Scala IDE Versions

There are currently two versions of the plugin that are actively maintained: wip_exp_backport (using the 2.8.1 Scala compiler) and wip_experiment (using the 2.9.0-SNAPSHOT (nightly) Scala compiler). The Eclipse plugin relies on the Scala compiler for almost everything (hyperlinking, code completion, error reporting), therefore the dependency on a Scala version.

Besides the compiler, the two versions differ in the features they implement:

• the one based on 2.9 (wip_experiment) favors reliability over the feature set: hyperlinking, completion, real-time error reporting (report errors as you type) are all working well for large projects. To get to this stage, all features were stripped down and carefully tested/reimplemented on a firm foundation. As times go by, more features will be implemented/ported from the other branch

• the one based on 2.8.1 (wip_exp_backport) tries to get the best of both worlds: it backported many of the improvements done in the 2.9 compiler interface, while keeping and integrating all the existing features.

We plan to merge the two versions in the near future, and provide a single stable version of the plugin. It is very hard to give a precise date, but we hope that it will be done by the end of April 2011.

Feature matrix

Until we manage to merge the two development branches, here's a feature matrix to help you choose between them.

(1) improved granularity within for-comprehensions and XML literals; some bugs fixed, esp. off-by-one errors with braces; better heuristics as to which AST nodes to skip during expansion.

(2) time to backport and merge