Re: IDE

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Óscar Fuentes <address@hidden>
> Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 23:16:38 +0100
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> >> >> TAGS files can handle multiple values for the same key just well.
> >> >
> >> > If they do, they will not be able to distinguish between the
> >> > definition and the references.  All the values are equal.
> >> 
> >> I use etags-select for displaying multiple entries for the same key. The
> >> line corresponding to each value is shown, so you can locate what you
> >> want reasonably fast.
> >
> > How fast it is depends on the number of references.  It is not
> > reasonable to ask the user to examine all the references one by one in
> > order to find the single definition.  "Go to definition" should be
> > instantaneous, if we want to satisfy users.
> 
> My example shows multiple definitions of the same key taken from a TAGS
> file, which proves that you can store there multiple values for the same
> key and solve a real problem.

You are taking this sub-thread out of context.  Its context is that
TAGS cannot support both definitions and references because there's no
indication which one is which.

> > References is another matter: there users expect a list from which to
> > choose.
> 
> For references, TAGS is of little help. Grep is probably better.

ID-Utils is even better.  Etc., etc.  And that's exactly what this
sub-thread is about.

> Obviously, pointing to a data member or function and asking for the
> references to *that* data member or function is something that is beyond
> what Emacs core will provide on a realistic timeframe. People interested
> on adding that feature to Emacs core would be more productive directing
> their effort to GCC than to Emacs.

We are not talking about the Emacs core here (which does know how to
do what you say).  We are talking about TAGS and the functionality
that can be built only based on TAGS, without any other databases.