[antlr-interest] IntelliJ plug-in fails to save file

Randall R Schulz rschulz at sonic.net
Wed Jun 13 09:53:29 PDT 2007


On Wednesday 13 June 2007 09:54, Taras Tielkes wrote:
> Randall R Schulz wrote:
> > ...
> >
> > I have no specific information to give you, but if you decide to
> > embark on this, you might want to consider targeting IDEA 7.0,
> > since apparently the JetBrains people do not place a high value on
> > backward compatibility of the extension / plug-in API.
> >
> > I know, e.g., that the Groovy plug-in they're producing works only
> > on the early-access release of version 7.0.
>
> Can you give any specific examples where the API was broken in recent
> years? In my experience *a lot* of effort is put in maintaining
> compatibility. Jetbrains would certainly want to hear it if something
> is broken.

I found a plug-in that (is meant to) allow opening of files from the 
command line—something I find very handy and use with jEdit all the 
time. It won't work in IDEA 6.0 because of non-backward-compatible API 
changes.


> As for the new, in-development, Groovy plugin running only on 7.0:
> perhaps the implementation uses new API features from IDEA 7.0?

Perhaps.


> Rails 1.2 requires a fairly recent version of Ruby, does that mean it
> has bad backward compatibility?

I don't know, but backward and forward compatibility aren't the same 
thing.


My understanding is that the JetBrains people have decided, given their 
limited developer resources and their rather ambitious plans, that 
backward compatibility is something they're willing to sacrifice to 
make their jobs manageable. I don't have a problem with that (backward 
compatibility can be like a stone around a developer's neck), but it 
has its consequences.


> -tt


Randall Schulz


More information about the antlr-interest mailing list