IDEs (Was: Mainstream D Programming)

[Walter Bright]

Robert Fraser wrote:
> I think the point is that IDEs, while not essential, can certainly do
> a lot of things that are helpful. For example,
> 
> * Show exactly where in a huge string mixin an error occurs * Show
> the particular instantiation of templates * Manage imports
> automatically, so whenever it comes across an undefined symbol, you
> just need to press a button to import the required module, not look
> up what module it's in, etc. Never write another import statement!
> This could also improve code quality, since you could make it only
> use selective imports and never pollute your namespace by importing
> an "all" module. * Mark errors instantly (and have suggested fixes
> for some of them), rather than having to compile every time. *
> Automatically implement stubs for inherited abstract
> methods/interfaces. * Track TODOs, etc. * Show formatted Ddoc on
> hover. * Integrate debuggers to visually step through code. * Format
> source code * Autocomplete * Go-to definition (even across files) *
> Additional warnings and static analysis if you want them (for
> example, it could warn for "x == null" or integrate Coverity-like
> nulll checking) * Automatically organize/sort source code * Generate
> an interface or abstract superclass from the intersection of one or
> more classes' methods. * A "use supertype where possible," where all
> references to a subtype are changed to references to the supertype if
> they can be (encourages more modular code in a highly OO system). *
> Change "auto" to its actual type. * Move functions/classes between
> modules and automatically update modules that reference them. ...

I think these are pretty cool features!