideally I would like to see people that faced the problem
> of extending JDT in order to support other languages to drive this effort.
> We just don't have the resources to be heavily involved on the e4
> incubation project as well as the 3.x streams (maintenance and 3.7).
>
> Of course we can be available for consulting if major issues arise.
>
> How does this sound?
>
>
> If enough people show an interest, the next step will be to start the e4
> incubation project and nominate committers for it.
>
> Thanks for your attention,
>
> Olivier
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