From https://www.eclipsecon.org/france2018/session/ignite-talks IDE as a Front-end and Fast time-to-market language support in Eclipse IDE relying on LSP, TextMate and CLI C# and Rust case studies

1. IDE as a Front-end and Fast time-to-market
language support in Eclipse IDE relying on LSP,
TextMate and CLI
C# and Rust case studies
Mickael Istria - @mickaelistria CC0 – No rights reserved

2. Language Server Protocol
Request/response/notifications based between client (IDE) and LS
Dedicated to text edition
Standardized messages and protocol.
IDE /
Text Editor
Language and code
Analysis smartness
Provides:
● Validation
● Quickfixes
● Completion
● Hover
● Outline
● References
● Rename
● ….

3. Java JS TS C# XText JSon Ceylon Rust ...
Eclipse IDE
VSCode
Eclipse Che
Emacs
Eclipse Theia
Gnome-Builder
...
Eclipse IDE
VSCode
Eclipse Che
Emacs
Eclipse Theia
Gnome-Builder
...
Java
JS
TS
C#
XText
JSON
Ceylon
Rust
...
Language Server Protocol
M languages (12)
N IDEs/Editors (63)
x
Complex and specific
Integrations (756)
M languages (12)
N IDEs/Editors (63)
+ Simpler and reusable
Integrations (75)

4. LSP @Eclipse
● 1 SDK
– Eclipse LSP4J
● 4 clients IDEs
– Eclipse IDE (LSP4E)
– Eclipse Che
– Eclipse Theia
– Eclipse Orion
● 3 language servers
– Eclipse JDT.LS (used by VSCode)
– Eclipse Xtext
– Eclipse Ceylon
● 2 integrations
– Eclipse aCute (C#)
– Eclipse Corrosion (Rust)
● 1 discovery solution
– Eclipse LSPHub
At least, 11 related
Eclipse.org projects

5. TextMate for syntax highlighting
A grammar file configures syntax highlighting for one language

6. TextMate ecosystem
● 240 repos under https://github.com/textmate
● At least 4 clients: Eclipse IDE (TM4E),
TextMate, VSCode, Atom
N x M
960 specific integrations
N + M
244 reusable integrations

7. TextMate @Eclipse
● 1 SDK
– Eclipse TM4E (provides plain Java API for parsing
TextMate files + integration in Eclipse IDE)
● 2 integrations
– Eclipse aCute
– Eclipse Corrosion

8. language-configuration.json
● Configures
– matching brackets
(highlight, auto-close, jump
to...)
– comments
● Semi-standard from
VSCode
● Supported by
Eclipse TM4E
● Hundreds on GitHub

9. Eclipse IDE – Generic Editor
Pure legacy JFace interfaces → old and new
code reusable in whole Eclipse Platform
Generic Editor
...
completion
hover
Mark occurences
Syntax highlighting / presentation reconciler

10. 2 new integrations
New
in
Photon!

11. C# with Eclipse aCute
Uses OmniSharp LS +
TextMate grammar
+ New wizard w/ dotnet CLI
+ Build config w/ dotnet CLI
+ Run config w/ dotnet CLI
+ Export wizard w/ dotnet CLI

12. Rust with Eclipse Corrosion
Use RustLS +
TextMate Grammar
+ New wizard w/ cargo CLI
+ Build config w/ cargo CLI
+ Run config w/ cargo CLI
+ Export wizard w/ cargo CLI
+ Debug with cargo + gdb (use
CDT integration)
+ EPP package Eclipse IDE for
Rust developers

13. Low code Architecture
org.eclipse.ui.
genericeditor
...
completion
autoedit
hover
presentation reconciler
org.eclipse.core.
resources
Org.eclipse.ui.ide
...
...
markers
markerResolution
TM4E
language-
configuration.json
LSP4E
TextMate
Grammar
Language
Server
(Provider)
Rich editor integration
from 35 lines!

14. LSP integration
● 5 lines of Java to start the server + 11 lines of
XML to bind the server

15. TextMate integration
Languageconfiguration.json integration
17 lines of XML
6 lines of XML

16. Where is my LS? Mulitple strategies
Assume it’s a pre-requisite and find it on filesystem,
or
Ship it inside a plugin/fragment (aCute),
or
Provision it on user’s machine
from the IDE (Corrosion)

17. IDE as a “front-end” vs
reimplementing language logic
Easier to implement +++
As feature rich ===
Consistent UX across plugins ++
Reusability of various layers ++++++
Factorization ++++
Faster time to market ++++

18. What now?
● Applies to so many languages
● Applies to other IDEs (including Eclipse Che,
Eclipse Theia, Eclipse Orion..)
● ADOPT NOW!

19. What’s next?
Debug Adapter Protocol (already supported in
LSP4E)
Test Server Protocol (experimental WIP)
Provisioning Project Protocol (experimental
WIP)
Build Server Protocol (experimental WIP)
…

20. Mickael Istria - @mickaelistria CC0 – No rights reserved
TL (seriously?); DR:
● ADOPT existing standardized devtools artifacts
(LS, TextMate,…)
● CREATE reusable standard-ish artifacts for you
languages
● CREATE clients for these artifacts
● INTEGRATE more language in your favorite
IDEs!