Re: multi-line editing/evaluation...

From	"Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.misc, comp.programming
References	<jjlqg2$vbf$1@news.albasani.net>
Subject	Re: multi-line editing/evaluation...
Date	2012-03-16 08:54 +0000
Message-ID	<0IedndlVcZAQY__SnZ2dnUVZ8m4AAAAA@bt.com> (permalink)

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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BGB wrote:

> I was generally limited (WRT evaluating script expressions) to whatever
> I could reasonably type at a command-prompt.
>
> so, then I was left thinking, "what if I had a text editor"?
>
> the idea would be to have something sort of like QBasic or the "SQL
> Server Management Studio", where one can type/edit scripts, in program,
> and then evaluate them. or, likewise, highlight chunks of text, hit an
> "evaluate" key, and have it do something.

Try looking at the way that most Smalltalks do this (Dolphin is the best to 
look at for this issue):

+ Any code editor supports code execution.

+ If you highlight some code then press <some key> then that code is executed. 
It's your responsibility to ensure that it makes sense.

+ If your code assigns to a variable that doesn't yet exist then that variable 
is "declared" and becomes part of the state of that edit window (note: 
Smalltalk doesn't have implicit variable declaration in general, this is a 
special feature just for interactive use.)

+ If your press the evaluation key (it's actually F5 in Dolphin, as with the MS 
dev tools) when nothing is selected then it uses the current line as the 
"selection".

+ A "workspace" (the Smalltalk term for an interactive "console") is just an 
initially empty edit window, /not/ a REPL.

It all works very well, and because there only one thing which is both the 
"console" and the "editor", it actually simplifies the implementation.

HTH

    -- chris

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misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-12 14:38 -0700
  Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-03-12 23:42 +0000
    Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-12 17:39 -0700
  Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-03-12 23:51 +0000
    Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-12 18:29 -0700
      Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-03-13 12:31 +0000
        Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-13 10:03 -0700
  Re: multi-line editing/evaluation... "Rod Pemberton" <do_not_have@noavailemail.cmm> - 2012-03-13 02:43 -0400
    Re: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-13 11:12 -0700
  Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... Paul N <gw7rib@aol.com> - 2012-03-14 15:08 -0700
    Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-14 19:11 -0700
      Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... "Rod Pemberton" <do_not_have@noavailemail.cmm> - 2012-03-15 04:10 -0400
        Re: misc: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-15 13:09 -0700
  Re: multi-line editing/evaluation... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-03-16 08:54 +0000
    Re: multi-line editing/evaluation... BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-16 09:45 -0700

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