Re: [aspectj-dev] Newbie Question - When will ajdoc be back ?

[Wes Isberg <wes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Russell -

Russell Miles wrote:

> Hi fellow cross-cutters (sorry for the pun),
>
> Hopefully a fairly quick question. Does anyone on the
> AspectJ design team or the community at large have a rough
> idea for when an ajdoc-like tool will be back in the ASpectJ
> release. I had hit the problems with using the ajdoc tool
> with JDK 1.4 upwards

As you probably know, if your programs are still using
the AspectJ 1.0.X version of the language, then the
ajdoc from 1.0.6 should work, so long as you use
J2SE 1.3.

> ... am wondering how the 're-design
> from the ground-up' was going. Is this something I could
> help out with in an Opensource manner ? The tool is
> particular was extremely useful in persuading management
> to allow the use of AspectJ ...

Not soon, unless someone outside the team does it.
We agree that ajdoc is important for adoption, but
believe that the code has to be maintainable in open-source.
Right now it looks like ajdoc should be built on
upgrades to AJDE to better support static structure.

First, there's no interest in hacking javadoc any more.
Currently we plan to revamp the asm/AJDE structure manager
to better handle incremental compilation, and we'd like to
install a better API for static structure, on which we can
build a new variant of ajdoc (and other tools pertaining
to scopes?).  This might partly depend
on getting a channel from the compiler to the weaver to
convey information about source, without compromising
the independence of the weaver (this is needed for other
reasons as well).  Otherwise, I've also considered upgrading
XDoclet which has its own (javacc-based) parser, or we might
be able to base it on the technologies used to get
javadoc hover help working in the Eclipse editor, but
neither of those is an attractive approach.

So if you want to help now, there's two ways to go:

(1) prove us wrong on the old ajdoc by hacking the
parser in ajdoc 1.0.6 to handle AspectJ 1.1 sources
well enough to extract the documentation.  This
is something Jim, the parser developer, warned against,
and still leaves us with the dependency on J2SE 1.3.
A variant would use integrate with javadoc by using
binary weaving of aspects rather than subclassing private
sun classes, making it easier to move between versions
of javadoc.  In any case, this approach doesn't really
help the rest of the project, so it's not a priority
for us.

(2) come up with a list of what the new ajdoc should
do, based on what the last one did, any variants
called for by the 1.1 language and the impending
language changes in Java 1.5, and what you want
(to be translated into a set of API requirements
for AJDE and folded into the design/implementation
of AJDE).  Since the next upgrades to AJDE are being
driven primarily by support for incremental and a
desire to better modularize it, ajdoc will have to
have clear requirements to have a say in how AJDE
evolves.  But there is a lot of overlap in the
requirements of ajdoc and other clients of static
structure, so considering ajdoc at the same time
will help.

In any case, I expect that pretty soon we'll be
deciding on work priorities.  Strong demand,
clear requirements, and contributors can elevate
ajdoc in those discussions.

Wes

Russell Miles wrote:

> Hi fellow cross-cutters (sorry for the pun),
>
> Hopefully a fairly quick question. Does anyone on the 
> AspectJ design team or the community at large have a rough
> idea for when an ajdoc-like tool will be back in the ASpectJ
> release. I had hit the problems with using the ajdoc tool
> with JDK 1.4 upwards and am wondering how the 're-design
> from the ground-up' was going. Is this something I could
> help out with in an Opensource manner ? The tool is
> particular was extremely useful in persuading management
> to allow the use of AspectJ and without it my argument
> is slightly weakened.
> Any response is appreciated,
>
> Cheers
>
> Russ Miles
>
> _______________________________________________
> aspectj-dev mailing list
> aspectj-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/aspectj-dev