EAP IDEA 3.0 Overview
Dear Fellow IntelliJ Fanatics and Community Supporters! J
I would like to introduce to all of you a little something we have been
working on . the IDEA 3.0 Overview. I am releasing a EAP version of it. for
your reading pleasure (I hope). Be warned! It isn't yet complete; however,
it is nearing completion and this is why I am releasing it now. I would
like to kindly ask those of you who do read it to send me feedback in any
form you see fit: corrections to the text, technical corrections about Java
(I've yet to bother the developers for them to check my often erratic bold
statements about Java), or even suggestions on what you would like to see
covered in the final version of the overview.
Please keep in mind, this overview is not meant (as noted in the intro) to
be a purely technical document, nor is it supposed to be an "aren't we so
great" marketing document. it lies probably somewhere in the middle. Just
think of it this way. if you knew nothing about IDEA, would this booklet
entice you to try IDEA? Or, for those of you wanting to convince your boss
to switch to IDEA, would this tickle him in the right places to listen to
your request?
Those of you who provide constructive feedback (to be determined by me,
Mhaaaaaaa) will get your names listed in the "acknowledgement" section of
the final version (both in electronic form, and if we do it, in the printed
as well!). This isn't a con, I just want to sincerely give credit where
credit is due to the community members who have been an instrumental part in
helping IntelliJ IDEA become what it is today.
Also, please post your feedback in the jetbrains.intellij.documentation
forum.. I'll be reading and sometimes replying to your post to get more
clarification when needed. You can download this overview from the EAP
section of www.intellij.net | EAP | Newest Build
Best!
David
JetBrains, Inc
http://www.intellij.com
"Develop with pleasure!"
Note Bene! Please excuse the quality of the screenshots.... Adobe's Acrobat
Writer did a hachet job to them... they aren't so bad in the original .doc
files (honestly!).
Please sign in to leave a comment.
1.) In chapter Import Assistant, figure Import Assistant 1.2, you shouldn't show an image where the caret has been moved. This is misleading compared to the text where you say that the caret hasn?t moved.
2.) In chapter Debugging I would point out the fact that changes of the content of a field (either globally or of a specific instance) may be caught. That's a feature I'm missing from several debuggers.
3.) In chapter J2EE I would introduce a part about debugging of servlets and JSPs. That's a great feature of IDEA which helps a lot in servlet/JSP development.
4.) I'm missing a chapter about the highlighting feature. Especially the highlighting of Javadoc comments is a very powerful feature. But also 'normal' code highlighting goes far beyond of what I know from other IDEs and speeds up development a lot.
I will quote part of a sentence from the overview in bold and offer my corrections/suggestions thereafter.
This book assumes you have some understanding of the fundamentals Java
I would change this to: "This manual assumes you have some understanding of the Java fundamentals"
Ferraris
Ferrari's
it is a basic fact of life that basic "grunt" work
Remove the first basic and replace the second one by 'tedious'.
such annoying yet fundamental task
tasks
most powerful multiple code completion features
I don't understand what you mean by 'multiple'. Perhaps you should leave it out or explain it better.
because IDEA will help select the correct Java code selections required to complete various Java syntax
I don't understand this. Simplify. Less is more ;)
IDEA's Basic code completion feature
remove 'feature', it doesn't add anything. The same goes for the other two code completions.
Code Completions 1.1 and 1.2
I think you should find a way to put the 'before' and 'after' in one picture (not 1.1 and 1.2 for basically one item). Perhaps you should use a big arrow to point between the two situations (pointing from 'e' to 'extends'). You should also make it clearer that you press a key-combo to get from 1.1 to 1.2. Specify it somewhere in the text explicitly (like you did when you described the import assistant).
or is being utilized else where in the project prior to invoking this function.
elsewhere
figures Code Completions 1.3,
figure. I've seen this more than once. Search the entire text for this mistake.
Code Completions 1.3
You should put the caption underneath the figure to avoid the text wrapping.
as shown in figures Code Compleitons 1.4,
Code Completions 1.4. I don't understand how this can happen if you use captions in Word correctly:
- Choose 'Caption...' from the Insert menu.
- New Label
- Name it 'Code Completions 1.'
When you now insert captions with this label they will automatically be named Code Completions 1. 1, Code Completions 1. 2, etc. You will still have to remove the space by hand, but it will be worth it. The captions will all use the caption style, so you can change their appearance in one step. If you insert a new picture in between others, the captions will automatically be renumbered. When you refer to a caption in the text, you should use 'Insert'->'Cross Reference'. Under 'reference type' you should select the label and then you will get a list of your captions. The reference you insert will always stay linked to the caption. Rename the caption and the reference will chance. If the caption gets renumbered, the references will stay correct.
This functionality has saved me hours of time and a lot of frustration (imagine renumbering dozens of captions and having to search the text for all the references to the figures). It may sound difficult at first, but do try. Before long, you will surely be unable to go without.
