Methods for type-independent source code editing

• US 8,032,860 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2004
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Piehler, Britton Worth, Garber, David Glen, Zatloukal, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam; Tuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): WANG, BEN C
• Application Number:
  US10/785,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20050114771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,779 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/10 Text processing natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40

Abstract

An extensible, data-driven, language independent source code editor is presented, with an embedded, extensible multi-language compiler framework. Such an editor can be tightly integrated with a compiler framework that provides detailed information about the language currently being edited by the user. This information can be provided in a language-neutral way effectively decoupling the editor from the underlying set of languages being edited. In addition, a language-independent editor can expose a set of APIs that makes it easy to customize behavior for specific languages that have characteristics not shared by most languages. This set of APIs can also enable the development of customized views, such as for developing visual editors that represent and allow the user to manipulate aspects of the source code pictorially.

This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Claims

1. A method for editing a source code file, comprising:

modifying the source code file using a language-independent source code editor, wherein the language-independent source code editor does not include a language-specific lexical analyzer or parser;

sending a change notification to an extensible multi-language compiler framework identifying a changed file, changed text, and type of change, wherein the editor communicates to the compiler framework using language-independent metadata, and wherein the compiler framework provides a stream of token nodes, supports mixing and nesting of languages within a source file, and provides the editor with information about the source file, comprising signatures of classes defined by the source file, errors found in the source file, stacks of nested languages at any point in the source file, and information exposed by any language;

retokenizing the source code file and updating token and node information;

enqueueing a task for the extensible multi-language compiler framework to complete compilation in a background thread;

repainting a screen giving immediate feedback to a user; and

emptying enqueued tasks and completing remaining steps in the background thread;

wherein the extensible multi-language compiler framework has error correction in code-generation, permitting the user to run code even if there is an error in the code;

wherein a thread pool allows compilation of multiple files to be performed in parallel;

wherein a type cache contains signatures for classes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of completing remaining steps in the background thread comprises:

compiling one or more changed files in the background thread;

notifying the editor and extensible multi-language compiler framework of changes and indicating which files have changed;

re-examining the changed files and merging changes with an internal representation of the parse tree; and

repainting the screen showing a visual representation of parsing results.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein integrating a new language does not require separate instructions to enable compiling or editing of the new language.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying errors for mismatched start and end extensible markup language (“

XML”

) tags embedded in the source code and performing auto-completion of XML tags embedded in the source code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the displaying and performing is available independent of the host language embedding XML.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework enables reparsing in substantially real-time with no performance degradation noticeable to the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework enables the editor to provide visual indication of errors throughout a source file with mixed languages.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework keeps track of errors in all source files in a project so that the user can have a complete list of all errors in opened and unopened source code files in a project.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein most errors cause only a single error message, with the parser continuing as if the error had not occurred.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework allows an outer language compiler to pass off processing of a section of a document to an inner language compiler.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a parse tree produced by the inner compiler is available to the outer compiler.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein either the inner compiler or the outer compiler determines where the span of the inner compiler'"'"'s language content ends.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework includes a parser generator and a scanner generator.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein generated parsers are able to recover from all single token errors and missing identifiers that occur during code completion.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework provides the editor with the names of all classes and packages in a project and the errors found in any source files in the project.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein after the compiler framework is notified of a change to a file, the information about the file is updated within a time limit for a single-file recompile.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein after the file is recompiled, the compiler framework provides the editor with a list of changes that occurred to the file information.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiler framework includes a project compiler, wherein the project compiler contains a list of source directories and a class path and maintains a type cache which contains Java signatures for all of the classes in a project.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the type cache is indexed by file name and by class name, and maintains a current list of errors and a list of dependencies.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the project compiler and the type cache are serializable.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein a file compiler is used to perform compilation of a single source file.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the file compiler supports interoperation of different languages by using a common intermediate language.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the file compiler remembers where the language nesting occurs for reuse on subsequent parses.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the outer language implements a name resolution interface to allow the inner language to resolve references to names defined outside of the nested language.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein all parsing is performed on background threads.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein a change to one file results in several files being recompiled because of dependencies between files.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the editor generates change notifications for each item it identifies that has changed.

28. A system, comprising:

one or more compilers and one or more processors, wherein the compilers, executed by the one or more processors, support mixing and nesting of languages within a source file and provide streams of token nodes;

an extensible multi-language compiler framework, wherein the compiler framework provides a language-independent source code editor with information about the source file, comprising signatures of classes defined by the source file, errors found in the source file, stack of nested languages at any point in the source file, and information exposed by any languages;

wherein the language-independent source code editor does not include a language-specific lexical analyzer or parser;

wherein the language-independent source code editor communicates to the compiler framework using language-independent metadata identifying a changed file, changed text, and type of change;

wherein the extensible multi-language compiler framework has error correction in code-generation, permitting a user to run code even if there is an error in the code;

wherein the compiler framework retokenizes the source code file and updates token and node information;

wherein the compiler framework enqueues a task from the compiler framework to complete compilation in a background thread;

wherein the language-independent source code editor repaints a screen (living immediate feedback to a user;

wherein the compiler framework empties enqueued tasks and completes remaining steps in the background thread;

wherein a thread pool allows compilation of multiple files to be performed in parallel; and

wherein a type cache contains signatures for classes.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein integrating a new language does not require separate instructions to enable compiling or editing of the new language.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the compiler framework reparses in substantially real-time with no performance degradation noticeable to the user.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the compiler framework enables the language-independent source code editor to provide visual indication of errors throughout a source file with mixed languages.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the compiler framework keeps track of errors in source files in a project so that the user can have a list of errors in opened and unopened source code files in a project.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the compiler framework provides the source code editor with names of classes and packages in a project and errors found in any source files in the project.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein after the compiler framework is notified of a change to a file, the information about the file is updated within a time limit for a single-file recompile.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein after the file is recompiled, the compiler framework provides the source code editor with a list of changes that occurred to the file information.

36. The system of claim 28, wherein the compiler framework includes a project compiler, wherein the project compiler contains a list of source directories and a class path and maintains a type cache which contains signatures for classes in a project.

37. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

modify a source code file using a language-independent source code editor, wherein the language-independent source code editor does not include a language-specific lexical analyzer or parser;

send a change notification to an extensible multi-language compiler framework identifying a changed file, changed text, and type of change, wherein the editor communicates to the compiler framework using language-independent metadata, and wherein the compiler framework provides a stream of token nodes, supports mixing and nesting of languages within a source file, and provides the editor with information about the source file, comprising signatures of classes defined by the source file, errors found in the source file, stack of nested languages at any point in the source file, and information exposed by any language;

retokenize the source code file and update token and node information;

enqueue a task for the extensible multi-language compiler framework to complete compilation in a background thread;

repaint a screen giving immediate feedback to a user; and

empty enqueued tasks and completing remaining steps in the background thread;

wherein the extensible multi-language compiler framework has error correction in code-generation, permitting the user to run code even if there is an error in the code;

wherein a thread pool allows compilation of multiple files to be performed in parallel;

wherein a type cache contains signatures for classes.

38. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 37, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to have the compiler framework provide the editor with the names of all classes and packages in a project and the errors found in any source files in the project.