Subject: Re: navigating the sources (was Re: patch: do-again for Background Checks patch)
From: Tim LaDuca (mail@timl.org)
Date: Thu Jul 27 2000 - 20:23:57 CDT
WJCarpenter wrote:
> >> important tools to keep track of the source are, in
> >> order
> >>
> >> Emacs
> >> CVS
> >> LXR
> >> grep
> >> Bonsai
>
> jc> You've forgotten (e)tags. It's a very *very* useful tool.
>
> etags is pretty popular, but I've always found it cumbersome to use,
> especially for big software bases. It's probably just some mental
> block I have that keeps me from seeing how handy it is for everyone
> else.
>
> A tool that I use a lot when looking for things in source code (I'm
> usually looking for a specific symbol or places where a particular
> function is called) is "cscope". I heartily, heartily recommend you
> take a look at it if you haven't before.
>
> You can find sources for it at <http://cscope.sourceforge.net>.
> Although it is an ancient tool that predates C++ by several years, but
> it still does a pretty servicable job with the Abi code. (Get the
> beta sources from sourceforge instead of the pre-packaged binaries or
> accompanying "released" sources; the "released" stuff gave me fits for
> reasons I never tracked down.)
>
> If you're an emacs user (whatever the heck that is :-), there's more
> good news. From the same sourceforge page, you can find a link to
> cscope.el, which is a bitchin' interface to the cscope program. (Heh,
> I wrote it 8 or 9 years ago. :-) Now, once we have that scripting
> language for AbiSuite, we can have a cscope interface in AbiWord,
> right? :-)
>
> In case anyone wants to go down the cscope path, I've attached a
> couple of things that may be useful. First, my simple script that
> rebuilds the symbol database (I can never remember the command line
> options). Second, my emacs customizations for using cscope.el.
> --
On a similar note, what do you guys(gals?) draw on most when working with abiword, or to put another way
what has been your most valuble asset? experience on other projects? classes you've taken? books you've
read? and as far as experience, how much? I am basically learning coding on my own, and hope to someday
be proficient enough to contribute to some free-software projects(namely AbiWord!), but I don't code as a
profession it's just going to be a hobby(a very dedicated one at that). I know you don't become a good
programmer overnight, but any books you are particularly fond of? Any info is *greatly* appreciated.
Happy coding!
TimL
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