User configurable language independent code assist method, system, article of manufacture, and computer program product

• US 8,185,866 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hawley, Allen K., Immaneni, Pavan K.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHILLIP H
• Application Number:
  US11/932,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,665 Days
• Field of Search: 717/107, 717/110, 717/108, 717/109
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors

Abstract

A code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement by determining a current cursor position in the partial program instruction statement; parsing the partial program instruction statement before the current cursor position; generating a list of candidates to be inserted at the current cursor position responsive to the parsing of the partial program instruction statement; applying a user-selected preference to the list of candidates to generate a suggested list of candidates; displaying the list of suggested candidates; allowing a user to select one of the list of suggested candidates; and inserting at the current cursor position the user-selected suggested candidate. User-selectable preferences may be selected such as a longer or shorter list of candidates; a longer or shorter representation keyword candidates; a full syntax or partial syntax representation of a candidate; and a character case representation of a candidate.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture for use in a computer system for providing a code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement, said article of manufacture comprising a computer-useable storage medium having a computer program embodied in said medium which causes the computer system to execute method steps comprising:

determining a current cursor position in the partial program instruction statement;

parsing the partial program instruction statement before the current cursor position;

generating a list of candidates to be inserted at the current cursor position responsive to the parsing of the partial program instruction statement;

applying a user-selected preference to the list of candidates to generate a suggested list of candidates, wherein the user-selected preference provides an indication of an edit syntax statement file, wherein the indication of the edit syntax statement file is selected to directly edit syntax statement rules included in the syntax statement file, and wherein the syntax statement file is used by a parser for the code assist function;

displaying the list of suggested candidates;

allowing a user to select one of the list of suggested candidates; and

inserting at the current cursor position the user-selected suggested candidate.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1 wherein the user-selected preference comprises displaying a longer representation of a program instruction verb suggested candidate in lieu of a shorter representation of a program instruction verb suggested candidate.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1 wherein the user-selected preference comprises displaying a full syntax representation of a suggested candidate in lieu of a partial syntax representation of a suggest candidate.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1 wherein the user-selected preference comprises one from a set comprising displaying a lower-case representation of a program instruction candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement, displaying a upper-case syntax representation of a program instruction verb candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement and displaying a leading upper-case syntax representation of a program instruction verb candidate responsive to the paring of a partial program instruction statement.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein a code assist engine that provides the code assist function determines which of a plurality of syntax libraries is appropriate to use with a program file having the partial program instruction statement, by analyzing attributes of the program file.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the plurality of syntax libraries correspond to a plurality of programming languages.

5. A method for use in a computer system for providing a code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement, said method comprising:

determining a current cursor position in the partial program instruction statement;

parsing the partial program instruction statement before the current cursor position;

generating a list of candidates to be inserted at the current cursor position responsive to the parsing of the partial program instruction statement;

applying a user-selected preference to the list of candidates to generate a suggested list of candidates, wherein the user-selected preference provides an indication of an edit syntax statement file, wherein the indication of the edit syntax statement file is selected to directly edit syntax statement rules included in the syntax statement file, and wherein the syntax statement file is used by a parser for the code assist function;

displaying the list of suggested candidates;

allowing a user to select one of the list of suggested candidates; and

inserting at the current cursor position the user-selected suggested candidate.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user-selected preference comprises displaying a longer representation of a program instruction verb suggested candidate in lieu of a shorter representation of a program instruction verb suggested candidate.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the user-selected preference comprises displaying a full syntax representation of a suggested candidate in lieu of a partial syntax representation of a suggested candidate.

8. The method of claim 5 where the user-selected preference comprises one from a set comprising displaying a lower-case representation of a program instruction candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement displaying a upper-case syntax representation of a program instruction verb candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement, and displaying a leading upper-case syntax representation of a program instruction verb candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein a code assist engine that provides the code assist function determines which of a plurality of syntax libraries is appropriate to use with a program file having the partial program instruction statement, by analyzing attributes of the program file.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of syntax libraries correspond to a plurality of programming languages.

9. A computer system for providing a code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement, said computer system comprising:

a processor;

a current cursor position in the partial program instruction statement;

a parser configured to execute via the processor for parsing the partial program instruction statement before the current cursor position;

a list of candidates to be inserted at the current cursor position responsive to the parsing of the partial program instruction statement;

a user-selected preference applied to the list of candidates to generate a suggested list of candidates, wherein the user-selected preference provides an indication of an edit syntax statement file, wherein the indication of the edit syntax statement file is selected to directly edit syntax statement rules included in the syntax statement file, and wherein the syntax statement file is used by the parser for the code assist function;

a displayed list of suggested candidates;

a selection by a user of one of the list of suggested candidates; and

the user-selected suggested candidate inserted at the current cursor position.

10. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the user-selected preference comprises displaying a longer representation of a program instruction verb suggested candidate in lieu of a shorter representation of a program instruction verb suggested candidate.

11. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the user-selected preference comprises displaying a full syntax representation of a suggested candidate in lieu of a partial syntax representation of a suggested candidate.

12. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the user-selected preference comprises one from a set comprising displaying a lower-case representation of a program instruction candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement, displaying a upper-case syntax representation of a program instruction verb candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement, and displaying a leading upper-case syntax representation of a program instruction verb candidate responsive to the parsing of a partial program instruction statement.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein a code assist engine that provides the code assist function determines which of a plurality of syntax libraries is appropriate to use with a program file having the partial program instruction statement, by analyzing attributes of the program file.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of syntax libraries correspond to a plurality of programming languages.