Question

Good day. We are working on the framework for computer algebra on Java. At this point it can be used only programmatically (eg. you need to write some code on java or groovy to use it), but it is not so user friendly. It is too complicated to set up a whole development environment and to use Java syntax just to solve some simple problem.

We are now looking for some relatively simple way to create a user interface and syntax for it. Our idea is to use some existing Java-compatible language with simple and powerful syntax (we are thinking about groovy) to write a binding to our library that will hide underlying complex infrastructure with some more natural syntax.

For example:

Java:

Tensor t1 = Tensors.parse(“T_mn”);
Tensor t2 = Tensors.parse(“2*T_mn”);
Tensor sum = Tensors.sum(t1,t2);
System.out.println(sum.toString(ToStringMode.LaTeX));

Groovy:

def t1 = parse ‘T_mn’
def t2 = parse ‘2*T_mn’
def sum = t1+t2
latexOut(sum)

We need a language with a good IDE (with auto-completion at least), which can be adapted (embeded) for our needs.

What can you recommend for this task ( IDE-Language combination )?

Answer 1

I recommend you take a look at Xtext (a framework for building source editors in Eclipse) and Xtend (a simple language that you can use as-is or extend for you own needs).