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Aucbvax.4884 fa.editor-p utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!editor-people Sun Nov 1 20:50:08 1981 editor-parser symbiosis >From menlo70!sytek!zehntel!steve@Berkeley Sun Nov 1 20:40:37 1981 In reply to: ucsfcgl!sdcarl!sdcatta!sdcsvax!brent@Berkeley

Concerning editors and compilers working together:

Our (Plantronics/Zehntel) UNIX-based in-circuit testers run user-language programs which describe all the components on a board under test and how they should be tested. A feature of our system is called "develop mode", which combines our screen editor with the parser and with the interpreter which operates the testing hardware. During debugging, test steps may be parsed *and* executed, and the cursor is left wherever there is a syntax error or a component measurement error, allowing the programmer to correct the syntax error or refine the measurement values for components. If no error arises, the results of the tests are displayed in a data window. Debugged programs can be run flat out in a compiled "operate mode". The editor can be run separately, too, without the parser and interpreter. In addition, the editor knows about the data structures of the user language, and has several features which utilize that information.

Develop mode is an indispensable aid to test program debugging, and is a major selling point for our test systems. The nature of our program execution (immediate hardware operation with display of results) makes the addition of code execution to an editor-compiler symbiosis a natural step, but in general the idea of tying a screen editor with a syntax checker (Unix pipes make this easy) is a real winner which I would like to see incorporated into the design of new editors.

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