[Lazarus] Q: Compiler features as a service to Lazarus

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Tue, 24 Nov 2015, Anthony Walter wrote:

> I have a tangential question related to Sven's new generic features and
> thought it deserved its own thread.

[snip]

> **This tutorial demonstrates how to use the editor services provided by the
> compiler. This API is used to provide auto-complete, tool-tips, parameter
> info help, matching of brackets and other functions in editors including
> Visual Studio, Xamarin Studio and Emacs.**
>
> http://fsharp.github.io/FSharp.Compiler.Service/editor.html
>
> If they can do it, why can't we?

Because 
1. We don't want to.
    The amount of work needed to accomplish that is prohibitive.
    The compiler structure is currently entirely unsuitable for this purpose.

2. The codetools continue to work even if the sources do not compile.
    Not always, but often.
    This is simply not possible if you use the compiler itself.

And I think you highly exaggerate the amount of time it takes for Mattias to enable 
new features in the IDE codetools. If he is aware of a new feature, it generally is 
added to the IDE very quickly.

On the whole, I tend to see the current situation as a plus, rather than a minus.

Michael.