This is probably one of the most innovative ideas I've seen in a while.
Light Table - a new IDE concept
251–260 of 315 posts
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#252Would be nice to make a github with your sources, so we could try and/or work on a JS version (or other).
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#253This is great, however it glosses over the elephant in the room: what if a function is called multiple times, or what happens when code within a function is run multiple times? Which data do you display in the data flow view? What is really needed is an intuitive way to select a context or multiple contexts. SubText's approach to this is to let you dig deeper in the call tree by clicking on function calls, but for a…
And recursion. Light table's display is like a stacktrace, but each line expanded to the whole function. These scaling problems can be solved: exclude some functions, esp libraries (e.g. "native" functions like map aren't expanded). And standard scaling tricks e.g. one line, click to expand (like his doc navigator). By "context", you mean you nominate a deeper function to display, but then how do you know which call…
SubText handles recursion well. It shows the toplevel invocation, and when you click on a recursive call in that invocation, then that recursive call opens next to it. Like this you can expand the call graph as you with.
A demo shows it better than words: http://subtextual.org/demo1.html
And a newer demo, although it does not show the call graph expansion: http://subtextual.org/subtext2.html
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#254- Smallest unit of code is the function. - Able to get instant feedback on code changes. - Multiple editors with just one function in it. Show code in an "area of concern" not just in a file. - The coding environment can show also results, app windows, graphics, other tools. - Can save the configuration of the above. Smalltalkers have been doing this in commercial projects since the 80's. If only we could have commun…
Of course this comment was inevitable. If Smalltalkers really believe their environment is the right way to code, their attitude should not be one of "we did this first, meh" but instead be "here's what we did right, here's what we did wrong. heed the lessons of history and good luck, you are on a mission from God." I think with the proper care and nurturing, we could be at the beginning of a renaissance where many o…
Interesting stuff,
I'm quite new to programming, could you please recommend some reading materials to get acquainted with these ideas?
As a newbie, I'd like to educate myself so I can contribute to the "right" projects for this time and learn to avoid the tarpits.
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#255Very nice concept, haven't experienced any similar, so I got quite excited about it.
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#256At least some of the features you've brought up in the article can be done with BugAid (for C#). For example, the ability to "visualize" the data in a function by replacing the variables with the actual values can be done, albeit in a different way (http://www.bugaidsoftware.com/). The other feature, like a documentation that shows whatever you're looking at, can be achieved partially with Visual Studio by itself and Resharper (http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/).
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#257I love the visualization aspect of this. I can think of multiple situations where popping this open to look at a couple of interactions would be helpful, especially when getting acquainted with a code base I didn't help build. I'd happily add it to my toolbox! Great thinking, great design.
Would I use it for everything? Nope. Most of the time I just want to type with the occasional jump into the command line. For that I use command-line vim, and I don't see jumping ship any time soon.
Thanks for the work!
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I immediately thought of Visual Age for Smalltalk when I saw this, but having been done is no reason to not try again.
VisualAge for Java was my thought. Unfortunately, as with many of IBM's good ideas - before its time, poorly marketed/placed, etc.
Visual Age for Java Micro Edition (re-written in Java) became Eclipse framework.
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#259"Files are not the best representation of code, just a convenient serialization."
I agree. Files (and version control systems) leak a tremendous amount of valuable information. They are a very '20th century' technology.
I'm working on a tool that behaves like a distributed version control system (branching and merging) but stores more fine-grained information about the programming process. This information can be played back and developers can tell a story about why the code is the way it is:
Re: Light Table - a new IDE concept
#260'Smallest unit of code is the function.'
Those rectangulars - just visualized 'em few days ago, looking through some very long css files.