Qt Creator with D

[Anders F Björklund]

Gour D. wrote:

> Matthias> - for the short term: -> CodeBlocks - already working out of
> Matthias> the box with several D compiler
> 
> I'd prefer to start with some longer-term solution 'cause at the
> moment I'm still waiting for my TDPL copy to arrive and I'll have to
> spend some time learning D, but it would be nice to become familiar
> with the tool we'll use later.

Code::Blocks support is working for the old D language,
but that is not what is in TDPL book - as it's all D2.

There's support for D2 in wxD CVS and in Code::Blocks
sandbox, but as there is no upstream support for them -
it makes more "sense" for Code::Blocks to support the
Free Software GDC compiler and the released wxWidgets.

Or at least it did when D 1.0 was released back in 2007.
If starting over for D 2.0 in 2011, QtD might be better ?

http://wxd.sourceforge.net/
http://gdcwin.sourceforge.net/
http://gdcgnu.sourceforge.net/
http://gdcmac.sourceforge.net/

> Matthias> - for the middle term: -> adding support to QtCreator -> it's
> Matthias> really good piece of Code and through the plugin sytem very
> Matthias> flexible.
> 
> Do you consider that adding support for QtCreator may yield a better
> D-environment than adding (more) support to Code:Blocks?

It should make for a better *QtD* environment, at least...
Since it has integration with Qt Assistant and Qt Designer.

I don't think using a C++ library and C++ editor is a problem,
any more than it's a problem with using a C++ compiler for D ?


> Matthias> - for the long term: -> we will need an IDE written in D, but
> Matthias> first we need a good working D GUI library
> 
> I agree on that, but this it far in the future. D-dev is in the
> beginning and, so far, Win only.

"D.dev" is not open source, either*. There's also "BDE".

*http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/announce/D.dev_development_status_update_19051.html

http://d-dev-ide.blogspot.com/

http://bitprox.com/en/products_bde_index.html

> Matthias> As conclusion I would suggest b) QtCreator
> 
> Is there ANY specific D-support in QtCreator at the moment?

I said I would push those patches, but not upstream no.
To http://gitorious.org/~afb (qmake and qtcreator hacks).
Just having some minor "technical difficulties" doing so,
I had used my regular Qt 4.6 / Qt Creator 1.3 installation.

The patches are trivial, adding some new Makefile commands
to qmake for D files and adding D files to "Sources" view.

Real work is making the syntax highlighter work for D code,
either by reusing an existing component or writing a new one,
and make the editor work for D code as good as for C++ now:
http://doc.qt.nokia.com/qtcreator-2.0/creator-editor-using.html

All of that is still left as an exercise for the D2 reader.
I am *not* going to be working on it, as I'm not using it...

--anders