From c60550e51a2c6e32812ad008eddbf7ae0e944a36 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kevin Lamonte Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2019 11:39:19 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] update README --- README.md | 67 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 67 insertions(+) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 44759cf..db12ef6 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -305,3 +305,70 @@ integrated development environment for the Java language that was built using a very lightly modified GPL version of Jexer. TJ provided a real-world use case to shake out numerous bugs and limitations of Jexer. + + + +Maintainers Wanted +------------------ + +Both Jexer and TJIDE are seeking additional maintainers. I am not in +a position in life to take on significant off-hours programming work, +and am willing to hand these projects over to one or more persons with +time and interest. + +My personal code design philosophy for TJIDE/Jexer is outlined at +https://gitlab.com/klamonte/tjide/blob/master/java/docs/code_design.txt +. I realize that some of the features listed below may require +deviations from this philosophy, but this is what I have built so far. + +Some of the areas that will likely require significant efforts are: + + * Editor improvements. The editor is currently very minimalistic, + much closer to MS-DOS edit.com than a real programmer's editor. + Users will probably desire many more features: drag-and-drop, real + syntax or at least regexp highlighting (not just keywords), paren + matching, paragraph/comment reflow, and dozens more. The + underlying Document/Line/Word model is not going to be sufficient + to meet these features. It would be up to you if you wish to + retrofit any improvements you make to the MIT version of Jexer. + + * Better Windows and OSX support. It would be nice to ship a + jlink'ed JVM on these platforms with the JRE, JDK, and JPDA + modules all together. For Windows, it might be preferable to + consider doing any of the following: ship a third-party terminal, + use PowerShell, or use the newer ConPTY for TTerminalWindow. + + * Project window awareness for modules. Currently the project + window knows only simple file paths (where it assumes paths are + subpackages) and jars. It would be nice to also have module + awareness here, since modules are the future for Java. + + * Bug fixes. The (G)Jexer codebase is quite large despite my best + efforts. Bugs are typically very small to fix, but can take some + time to find: a simple NPE or AssertionError can sometimes take + 4-8 hours to squash. Fortunately, fixing issues in one place has + not often led to breakages elsewhere. + + * Plugin support. TJIDE is the first truly new TUI-based IDE to + emerge in quite some time. It was deliberately built to resemble + IDEs used to teach computer science courses for decades, and it is + hoped that instructors will be able to use it soon. A plugin + system to define new kinds of targets, editors, and debuggers + would go a long way to using TJIDE for other languages. + + * New (G)Jexer applications. So far as I know, (G)Jexer is the only + mouse-supporting full TUI windowing framework with sixel image + support in existence. I cannot predict what kinds of applications + could be built out of it, and how those needs will push back to + the framework. + +These are what I can clearly see right now. Obviously users are +capable of finding many more. + +I intend to continue poking on TJIDE and Jexer, and will maintain a +branch to be "the fastest and simplest Java language IDE available", +which will deliberately remain small. + +I hope that other languages choose to transliterate MIT Jexer to +provide TUIs to their own platforms. I will be happy to help them +understand the code to support those efforts. -- 2.27.0