Mailing-List: contact ant-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org; run by ezmlm
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 17:49:02 +0000
Reply-To: stuart.roebuck@adolos.co.uk
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From: Stuart Roebuck <stuart.roebuck@adolos.co.uk>
To: ant-dev@jakarta.apache.org
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Subject: [Suggestion][New Task] Coding Standards / Code 'Beautifier'
Message-Id: <E14Iwhj-0007aI-0B@finch-post-11.mail.demon.net>

This is a cross-post from a discussion on the jakarta-james discussion =
list.

This has received a fairly welcome response from that list, but =
obviously it relates to Ant, so could anyone who matters let me know =
whether this is of interest, and whether I should pursue it.

Stuart.

> Following this post I've been doing some investigating.=20
> =20
> The code editing package jEdit <http://jedit.sourceforge.net/> uses an =
optional=20
> JavaStyle plugin which automatically enforces most coding standards =
and can be=20
> configured to various preferences. (By enforces, I mean that it =
automatically=20
> reformats code to meet a standard, and can automatically do so on a =
whole directory of=20
> source code.) The engine behind this is a PrettyPrinter by Chris =
Seguin which is part of a=20
> collection of Java source code refactoring tools (JRefactory)=20
> <http://users.snip.net/~aseguin/cspretty.html>.  This code is =
currently GPLd.=20
> =20
> I have had a brief correspondence with Chris to see what his reaction =
would be to the idea of=20
> incorporating his code into Ant (and therefore expanding the license - =
if my=20
> understanding of licenses is correct).  His response has been quite =
open so far.=20
> =20
> My thought is, if we could add this tool to Ant we could provide an =
automated mechanism for=20
> conforming any Apache project to a particular coding standard =
(including dealing with=20
> those nasties like tabs vs. spaces).  The PrettyPrinter code also =
includes facilities=20
> for producing default Javadoc comments for uncommented code matching =
particular=20
> criteria (e.g. only public methods..).  This kind of automated =
conformance seems such a=20
> nice idea for open source development.=20
> =20
> What would your reaction be to this idea?  Is it worth pursuing or =
have I missed some=20
> practical limitation?=20
> =20
> Stuart.=20

If these seems generally a good idea, would anyone like to suggest an =
appropriate task name and determine whether it should be optional or =
not.

I would propose "JavaStyle" as the task name, but, given its potential =
in open source development I'd be inclined to suggestion non-optional =
(assuming the license issues are resolvable).

Feedback?

Thanks,

Stuart.


=
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart Roebuck                                  =
stuart.roebuck@adolos.com
Lead Developer                               Java, XML, MacOS X, XP, =
etc.
ADOLOS                                             =
http://www.adolos.com/=