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Author Topic: I need an opinion about a feature I intend to add  (Read 3763 times)

SkyIDE

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I need an opinion about a feature I intend to add
« on: January 28, 2007, 05:43 PM »
I've decided to possibly add more features for Beta 11. I am hoping to have them finished by the end of the week if I proceed with this.

I intend to add the following features in the Compile menu related to C++: "Compile Only", "Build Object Files" and "Specify Custom Linker". Other IDEs do this (except for Specify Custom Linker) but SkyIDE does not. Currently, the "Compile File" menu in SkyIDE compiles AND builds your files. Is there a need for a separate Compile and a Separate Build command? Please express your opinion. Personally, I never separately build the files. I am used to selecting "Compile" and the IDE does the job for me.

Also, I have created a "Specify Custom Linker" option where you will specify a custom linker to use or use the default one provided with the compiler.

Is there a need for all this so I start spending time on it or just leave it the way it is?

« Last Edit: January 28, 2007, 05:45 PM by SkyIDE »

mouser

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Re: I need an opinion about a feature I intend to add
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2007, 02:16 AM »
Is there a need for a separate Compile and a Separate Build command? Please express your opinion. Personally, I never separately build the files. I am used to selecting "Compile" and the IDE does the job for me.

I too rarely just compile a single unit.  The only time it can be helpful is if you have a very large project, and you are trying to work on and fix one unit, it can save you a ton of time in those rare cases.

SkyIDE

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Re: I need an opinion about a feature I intend to add
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2007, 05:04 AM »
Thanks for that :) Well I am all for not having separate Build and separate Compile. For a newbie, it may complicate things if you have these. It's best when you just select Compile and the EXE is created which is what most compilers do anyway except for the one I just came across LCC-WIN32. I will leave it the way it is.

f0dder

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Re: I need an opinion about a feature I intend to add
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2007, 06:19 AM »
"Compile Only [current file]" is very useful when you work on projects of more than a single file. On large projects, even when only the current module has changed, the dependency checking can take a while (when I only want to compile (check for syntax errors) the current file, 5+ seconds is a lot). Also, if linking stage isn't skipped, it can end up taking a lot of time if you've enabled LTCG (of course you tend to do that for final-builds, and use debug builds while testing - but still). And other times, I'm in progress of editing 2-3 files, where a couple of them won't compile cleanly, but I want to test the file I'm currently editing. So, "Compile Only" is a useful feature.

"Specify custom linker" should really be in a preferences dialog somewhere, not in a dropdown menu. You don't need to do something like this often, so it's best not to clutter menus too much - other IDEs are already horrible in this respect, no need to emulate them :)

Dunno how useful "Build Object Files" is, never felt the need for such a feature myself.

The general build-related featurs I tend to use are:

  • Compile Only - already mentioned
  • Build Project - compile all files and link
  • Clean Project - delete all produced files (.obj, .lib, .exe)
  • Rebuild - clean+build

Clean is useful for tidying up, either for source code redistribution or for doing file diffs or whatever. Rebuild is useful when, for some reason, an IDE doesn't realize some dependency needs updating.

EDIT: if you want to keep things newbie-friendly and just have one item that does compile+link, please call it "build" and not "compile" - will be less confusing later on when the newbie realizes that the "Build" step consists of a compile and then link... not to mention that "building a project" might mean even more steps than just compiling and linking.
- carpe noctem
« Last Edit: January 29, 2007, 06:21 AM by f0dder »

SkyIDE

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Re: I need an opinion about a feature I intend to add
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2007, 06:29 AM »
Thanks f0dder! You have made some valid points. I have no problems implementing that as I know exactly what to do. I am not sure if I finish it within a week when I intend to release Beta 11. Depends on my free time.