David Fanning wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Now that I have my path problems sorted out (don't use
> the Workbench paths and don't try to set them yourself
> in an IDL startup file) and I've set the Debug perspective
> to be the one and only perspective I ever want to see on
> my desktop, and I've had a couple of Xantex, I can better
> reflect on why it is I want to persist with this damn
> great annoyance.
>
> Of course, I want to feel like the thousands of dollars
> I shelled out to upgrade my computers to be able to run
> the behemoth was worth the money. But, the truth is, there
> are things about this editor that I actually like. I've
> had a hard time remembering what they are the past couple
> of days, but, heck, I've gone through longer periods when I
> didn't care for my wife all that much either, and that's
> coming up on a 30th year anniversary in June.
>
> Here are a couple of things.
Forgive my obtuseness, but remind me again what *extra* this Workbench
thingy delivers?
> I like the tabs in the editor window. Makes it easy to
> get from one file to the other.
My regular old editor has that. And I can peel them off into new windows
if I want (and
glue them back again). And I agree: it's very handy (I like it most of all
for large latex
do***ents where I'm using \include. One window has tabs for each section
of the doc.
Anyway...)
> I like the Outline view. Makes it easy to navigate through
> your file.
I don't use ctags with my editor, but that sounds like the same thing
(would be nice in my
editor I'll admit) From what I understand, emacs does that quite well also
(I've seen
people do things editing ruby source in emacs that blew me away)
> I like the way you can click on a tab and the view fills up
> the window, so you can see everything in it, then just click
> it again to make it shrink down to its original size.
Any old X-window does that (or something very similar) and pretty much
always has done.
> I like the line numbering.
Goodness. Haven't editors been doing that since the 80's?
> I like the ability to make the colors pleasing to my eye. ;-)
All editors today allow one to do that too.
> I like the way the Project Explorer makes all my files easily
> accessible to me.
If by easily accessible you mean a dialogue opens up (ala pickfile())
allowing one to
browse a directory tree, again that's available in most editors nowadays.
And, all the above applies to whatever file I'm editing (f95, idl, ruby,
html, latex,
etc...) I can also run system commands in my editor.. and even write my
own macros (or
download those from others) to do additional schneato things.
I guess the debug capabilities of the Workbench must kick ass. My
"integrated debug"
environment is another window where I have a debugger running, or debug
output sent
(except for IDL, of course. No external debugger). Works fine.
I guess my OS is my dream IDE. Infinitely customizable and ****table across
languages. :o)
> Sure, I wish the Workbench would get me all playful and excited
> over a glass of wine in the evening, like my wife, but that's
> probably asking a bit too much from a piece of software.
Possibly. But the software shouldn't make you *need* to imbibe to stop the
hands shaking
once you get home. :o)
I reckon it's asking too much of single piece of software to be everything
including the
kitchen sink. Just my opinion, of course.
cheers,
paulv
p.s. Congrats in your 30th year.
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