5 ms·

Eclipse Code Recommenders

57 points by based2 11y ago

reitanqild 11y ago
This is cool and probably useful. I remember myself being a Java noob trying to find out how I was supposed to add an image to a Java swing app only to find that it wasn't graphics2d or anything but label.
freddref 11y ago
Very interested to see how accurate this is in practice. Could really help cut down the google -> stack overflow -> copy -> paste round trip time.
- lamby 11y ago
  It tickles me that reducing this roundtrip time is the solution rather than having a more, I don't know the right word here, intuitive (?) language and/or API to begin with.
  - mkobit 11y ago
    I still think there is a lot of value in both the 'this is how this API is typically used' and the 'see other examples'. Even if the authors of the code provide some sort of documentation and examples for how things are used, there is lot of data about how consumers actually use their API's. I think it would be really cool to be able to see how others (publicly or privately) use certain APIs. I think it would help with faster adoption and "crowdsourcing" documentation. I can't tell you how many times I have had to Google/Stack Overflow Spring (and other library) specific things because I just wasn't sure if it could be used in a certain context based on the documentation present in an IDE or the project's documentation.
  - lemming 11y ago
    Can you name a language which doesn't have large numbers of code snippets in stack overflow answers for performing common tasks?
    - sgeisenh 11y ago
      Most academic languages don't have large numbers of stack overflow answers. Look at Standard ML or most dependently typed languages (Agda, Coq, Twelf, etc.). Though, Agda produces snippets for you with hole based programming and there are entire books written about generating snippets with tactics in Coq; as far as Twelf and others are concerned, well, you're on your own.
  - bcg1 11y ago
    It tickles me that there are people who don't have the burden of, I don't know the right word here, reality (?) to deal with when they code. Sometimes people need to maintain systems that have generated millions in revenue even if they use APIs that suck, or languages that you might not find intuitive.
  - freddref 11y ago
    How intuitive a language or API is is somewhat subjective. I get the feeling there are diminishing productivity returns from the latest 're-organisation' of a language or API structure. Is this work simply pandering to peoples ever changing preferences? Tickling aside, anything that removes humans from the process looks good to me.
colund 11y ago
Isn't this active by default in Eclipse? It's rather accurate and useful. But also remember to filter imports you don't want in Eclipse settings. For example the dreaded java.util.List vs java.awt.List etc.
- djeikyb 11y ago
  i think the unique thing here is feedback gathered from other devs. note the percent markers. eg, here's all the auto-complete possibilities, 80% of devs chose java.util.List, only 3% chose java.awt.List.
eecks 11y ago
Sounds cool. Might try it in work
rpgmaker 11y ago
Dear Eclipse, Please make a more usable IDE. Sincerely, Anyone that has used other IDEs besides Eclipse.
- koko775 11y ago
  Dear Eclipse Detractor, Please make a more reasonable and detailed critique. Sincerely, Someone who prefers Eclipse over IntelliJ (strongly, I cannot STAND IntelliJ), Textmate, Atom, Sublime Text 3, Vim, Emacs, and NetBeans. (EDIT: davnicwil, your reply to me disappeared. Was it deleted? I appreciated the discussion and had written a reply.)
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - mkobit 11y ago
    I feel the opposite way about the IntelliJ/Eclipse (strongly prefer IntelliJ over Eclipse). I stopped using Eclipse at, I believe, Juno or Kepler (4.2/4.3) and switched to IntelliJ 13. I found that Eclipse very frequently just plain froze while doing an operation, was laggy, and crashed frequently. There was also very long startup times. I haven't used Eclipse in a few versions, but when I made the switch I was extremely thankful that I did. What makes you prefer Eclipse? Or, rather, what makes you dislike IntelliJ?
    - LoneWolf 11y ago
      My exact feeling, I have left eclipse a long time ago, recently (around a year ago) I tried luna and it was still incredibly slow, crashed a lot, for no reason my classes wouldn't hot-swap making me restart the entire webapp (with a heavy startup time) and had to rebuild the workspace because for unknown reasons since everything just stopped working. Not to mention that the eclipse auto-complete is just useless when compared with intellij.
  - simula67 11y ago
    > Please make a more reasonable and detailed critique. and then > I cannot STAND IntelliJ with no reasonable or detailed critique.
mobiuscog 11y ago
This is potentially very dangerous unless it includes information about WHY the proposal was used. Best practices are useless unless people understand exactly why they're doing what they do - that's not programming, it's simply copying. We need ways to decrease technical debt, not make it easier to generate.

