Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnewsk!ech
From: ech@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (ned.horvath)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Wishlist for THINK _C_ (4.1 ? 5.0 ?)
Message-ID: <2274@cbnewsk.ATT.COM>
Date: 23 Mar 90 19:58:53 GMT
References: <3192@draken.nada.kth.se>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 56

From article <3192@draken.nada.kth.se>, by d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte):
> 
> I've had this very long wish list for a while, and now I've
> completely mislaid it, so I'll just ramble on :-)
> 
> 1. Compiler errors are accumulated in a separate window and may be
>    stepped through _after_ compilation. (Like emacs, or even Turbo
>    C on the (yukk) PC)

'Twould be nice.  Especially as this would allow Warning diagnostics
in addition to the one-class of errors at present.  But probably requires
Kahl and co. to rearchitect the compiler, so I guess I could live without
it.

> 2. Some support for several different project/description files,
>    and maybe cross-dependancy as well.

I don't know what this means.  You can include one project into another
now, and the dependencies get noted on make/use-disk; and you can Merge
the builds into a single result file.  Make it ain't, but I've also
got Tempo...

> 3. Some means of reading/saving the project layout into a text
>    file (maybe read in a make(1) file and convert to a projcet ? 8-)

I can't get excited about this one.  When I begin a port, I have to
pound the "Add..." dialog a bunch.  So what?

> 4. Grep in files with name matching <pattern> (not necessary in the
>    project)

Same comment: yawn.

> 5. A class browser.

AHA! Now THIS one I NEED.  I know Rich can't comment, but...PLEASE DO THIS!

> 6. A means of setting various #define's globally.

I'd like this one too.  But then, most of my projects already have
a catch-all header for inclusion in every file, so...

> 7. Some way to set breakpoints in a source file other than the
>    current, without using Debugger() (Or have I overlooked something ?)

I don't understand this one. I have Debugger() and DebugStr, and once a
debugging session is started, I can open any source file in TC4, and use
cmd-G to get it into the edit window of the debugger to set a breakpoint.
It MIGHT be nice to have a list of preset breakpoints, but given the speed
of the compiler,  that's effectively what Debugger() provides.

To the above, let me add one more: permit me to do builds in background.
The compiler may be fast, but there are still times when I change one
thing in one header, and I don't really want to watch 50K lines compiled.

=Ned Horvath=