[Ocaml-biz] Does anyone else care for Eclipse?

[Steve Taylor]

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 14:15:59 -0700
"Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery at indiegamedesign.com> wrote:

> Brandon J. Van Every wrote:
> >
> > Going further, there's a ridiculous amount of tutorial information
> > readily available every step of the way.  They are immediately and
> > conspiciously showcased, anything you do.  We could deploy OCaml
> > tutorials *within Eclipse*, and they'd be damn effective.
> 
> Ok, does anyone else share my enthusiasm for the marketing potential
> of Eclipse?  Or are you fairly unexcited / jaded about it?

I think Eclipse is great.  It has that nice "polished" feel that VS
users seem to appreciate.  Certainly you will have a better chance at
turning people onto OCaml if there was a similarly polished OCaml
plugin (compared to telling people to use VI/Emacs).

Unfortunately at my job I'm stuck doing some php/mysql dev work.  I use
an Eclipse plugin to do this.  Gives me project management support,
php syntax highlighting, full control over the mysql/apache services,
an integrated IE preview pane, etc...  This means I can do almost
everything within Eclipse.  Quite efficient.

I guess what I'm saying is that having good OCaml support for Eclipse
would be the easiest way to not turn first-time OCaml developers off the
language.  I work between two state colleges (in the US), and I've
worked with a lot of CS students over the years.  The vast majority of
them are downright hostile to the idea of using VI/Emacs for anything
(if they are aware of them at all). Most Unix/Linux computer labs have
been converted to Windows. Visual Studio is THE development tool in the
area. I've run into many students who weren't even aware that they could
edit & compile code any other way until their senior year (when they
rewrite Minix ;)).  My point is that mass produced "Software Engineers"
are going to want a VS like solution if they are going to develop with
OCaml, and Eclipse is probably the best way of doing that.

		-Steve