Nedit skill highlight revisited

Hi,
I downloaded the skill highlight pats from www.nedit.org. This file has a
major flaw, it doesn't add syntax highlight because of one missing command
line that tells nedit about the highlight.

Here is a working version. You may need to fix some newlines because the
original is not limited to 75 characters per line.

! Syntax Highlighting Patterns for SKILL-Code (script-language of the
Cadence
! Design System).
!
! These are written for the "c" type syntax vs the lisp syntax. In these
! patterns a procedure call, "function(" will be highlighted differently
from
! a variable + paren, "function (" so you can tell if you have a white
space
! error.
!
! Contributed by Andrew Stanaski
!
! In NEdit Version 5.0.1 and beyond, load this pattern by starting nedit
with:
!
! nedit -import <name of this file>
!
! Then, check that the patterns were loaded correctly, and choose Save
Defaults
! from the Preferences menu. The new patterns will now be incorporated into
! your own .nedit file, so the next time you start NEdit, you will no longer
! need to use -import.
!
! In version 5.0, without -import, you must edit your .nedit file by hand
and
! add the contents of each resource below to the corresponding list in your
! .nedit file. Be sure to separate new entries with \n, and continue
resource
! strings by escaping all newlines within a resource value with \
(backslash),
! leaving only the last line of the resource value not ending in \.
!
nedit.highlightPatterns:\
Skill:1:0{\n\
comment:"/\\*":"\\*/"::Comment::\n\
skill comment:";":"$"::Comment::\n\
string:"""":"""":"\\n":String::\n\
string escape chars:"\\\\(.|\\n)":::String:string:\n\
numeric constant:"<((0(x|X)[0-9a-fA-F]*)|(([0-9]+\\.?[0-9]*)|(\\
[0-9]+))((e|E)(\\+|-)?[0-9]+)?)(L|l|UL|ul|u|U|F|f)?>"::reprocessor:\n\
procedure calls:"<(procedure|return)\\("::lain:\n\
procedure color:"\\1":""::Storage Typerocedure callsC\n\
control calls:"<(if|when|unless|cond|case|caseq|while|for
foreach)\\("::lain:\n\
control color:"\\1":""::Subroutine:control callsC\n\
control then else:"<(then|else)>":::Subroutine:\n\
function calls:"<([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_?]*)\\("::lain:\n\
function color:"\\1":""::Identifier1:function callsC\n\
braces:"[{}]":::Comment:\n\
}
nedit.languageModes: Skill:.il .tf::::::\n\

 

Thanks!

 

Well, personally I use vi, and since I write in LISP syntax, I use vi's lisp
mode set lisp ai) which does all the indentation for you. I did write my own
pp version a while ago which pp's using the same indentation rules as vi does.

The trouble with pp is that you lose the comments, so it's not a particularly
good approach.

If I write in C syntax, I use vi's autoindent mode too, with a shiftwidth of
4, to indent in 4 space chunks. I then use ^T and ^D in input mode to
indent or back out of an indent. In non-input mode, I use the < and >
commands to adjust indentation of existing code.

I do have a number of macros that I use in vi (others use them in nedit) to do
commenting neatly (for example, I have a program which allows me to put very
flexible boxes around text).

That said, I've never written a SKILL beautifier, which is probably what
you're after.

Most decent editors have functions to allow you to adjust indent levels
easily, so it's mainly a matter of discipline when you write the code. I
always think you should write your code beautifully in the first place, since
the layout of the code helps you understand it better as you're writing it.
Trying to fix it up automatically afterwards is never going to be as
effective.

It's much the same reason why you should comment as you go along - otherwise
you'll never go back and do it. Often commenting makes you think more
carefully about the code, and more likely to identify bugs early.

Two of my former colleagues, Ian Dobinson and James Kenney, wrote a style
checker, along the lines of SKILL Lint (which they were also involved in),
which allowed you to define a set of style rules, and then check that you'd
adhered to them. Quite neat!

Regards,

Andrew.

 

Did you cut and paste from the article, or did you get it from
www.nedit.org? If you got it from the article, you may need to check the
newlines. If you got it from the web, you only need to add the line:

nedit.highlightPatterns:\

before the

Skill:1:0{\n\

line. I assume you have nedit version > 5.0