BTW, use the same trick for your other captions, but with a different label.
correponding componets as shown in figure Code Completions 1.5.
correSponding componeNts. Hmmm, you did spell-check, did you? ;)
in figure Code Completions 1.5.
in the figure??? I'm not certain, but it doesn't look right to me. Perhaps you should avoid the issue altogether and remove 'figure' everywhere (except perhaps the first time you refer to a figure). The italic text shows the connection with the figure clearly enough IMHO.
-
Well, I've got to get back to work now. I suggest fixing the things I have pointed out and running the document through a spell-checker. I will again review version 1.1.
Please, use the standard (default) colouring scheme for code editor screenshots. Please, capture screenshots on the same host OS.
*IDEA's Class Name completion feature as shown in figures Code Completions 1.6 and 1.7
makes it easy to automatically suggest and implement (*1) the name of any class (and its
corresponding import, if needed) anywhere in any project or library(2).
1) replace implement with insert
2) ,located anywhere within the project or the imported libraries
*(Basic code completion,
on the other hand, utilizes only imported packages or those being resolvable in the current
scope).*
...on the other hand, suggests only classes that are already accessible from the current context.
You're absolutely right. Otherwise it's very confusing, especially for users which are new to IDEA.
The section on Intention Actions says "Currently Under the Knife".
What does this mean? That intention actions are being removed?
I hope not, I use them all the time, it's one of the best features of 3.0
IMHO.
Ted Hill
"David J. Stennett" <david@intellij.com> wrote in message
news:apasjj$is7$1@is.intellij.net...
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In "About IDEA", it says "industry setting refactoring support". That should probably be "trend setting" or "industry leading" or something. :)
Problem: Live Templates 1.1: screenshot is from old IDEA, the lightbulb is old school, and in the wrong place.
Problem: Jakarta Ant 1.1 and 1.2 and 1.3, the screenshots are very old, and don't even have the icons for the different panes.
Problem: "XML needs no introduction, or it shouldn't away." should be anyway
Problem: In Extract Method, the text "In laymen terms" should read "In laymen's terms"
Problem: Paragraph immediately before Variable 1.4 (in Introduce Variable Refactoring section) reads: "Then, as a closer, we invoke ... word.lenght() - 1". This should read: "Then, we invoke ... word.length() - 1"
Suggestion: Please explain the difference between Enter and Tab when completing code.
Suggestion: You should include a quick list of key shortcuts. CTRL-I, CTRL-O, ALT-INSERT, CTRL-SPACE, CTRL-SHIFT-SPACE, CTRL-ALT-L, CTRL-ALT-O, you know what I mean. I want a cheatsheet.
Suggestion: When explaining CTRL-N make mention of CTRL-SHIFT-N..
Suggestion: Explain that you can open multiple projects up in different windows, and debug multiple projects at the same time.
Suggestion: I may have missed it, but did you mention Go-To-Declaration? CTRL-Clicking or CTRL-B was one of the biggest seling points for me. I love the hyperlinking.
Suggestion: Mention IDEA's integration with Tomcat 4.0.x. Setting breakpoints in JSPs was a huge win at my company.
Suggestion: You mention support for taglibs, but don't mention Web Application configuration. Maybe you should.
I took a quick look at it and so far it looks very well done. The
screenshots help in explaining things.
Looking forward to updates.
"David J. Stennett" <david@intellij.com> wrote in message
news:apasjj$is7$1@is.intellij.net...
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Ted:
Sorry about that... nope, under the knife meaning being "re-constructed" --
they're coming! Hang in there please!
Best,
David
"Ted Hill" <thill@tomotherapy.com> wrote in message
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Hi,
IMHO I would prefer to see the table of contents after the title page/cover i.e. switch pages 1 and 2 around. ... and you need to put your logo on there too.
Section - Open API
From a user's perspective, Open API will make IDEA more versatile by allowing you to tap into a whole new resource - a repertoire of development tools that enhance and extend IDEA's capabilities which are already second to none.
Don't know that forum. Is it a newsgroup? I don't use the newsgroup since the ITN was opened.
I added some comments to the document pointing to typos and other things I felt like commenting.
I zipped it since the ITN only allows attachements up to 1 MB.
It should be readable with Acrobat Reader 5 and probably also with the previous version.
Hope it helps improving the thing.
Attachment(s):
EAP-IDEA-3.0-Overview_rbeeger.zip
In the import assistant chapter, an autogenerated import for JFrame is javax.swing.*.
This may look confusing at first. Perhaps you should pay extra attention to automatic import insertion and explain that it is possible to configure, classes from which packages are automatically imported with *.
Live templates chapter should also include information about "Surround with live template" action.
Please, create hyperlinks when you refer to figures.
Another suggestion is to exclude chapter name from figure names. "Figure 12.3" will be just fine.
And, please, do not split figure number and figure title. Place them both in one line below the figure.