[wingide-users] Word completion and refactoring support

[Geoff Bache]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
> This is a case where Wing can't infer the type of param1 even when 
> it's totally obvious to a person and refuses to guess.  We hope to 
> improve the inference engine in the future so more of these cases can 
> be inferred.  A workaround for now is to insert 'assert isinstance' 
> calls, which isn't ideal but a few strategically placed calls can go a 
> long way.

Another workaround is to use longer methods, lots of global variables 
and not drive design from actual usage :) That way you'll get lots more 
autocompletion help...

>> (3) Reading the list of feature additions in Wing 3.0 made it seem to 
>> me like the bulk of the effort is being put into improving the
>> debugger. To me this seems a shame when more and more people are 
>> moving away from using debuggers towards driving development
>> with tests.
>
> We see testing and debugging as complementary -- a test can fail and 
> then the debugger is awfully handy in figuring out what is wrong and 
> how to fix it.  Yes, some argue that debuggers aren't necessary but 
> that's been the case for years and other developers have found 
> debuggers to be invaluable.

OK, but we both agree there is a substantial proportion of the 
development community that doesn't believe in debuggers, and it includes 
some fairly high profile people (and, I would guess, a high proportion 
of those who prefer developing in a dynamic language). I don't think 
there's many people that wouldn't welcome better autocompletion or 
refactoring support. To me it seems a sensible strategy to concentrate 
on basic stuff that will help everybody.

Regards,
Geoff Bache