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SlickEdit Makes Refactoring Reality for C++ Programmers


New components allow for assembly with XML

By Jennifer deJong
May 15, 2004 — 
Refactoring, the process of optimizing existing source code to improve structure and performance, is popular in the Java and Extreme Programming worlds. However, it's been more difficult to implement refactoring in C++.

To address the problem, SlickEdit Inc. announced version 9 of its Visual SlickEdit development tool, which it claims is the first commercial tool to support C++ refactoring.

Many developers attempt to refactor C++ applications manually using search-and-replace techniques, but such efforts are rarely successful, said Sandy Smith, SlickEdit's vice president of product management and marketing. "Their managers say, 'No, don't do that. It's too time-consuming and error-prone.'"

Visual SlickEdit 9 offers a safe, accurate way to do C++ refactoring, claimed Smith. Chief among the 10 refactorings it provides are rename, which updates the rest of the code when it renames variables, methods and classes; extract method, which lets the developer create a new method from a code fragment; and encapsulate field, which generates getter and setter methods for the specified variable and makes that variable private, according to Smith.

Also new to version 9 is a GUI builder that lets Java developers construct user interfaces with Swing and AWT while simultaneously editing code; and the ability to edit, compile and debug Common Language Runtime (CLR) applications. Although Microsoft developers can perform those functions in Visual Studio, according to Smith, Visual SlickEdit's editing features, including navigation, symbol manipulation and analysis, and differencing with side-by-side comparisons, are more advanced than those in Visual Studio.

Of interest to C# developers is a code completion feature that allows them to view help and parameter information for CLR library functions from within Visual SlickEdit 9, said Smith.

CODE EDITOR TURNED IDE
Visual SlickEdit originated in 1988 as a text-based code editor, but over time it has evolved into an integrated development environment (IDE) that supports 47 languages-including C, C++, C#, COBOL, HTML, Java, Perl, Python, Visual Basic .NET and XML-and runs on Linux, Unix and Windows, according to Smith.

.

Cross-language features in version 9 include full-screen editing, which lets developers close windows, panes and icons they aren't using; dual-monitor support for those who want more work space; and an update feature that notifies developers when new patches are available.

Visual SlickEdit 9, which costs US$269 per developer, supports CodeWright emulation, allowing users of Borland's recently discontinued code editor to keep their familiar key bindings and migrate to SlickEdit. It also offers a "soft wrap" feature, which enables developers to easily view long lines of code without scrolling, said Smith.

The Linux and Windows versions of Visual SlickEdit 9 are available at a $99 upgrade price through May 31.

SlickEdit CTO Clark Maurer said the reason why C++ refactoring is so difficult to implement is that C++ still supports its non-object-oriented predecessor, C language. Neither Java nor C# includes constructs as complicated as those in C++, he said.

Java development environments, including the Eclipse open-source framework, Borland's JBuilder and JetBrains' IntelliJ, support refactoring. JetBrains also is expected to release a C# tool that supports refactoring.

Refactored applications not only perform better, Smith said, but are easier to maintain and enhance.


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