[Bluej-discuss] Feature request

[Ian Barland]

A feature I'd love to see in a future release: when making new instances via
the pull-down menu, have BlueJ show not just the constructor call, but
*also* the variable declaration/assignment.  In ascii art:

Current BlueJ:

                         ___________
     name of instance:  | flooBa1   |
                         -----------
                          _____
           new FlooBar ( |     | )
                          -----


Desired BlueJ:

              __________                  ____
     FlooBar | flooBa1  | = new FlooBar( |    | );
              ----------                  ----

The way BlueJ's gui interface includes the actual java code is great; this
would strengthen that connection.  It's not that I mind the hint "name of
instance" -- in fact, I wouldn't mind pointing out explicitly that there is
declaring a name *and* creating a new instance, making it clear those are
two different steps (three, if you count assignment).  I find the sooner
students understand each part, the fewer problems they have writing their
own functions from scratch.

              __________                  ____
     FlooBar | flooBa1  | = new FlooBar( |    | );
              ----------                  ----

                 ^        ^    ^           ^
                 |        |    |           \---- constructor args
Declare a name --/   assign    construct a new instance
                   

            [ ] Don't show these tips again


(or perhaps the tips would read like English:
          "name   ...   gets  ... a new instance")
I am unsure, where to display the constructor¹s javadoc comments so that
they are clearly associated with the constructor call but not the assignment
part.  (This wrinkle is present in the current version, too.)




Hmm, I realize it'd be confusing to change gui aspects which would then look
different than existing textbooks.  Perhaps there could be a preference
setting which is "view gui as shown in book" by default, but might also have
"view gui v2".  (Such a mode could have the Code Pad initially displayed by
default; the code pad is great, but my students don¹t spontaneously use it
if it¹s not already displayed.)


Just my 0.02 --
Ian