[LyX as a competetive coding environment]
> I don't know if that's ever really going to happen, though. It doesn't
> make much sense to add this kind of capability to LyX. The focus of
> LyX should always be on being a great document preparation system, not
> a coding editor.
I agree that LyX is primarily and foremost a document preparation system. We
should
design the kernel with this in mind, not the task of creating a coding
environment.
But! If LyX is capable of doing more, I want to do that at some point. The
difference
between a coding editor and a document preparation system is not that great.
(The program to prove that is Emacs, which is both.)
I imagine that we will have an optional literate programming module which will
support syntax highlighting, compile error lookups, identifier completetion,
identifier lookups, and a few of the other essential editing features. It
should not be that difficult to implement with a proper scripting language.
Notice that LyX is already able to display text in different colors, and in the
LyXCode environment, we practically have free formatting. We "just" need to
write a module to take advantage of these facilities.
Anyway, it's just a dream, and until we progress further, this will stay ideas
only. We need to focus on the basic things first, and later we will see what
is possible and not. I thus invite you to help building the new kernel if you
have the time and find it interesting. (I think it's fun -- I think of it as
building the foundation for the quantum jump forward that LyX will get from a
modern kernel.)
There are several tasks to chose from: We need to implement the last basic
editing operations. We need display capability. We need the high level editing
interface. We need screen coordinate<->buffer iterator mappings. Choose
whatever interests you. If you find it hard to begin or is unclear about
something, just ask for further directions. Or tell me how you think we should
progress. Or just do what you think is best. Except work on reLyX instead of
the new kernel ;-)
Greets,
Asger
