Context sensitive Fortran language reference (similar to F1 in QVF of IVF) in Photran/Eclipse

[Alex_S_5]

Here is my post I made on the Photran/Eclipse forum:
(here isthe link http://dev.eclipse.org/mhonarc/lists/photran/msg01543.html)

Is there a context sensitive Fortran language reference in Photran,
similar to F1 help functionality in the Microsoft Dev Studio/Intel Fortran?
If not are there plans to introduce one?
We do our code development on the PC side under Windows XP
using both Compaq Visual Fortran and Intel Visual Fortran and then
shadow source onto the Linux side and use a makefile to build the code
and then execute on Linux clusters.
In general we are satisfied with the whole process, except it requires
maintaining two sets of libraries (include FFTW, MKL, IDF, MPI,...)
on both Linux and Windows platforms. And switching to new
versions can be a pain. So, we are looking into ways to abandon
the PC side altogether.

In both PC environments one can highlight any Fortran statement
(e.g. OPEN or FORMAT or RESHAPE) and press F1 and it will
open a help file with the description and examples.

I have been using this F1 help system since ~1990
or so first in the Borland Turbo Pascal and C++ and later
in Microsoft Power Fortran, Dev Studios, etc. etc.
and have grown very accustomed to it.

The Photran developers/contributors reply was that
(please follow the thread from the link above):

"...Photran does not currently have this feature. If we had documentation (under an EPL-compatible license), we could integrate it without too much effort, but I am not aware of any open-source Fortran reference that we could use. If you have any ideas, please do let us know."


Is Intel interested in porting their Help system to Photran/Eclipse?
It seems like it would be a win/win situation: Intel would expand their
support of the Linux platform and had somebody else do the job for them
(except converting their EXISTING help files into a required format) and
we, the fortran users, would finally have anIDE comparable to what
we have been enjoing on the Windows since, at least, Microsoft Power Fortran.

[Ron_Green]

We do get requests to support an integration into Eclipse/Photran, and it's an existing feature request. This would be a superset of your request for Help documentation integration into Eclipse. And if you follow this forum you'll see discussions about Eclipse/Photran and other Linux IDEs. Unfortunately, we have yet to see widespread adoption of Eclipse/Photran. Certainly there are many users, and they are quite passionate about Eclipse/Photran. But it is far from universal in the way that MS Visual Studio is universal on Windows (by some estimates, 98% of Windows developers use Visual Studio). So at this time, Intel does not have plans for a supported Eclipse integration kit from Intel for our Fortran compiler for Linux. We do look at this feature request at each major compiler planning phase. And we continue to follow the development of Eclipse/Photran. It is certainly improving and making progress towards wider adoption.

An open source effort to create the Fortran-language specific help doc set for Eclipse does seem to have merit. HOWEVER, I would suggest that this effort not be led by any individual vendor. Rather, the community should work together. If any 1 vendor did attempt this, I can guarantee there would be a blacklash along the lines of "who are to DEFINE the Fortran language!!!". Especially if it came from a large corporation like Intel. This is just our nature as a linux community :) It would have to be a community effort so as not to appear biased.

A good discussion topic for sure, and one that should be pursued further via the Photran community at large.

ron

[Alex_S_5]

Thanks, ron, for the reply.
I will communicate it to the Photran forum.
Alex