View source for Support seamless debugging between JDT and CDT

Student: Mariot Chauvin (IRC: moksha_anderson)

Mentors: Philippe Ombredanne (IRC: pombreda), Francois Granade (IRC: farialima)

This project is part of the [[Google Summer of Code 2007]]


==Introduction==

Eclipse is an extensible framework to build modular applications, which relies on OSGi component architecture. Originally developed to provide an IDE extensible in terms of functionalities and supported languages with plugins, Eclipse can now be used as a Rich Client Platform ([[RCP]]). The success of the Java Development Toolkit ([[JDT]]) plugin has leaded the development of numerous plugins. For instance the C/C++ Development Toolkit ([[CDT]]) plugin allows developers to use it as IDE for project in C or C++ language. The use of Eclipse as a generic IDE is possible due to the notion of perspective (a perspective corresponds to a certain disposition of the graphical elements) which adapts the user interface to the kind of project.

Java Native Interface (JNI) is a programming interface to call native methods or to embed java virtual machine in native applications. JNI is often used to interact with existing native application, to add platform-specific functions, or to improve time-performance (by supposing native methods faster than java code). 

Currently, when users work on a java project using JNI and native code, they have to switch between perspective, which is not practical. Another point to improve is the debugging of this kind of project, by allowing developers to follow native method calls into native code and go back.

==Goals of the project==

* Create new or 'mixed' perspectives to manage project using C/C++ and Java
* Add the possibility to follow native methods calls into native code

== Work done == 

=First step=
* documentation :
**http://developers.sun.com/learning/javaoneonline/2006/tools/TS-1011.pdf
**http://www.kineteksystems.com/white-papers/mixedjavaandc.html
**http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jnidebug/index.html?dwzone=java

==Roadmap==
* until May 28 : Announce the project and check the existing work (see [http://cdtdoug.blogspot.com/2006/09/jdtcdt-cant-we-just-get-along.html]). Get feedback from [[CDT]] and [[JDT]] community and discuss with them about the project 
* until beginning or mid of August : Implement the work on perspectives first and then the native method calls follow-up
* Integration and tests with the help of the Eclipse community