On Aug 16, 2007, at 1:00 AM, Tom Metro wrote: > While we Perl developers tend to scoff at those who use IDEs, I often > wonder if we're missing out on a productivity boost as a > consequence of > using a non-mainstream language. (Of course there are IDEs for Perl. > Several. Though you rarely hear them recommended by Perl > developers. And > I'm left wondering whether they really offer a complete enough > implementation of modern conveniences to provide the same kinds of > productivity boosts developers of other languages get from their > IDEs.)
In Java, there's only one way to do object orientation, and it's got a clear and unambiguous syntax and semantics. This means that it's comparatively easy (okay, well, easier than it is for Perl) to create an automated tool that reads Java source and parses it sufficiently comprehensively to do automated transformations on the code. In Perl, well, not so much. Everything done in Perl is done by convention. The hypothetical IDE with good support for refactoring would need to understand, say, the different semantics of traditional blessed-reference objects versus inside-out objects, and transform the code appropriately for each. This is a much more complicated task than it is in Java, and I'd bet it approaches a hard AI problem. Charlton -- Charlton Wilbur [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Boston-pm mailing list [email protected] http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-pm
