DDT 0.4.2 released

[Bruno Medeiros]

On 04/05/2011 07:55, Jacob Carlborg wrote:
> On 2011-04-29 18:55, Bruno Medeiros wrote:
>> DDT 0.4.2 has been released.
>>
>> Software Update Site: http://ddt.eclipselabs.org.codespot.com/hg.updates/
>>
>> Changelog:
>>
>> == DDT 0.4.2 (2011-04-29) ==
>> * Fixed #33, bug with spaces in projects names: made all variables in
>> DMD response file resolve to quote escaped values.
>> * Fixed bug where all D comments where considered DDoc comments for
>> documentation hover.
>> * Fixed limitation where problem hovers where not more prioritary than
>> documentation hovers.
>> * Fixed #37: F2 always brings up empty documentation hover.
>> * Fixed #38: autocomplete crashing / very slow. (Content Assist takes
>> very long to show up when many completion options are available)
>> * Added support for editor code templates in Content Assist.
>> * Fixed bug in cast expression, where the cast type reference was
>> ignored by the parser/semantic-engine;
>> * Fixed bug where DDoc comments where not associated with the
>> corresponding symbol definition if that definition had protection,
>> storage, linkage, or certain other kinds of attributes;
>> * Implemented #35: format immutable keyword and @annotations.
>> * Added (nothrow, pure, shared, immutable) keywords to syntax coloring
>> * Added @annotations to syntax coloring (spaces after @ not supported,
>> any identifier accepted)
>> * Changed syntax coloring example in preferences
>> * Fixed minor Content Assist bug where completions would not appear when
>> requested on certain syntax errors.
>>
>>
>> Also I've chosen to move the DDT discussion forum from the DSource
>> forums to a Google Groups:
>> http://groups.google.com/group/ddt-ide
>
> BTW, is there a page, or similar, that compare DDT and Descent? Or if
> you could do a quick listing of the differences.
>

There a few major differences (features implemented in one IDE, but not 
the other), and many minor/finer-grained differences (same overall 
feature but with different quality, stability, etc.) which actually do 
add up.

You can look at the features page for both:
http://code.google.com/a/eclipselabs.org/p/ddt/wiki/Features
http://www.dsource.org/projects/descent

although it may not give a complete picture, especially with regards to 
the minor details. From what I can see and remember, the differences are 
something like this:

Descent has:
* debugger integration (ddbg and GDC)
* in-editor, as-you-type, semantic error reporting (DDT reports syntax 
errors only)
* formatter (seems to work quite well)
* type hierarchy
* Some compile-time function evaluation/debugging (seems a bit brittle 
though)
* TODO/FIXME/XXX tasks tags. (this should be coming soon to DDT)

DDT has:
* integrated builder (a simple one though, delegates to another tool)
* search for references (the inverse of find declaration)

There some other minor differences. Descent has better icon/decoration 
support, wizards for creating new classes/modules, and other things I 
don't remember. Then there is code completion (aka Content Assist) which 
both IDEs support, but the quality varies a lot. Descent's is generally 
smarter and works in more contexts, and supports completing function 
calls (IIRC), but is very brittle and more unstable, and very tied to a 
specific D version (the latest one being D2 as of 1-2 years ago, I think).


PS:
I want to soon add debugger integration to DDT as well, as that is a 
very nice feature to have, but I have been caught up in other dev 
tasks/features (mostly more DLTK integration). These tasks are not as 
important to the IDE user as debugging, but it is important to me as a 
contributor to finish them first (because there is still DLTK 2.0 
functionality I haven't extended/finished, yet DLTK 3.0 is already 
coming next month, with Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo), and I'm trying to keep up).

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer