Best Compiler

G

Gary

I'm just about to start a course in data structures and algorithms using
Java as the language. I haven't touched Java for a couple of years. Can
anyone advise of a good compiler to use. Most recently I've been using
Microsoft C++ .Net in ANSI mode, and I have liked using this tool.

Thanks for any advice..
 
A

Andrew Thompson

I'm just about to start a course in data structures and algorithms using
Java as the language. I haven't touched Java for a couple of years. Can
anyone advise of a good compiler to use.

Sun's. It comes with the SDK.
..Most recently I've been using
Microsoft C++ .Net in ANSI mode, and I have liked using this tool.

Do you like command line tools?
 
M

Martijn Mulder

I'm just about to start a course in data structures and algorithms using
Java as the language. I haven't touched Java for a couple of years. Can
anyone advise of a good compiler to use. Most recently I've been using
Microsoft C++ .Net in ANSI mode, and I have liked using this tool.



jikes.exe is very fast. But you need to include the -classpath on
the command line or in the batch file.

http://jikes.sourceforge.net/
 
K

Knute Johnson

Martijn said:
jikes.exe is very fast. But you need to include the -classpath on
the command line or in the batch file.

http://jikes.sourceforge.net/

Martijn:

You don't actually have to do that. You can add an environment variable
JIKESPATH. You have to include the location of rt.jar though.

Oh I guess I shouldn't be so hasty, the procedure is slightly different
on Linux.
 
M

Martijn Mulder

Knute said:
You don't actually have to do that. You can add an
environment variable JIKESPATH. You have to include the
location of rt.jar though.

Oh I guess I shouldn't be so hasty, the procedure is
slightly different on Linux.


This is what I have in my jikes.bat file:

jikes.exe -Xstdout -classpath c:\jdk1.5.0\jre\lib\rt.jar -deprecation %1 >
error.txt
vi.exe error.txt

Only 1 key press from vi.exe. Yeah!
 
L

Lee Weiner

I'm just about to start a course in data structures and algorithms using
Java as the language. I haven't touched Java for a couple of years. Can
anyone advise of a good compiler to use. Most recently I've been using
Microsoft C++ .Net in ANSI mode, and I have liked using this tool.

Do you mean "compiler", or do you really mean "IDE"?

Lee Weiner
lee AT leeweiner DOT org
 
J

Joan

Gary said:
I'm just about to start a course in data structures and algorithms using
Java as the language. I haven't touched Java for a couple of years. Can
anyone advise of a good compiler to use. Most recently I've been using
Microsoft C++ .Net in ANSI mode, and I have liked using this tool.
For you, best means
"provides the most information when my program
is not correct so I can get it working"
I use Eclipse IDE and if there are errors in a Java source file, Eclipse
marks
it with a little red x. Furthermore if I click on the x it gives me some
idea of what's wrong (e.g. "you need a semicolon to complete this
statement").
 
K

Knute Johnson

Martijn said:
This is what I have in my jikes.bat file:

jikes.exe -Xstdout -classpath c:\jdk1.5.0\jre\lib\rt.jar -deprecation %1 >
error.txt
vi.exe error.txt

Only 1 key press from vi.exe. Yeah!

That's pretty slick Martijn!
 
G

Gary

Thanks to all for your advice... I did actually mean IDE, Eclipse appears to
be a good start...

Regards,
Gary
 
M

Martijn Mulder

Knute said:
That's pretty slick Martijn!




I know, and I intend to keep it this way. It took days, weeks to come to this.
If there is anybody out there who wants his command line processing efficient
and simple, I am more than willing to help.
 
A

Andrew Thompson

Thanks to all for your advice... I did actually mean IDE, Eclipse appears to
be a good start...

Please ensure your students have enough documentation and
support for their Eclipse that they do not feel the need
to come here and ask 'why Eclipse will not [1]?' or
'how can I make Eclipse [1]?'.

[1] ..whatever.

TIA
 
R

Roedy Green

I'm just about to start a course in data structures and algorithms using
Java as the language. I haven't touched Java for a couple of years. Can
anyone advise of a good compiler to use. Most recently I've been using
Microsoft C++ .Net in ANSI mode, and I have liked using this tool.

Another way to ask that question is which IDE should I use? It then
may have its own internal incremental compiler, that it uses in
adjunct to Javac, Jikes or some other.

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/ide.html

You will always want Sun for the final distribution.

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/javacexe.html

you also probably want to get started early with ant since it is the
way everyone does big builds nowadays. It also uses the trick of
loading the compiler once and feeding it files like a Strasbourg goose
rather than loading a fresh copy for each directory.

I won't send you to the ant section of the java glossary.. it is in
pieces just now. I thought I understood ant, but I didn't.

--
Bush crime family lost/embezzled $3 trillion from Pentagon.
Complicit Bush-friendly media keeps mum. Rumsfeld confesses on video.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/mckinney_grills_rumsfeld.htm

Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
See http://mindprod.com/iraq.html photos of Bush's war crimes
 
D

Dale King

Andrew said:
Thanks to all for your advice... I did actually mean IDE, Eclipse appears to
be a good start...


Please ensure your students have enough documentation and
support for their Eclipse that they do not feel the need
to come here and ask 'why Eclipse will not [1]?' or
'how can I make Eclipse [1]?'.

I thought that Gary was the student, not the teacher. Hopefully he is
not teaching a course when he hasn't "touched Java for a couple of years".

I would recommend using BlueJ in this course, which he said was about
data structures and algorithms in Java. If the focus is on data
structures and algorithms you don't want to add the burden of using the
command line tools.
 
A

Andrew Thompson

Andrew said:
Thanks to all for your advice... I did actually mean IDE, Eclipse appears to
be a good start...

Please ensure your students have enough documentation and
support for their Eclipse that they do not feel the need
to come here and ask 'why Eclipse will not [1]?' or
'how can I make Eclipse [1]?'.

I thought that Gary was the student, not the teacher. Hopefully he is
not teaching a course when he hasn't "touched Java for a couple of years".

Uggh. I read 'just about to start a course in' as meaning
the OP was teaching it.
I would recommend using BlueJ in this course, which he said was about
data structures and algorithms in Java. If the focus is on data
structures and algorithms you don't want to add the burden of using the
command line tools.

That is (endlessly) debatable(*). Not what the OP wants, but
that which works best.

So, Dale.. When the OP pops back in to descibe how 'their IDE'
will not compile a packaged class, are you going to jump in
to guide them as to which menu and option of their IDE to tweak?

* Because if you cannot provide that assurance, the approach of
using the tools that the audience are familiar with, will probably
best suit a person who comes to usenet for advice..
 
D

Dale King

Andrew said:
Andrew said:
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 22:07:23 +1000, Gary wrote:


Thanks to all for your advice... I did actually mean IDE, Eclipse appears to
be a good start...

Please ensure your students have enough documentation and
support for their Eclipse that they do not feel the need
to come here and ask 'why Eclipse will not [1]?' or
'how can I make Eclipse [1]?'.

I thought that Gary was the student, not the teacher. Hopefully he is
not teaching a course when he hasn't "touched Java for a couple of years".


Uggh. I read 'just about to start a course in' as meaning
the OP was teaching it.

I would recommend using BlueJ in this course, which he said was about
data structures and algorithms in Java. If the focus is on data
structures and algorithms you don't want to add the burden of using the
command line tools.

Uggh. Somehow I left off the part about "If he were teaching the
course...". I was saying that the best tool for a teacher in a course
focussed on data structures and algorithms would be BlueJ.
That is (endlessly) debatable(*).

It is certainly endlessly debated, but not in my mind debatable ;-)

The argument that always comes up in these debates is the notion that it
is important to learn how to invoke the command line tools. That is not
valid in a course that is about data structures not Java programming.
You don't care in that course if they learn how to invoke the command
line tools you care if they understand how a heap works and how
quicksort works.
Not what the OP wants, but that which works best.

Well Gary did eventually say he wanted an IDE. But we are talking
hypothetical here since I was referring to the teacher of a course.
So, Dale.. When the OP pops back in to descibe how 'their IDE'
will not compile a packaged class, are you going to jump in
to guide them as to which menu and option of their IDE to tweak?

* Because if you cannot provide that assurance, the approach of
using the tools that the audience are familiar with, will probably
best suit a person who comes to usenet for advice..

I assume your response is based on my not clearly saying that I was
referring to the teacher of the course and not the student. If the
teacher cannot handle such questions then they are not qualified to
teach the course.

And that is the reason why I would recommend BlueJ for this. There is
nothing to tweak for this. You simply hit the compile button.

If a student has the expertise to use a different tool then they can,
but then they are responsible for supporting it. I was addressing the
tool a teacher would use as the standard tool for a course.
 
A

Andrew Thompson

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 12:56:57 GMT, Dale King wrote:

(IDE/comand line knowledge of Java tools)
..That is not
valid in a course that is about data structures not Java programming.

Good point.

<stubbornly>
My attitude of "don't come here for IDE advice" stands though.
</stubbornly>
 
T

Thomas Weidenfeller

Andrew said:
So, Dale.. When the OP pops back in to descibe how 'their IDE'
will not compile a packaged class, are you going to jump in
to guide them as to which menu and option of their IDE to tweak?

* Because if you cannot provide that assurance, the approach of
using the tools that the audience are familiar with, will probably
best suit a person who comes to usenet for advice..

I guess it is known that I am also in the "know your tools" fraction,
and think that it is a good idea to know how the command line tools (and
the classpath) work.

But, I think it is justifiable to recommend BlueJ to students. Last time
I looked at that IDE it was so self-contained that it will really not
come to student's minds to think about packaging, building jars, "making
exes", or other stuff like this. In BlueJ you twiddle with your objects
and source code, and that's it. You don't even get to see a "static void
main(String args[])" if you don't want to.

/Thomas
 
T

Tim Tyler

Thomas Weidenfeller said:
But, I think it is justifiable to recommend BlueJ to students. Last time
I looked at that IDE it was so self-contained that it will really not
come to student's minds to think about packaging, building jars, "making
exes", or other stuff like this. In BlueJ you twiddle with your objects
and source code, and that's it. You don't even get to see a "static void
main(String args[])" if you don't want to.

It sounds like a good way of learning OOP - but maybe not such a good
way of learning Java.

....and if learning OOP is the goal, why start with a language like
Java in the first place?

Java hasn't yet managed to embrace the idea of making everything an
object - surely a pretty basic OO concept.
 
D

Dale King

Thomas said:
I guess it is known that I am also in the "know your tools" fraction,
and think that it is a good idea to know how the command line tools (and
the classpath) work.

Well in this case we were talking about a course in data structures and
algorithms. Teaching the command line tools is not a goal of such a
course and not relevant. But let's ignore that and say it is truly a
course on Java programming.

I am in the "know your language then know your tools" faction, because
that is the order that makes sense. You can't know the tools unless (and
until) you know the language. Starting newbies out on an IDE does not
mean that you never teach them the comand line tools. It only means you
teach them the language first so that they will be able to understand
what you are talking about when you teach them the tools.
 

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