Discussion: Has Anyone Ever Marveled at the Complexity of a Code Editor in the IDE?

[StoneCodeMonkey]

This post isn't about asking a question, it's more of a discussion.

I've been setting around, hacking out some code for work, and was thinking that I really like the features available in the code editor (VS2010). Of course this got me thinking about how all of these great features are implemented.

Consider the following...

• It must know the rules of the language, how it is constructed.
• It does syntax highlighting.
• It recognizes comments.
• It recognizes string literals.
• It does auto-indent.
• Put your cursor on a symbol and it highlights all other instances. Control>Shift>Arrow takes you to the next instance.
• It has Intelli-sense. It recognizes your symbols real time and shows methods, events, fields, etc. Wow!
• It has snippets.
• It has collapsible regions.
• It has little popups to help you find just the right item.
• It supports debugging.

It is an amazing piece of work. In my opinion it is probably one of the most elaborate controls you can find in the software world.

Regards,

Edit: Check out this link for Extending the Editor
Extending the Editor

 

[BleedNBlue]

Completely agree! Microsoft has always built amazing IDEs.