System and method for performing code completion in an integrated development environment

• US 20050015747A1
• Filed: 10/03/2003
• Published: 01/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Wagner, Tim A., Zatloukal, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 7,296,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors

Abstract

A system and method for code completion, comprising providing a representation of a first program in a first programming language, establishing a location in the first program, associating the location with a representation of the first program, obtaining code completion information relevant to the location in the first program based on the representation of the first program, and wherein the obtaining occurs at the behest of an extensible compiler framework.

Claims

1. A method for code completion, comprising:

providing a representation of a first program in a first programming language;

establishing a location in the first program;

associating the location with a representation of the first program;

obtaining code completion information relevant to the location in the first program based on the representation of the first program; and

wherein the obtaining occurs at the behest of an extensible compiler framework.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the location in the first program is one of;

     1) a textual offset;

     2) a structural navigation through a parse tree;

     3) at least one semantic entity in the first program; and

     4) a token or token range.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the representation of the first program is a parse tree.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the code completion information is based on information related to a node in the parse tree.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the code completion information includes at least one of;

     1) a class name and/or definition;

     2) a type name and/or definition;

     3) a field/member/variable name and/or definition;

     4) a method name and/or definition; and

     5) a function name and/or definition.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing the syntactic structure of a first program in a first programming language, wherein the first program can be represented by a first set of tokens;

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the extensible compiler framework can integrate and interact with compilers for different programming languages through a common interface.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first program in the first programming language can be nested within a second program in a second programming language.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein:

a second program in a second programming language is nested within the first program in the first programming language.

10. A system comprising:

means for providing a representation of a first program in a first programming language;

means for establishing a location in the first program;

means for associating the location with a representation of the first program;

means for obtaining code completion information relevant to the location in the first program based on the representation of the first program; and

wherein the obtaining occurs at the behest of an extensible compiler framework.

11. A system for code completion, comprising:

a component operable to provide a representation of a first program in a first programming language;

a component operable to establish a location in the first program;

a component operable to associate the location with a representation of the first program;

a component operable to obtain code completion information relevant to the location in the first program based on the representation of the first program; and

wherein the obtaining occurs at the behest of an extensible compiler framework.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the location in the first program is one of;

     1) a textual offset;

     2) a structural navigation through a parse tree;

     3) at least one semantic entity in the first program; and

     4) a token or token range.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the representation of the first program is a parse tree.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein:

the code completion information is based on information related to a node in the parse tree.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the code completion information includes at least one of;

     1) a class name and/or definition;

     2) a type name and/or definition;

     3) a field/member/variable name and/or definition;

     4) a method name and/or definition; and

     5) a function name and/or definition.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a component operable to analyze the syntactic structure of a first program in a first programming language, wherein the first program can be represented by a first set of tokens;

17. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the extensible compiler framework can integrate and interact with compilers for different programming languages through a common interface.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the first program in the first programming language can be nested within a second program in a second programming language.

19. The system of claim 111 wherein:

a second program in a second programming language is nested within the first program in the first programming language.

20. A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor cause a system to:

provide a representation of a first program in a first programming language;

establish a location in the first program;

associate the location with a representation of the first program;

obtain code completion information relevant to the location in the first program based on the representation of the first program; and

wherein the obtaining occurs at the behest of an extensible compiler framework.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein:

the location in the first program is one of;

     1) a textual offset;

     2) a structural navigation through a parse tree;

     3) at least one semantic entity in the first program; and

     4) a token or token range.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein:

the representation of the first program is a parse tree.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 22 wherein:

the code completion information is based on information related to a node in the parse tree.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein:

the code completion information includes at least one of;

     1) a class name and/or definition;

     2) a type name and/or definition;

     3) a field/member/variable name and/or definition;

     4) a method name and/or definition; and

     5) a function name and/or definition.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

analyze the syntactic structure of a first program in a first programming language, wherein the first program can be represented by a first set of tokens;

26. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein:

the extensible compiler framework can integrate and interact with compilers for different programming languages through a common interface.

27. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein:

the first program in the first programming language can be nested within a second program in a second programming language;

28. The machine readable medium of claim 20 wherein:

a second program in a second programming language is nested within the first program in the first programming language.

29. A method for code completion, comprising:

providing a representation of a first program in a first programming language;

establishing a location in the first program;

associating the location with a representation of the first program;

obtaining code completion information relevant to the location in the first program based on the representation of the first program;

wherein the obtaining occurs at the behest of an extensible compiler framework; and

wherein the extensible compiler framework can integrate and interact with compilers for different programming languages through a common interface.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein:

the location in the first program is one of;

     1) a textual offset;

     2) a structural navigation through a parse tree;

     3) at least one semantic entity in the first program; and

     4) a token or token range.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein:

the representation of the first program is a parse tree.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein:

the code completion information is based on information related to a node in the parse tree.

33. The method of claim 29 wherein:

the code completion information includes at least one of;

     1) a class name and/or definition;

     2) a type name and/or definition;

     3) a field/member/variable name and/or definition;

     4) a method name and/or definition; and

     5) a function name and/or definition.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

analyzing the syntactic structure of a first program in a first programming language, wherein the first program can be represented by a first set of tokens;

35. The method of claim 29 wherein:

the first program in the first programming language can be nested within a second program in a second programming language.

36. The method of claim 29 wherein:

a second program in a second programming language is nested within the first program in the first programming language.