57 points by based2 11y ago

This is cool and probably useful. I remember myself being a Java noob trying to find out how I was supposed to add an image to a Java swing app only to find that it wasn't graphics2d or anything but label.

freddref 11y ago

Very interested to see how accurate this is in practice. Could really help cut down the google -> stack overflow -> copy -> paste round trip time.

lamby 11y ago
It tickles me that reducing this roundtrip time is the solution rather than having a more, I don't know the right word here, intuitive (?) language and/or API to begin with.
- mkobit 11y ago
  I still think there is a lot of value in both the 'this is how this API is typically used' and the 'see other examples'. Even if the authors of the code provide some sort of documentation and examples for how things are used, there is lot of data about how consumers actually use their API's. I think it would be really cool to be able to see how others (publicly or privately) use certain APIs. I think it would help with faster adoption and "crowdsourcing" documentation. I can't tell you how many times I have had to Google/Stack Overflow Spring (and other library) specific things because I just wasn't sure if it could be used in a certain context based on the documentation present in an IDE or the project's documentation.
- lemming 11y ago
  Can you name a language which doesn't have large numbers of code snippets in stack overflow answers for performing common tasks?
  - sgeisenh 11y ago
    Most academic languages don't have large numbers of stack overflow answers. Look at Standard ML or most dependently typed languages (Agda, Coq, Twelf, etc.). Though, Agda produces snippets for you with hole based programming and there are entire books written about generating snippets with tactics in Coq; as far as Twelf and others are concerned, well, you're on your own.
- bcg1 11y ago
  It tickles me that there are people who don't have the burden of, I don't know the right word here, reality (?) to deal with when they code. Sometimes people need to maintain systems that have generated millions in revenue even if they use APIs that suck, or languages that you might not find intuitive.
- freddref 11y ago
  How intuitive a language or API is is somewhat subjective. I get the feeling there are diminishing productivity returns from the latest 're-organisation' of a language or API structure. Is this work simply pandering to peoples ever changing preferences? Tickling aside, anything that removes humans from the process looks good to me.

colund 11y ago

Isn't this active by default in Eclipse? It's rather accurate and useful. But also remember to filter imports you don't want in Eclipse settings. For example the dreaded java.util.List vs java.awt.List etc.

djeikyb 11y ago
i think the unique thing here is feedback gathered from other devs. note the percent markers. eg, here's all the auto-complete possibilities, 80% of devs chose java.util.List, only 3% chose java.awt.List.

eecks 11y ago

Sounds cool. Might try it in work

rpgmaker 11y ago

Dear Eclipse, Please make a more usable IDE. Sincerely, Anyone that has used other IDEs besides Eclipse.

koko775 11y ago
Dear Eclipse Detractor, Please make a more reasonable and detailed critique. Sincerely, Someone who prefers Eclipse over IntelliJ (strongly, I cannot STAND IntelliJ), Textmate, Atom, Sublime Text 3, Vim, Emacs, and NetBeans. (EDIT: davnicwil, your reply to me disappeared. Was it deleted? I appreciated the discussion and had written a reply.)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- mkobit 11y ago
  I feel the opposite way about the IntelliJ/Eclipse (strongly prefer IntelliJ over Eclipse). I stopped using Eclipse at, I believe, Juno or Kepler (4.2/4.3) and switched to IntelliJ 13. I found that Eclipse very frequently just plain froze while doing an operation, was laggy, and crashed frequently. There was also very long startup times. I haven't used Eclipse in a few versions, but when I made the switch I was extremely thankful that I did. What makes you prefer Eclipse? Or, rather, what makes you dislike IntelliJ?
  - LoneWolf 11y ago
    My exact feeling, I have left eclipse a long time ago, recently (around a year ago) I tried luna and it was still incredibly slow, crashed a lot, for no reason my classes wouldn't hot-swap making me restart the entire webapp (with a heavy startup time) and had to rebuild the workspace because for unknown reasons since everything just stopped working. Not to mention that the eclipse auto-complete is just useless when compared with intellij.
- simula67 11y ago
  > Please make a more reasonable and detailed critique. and then > I cannot STAND IntelliJ with no reasonable or detailed critique.

mobiuscog 11y ago

This is potentially very dangerous unless it includes information about WHY the proposal was used. Best practices are useless unless people understand exactly why they're doing what they do - that's not programming, it's simply copying. We need ways to decrease technical debt, not make it easier to generate.