For Eiffel programming language, the
development environment is provided by the Eiffelstudio. Both of these – the
Eiffelstudio and Eiffel programming language have been developed by Eiffel software.
Presently the version 7.1 has been released.
- Eiffelstudio consists a number of
development tools namely:
- Compiler
- Interpreter
- Debugger
- Browser
- Metrics tool
- Profiler
- Diagram tool
- All these tools have been integrated
and put under the single user interface of the Eiffelstudio.
- This user
interface in turn is based on several UI paradigms that are quite specific
to one another.
- There has been done effective browsing through ‘pick and drop’
thing.
- Eiffelstudio supports a number of platforms including the following:
- Windows
- Linux
- Mac OS
- VMS and
- Solaris
- This Eiffel software product comes
with a GPL license.
- However, a number of other licenses are also available.
- Eiffelstudio
falls under the category of open source development.
- The beta versions of the
product of the following release are made available to the public at regular
intervals.
- The participation of the Eiffel community in the development of the
product has been quite active.
- A list of the open projects has even made
available on the origo web site.
- The host of this site is at ETH Zurich.
- Along
with the list, information regarding the discussion forums, basic source code for
check out etc. also has been put up.
- In the month of June 2012, the last version
7.1 was released and the successive beta releases were made available very soon
after that.
Technology behind EiffelStudio
- The compilation technology used by
the Eiffelstudio called Melting Ice is unique to the Eiffel software and is
their trademark.
- This technology integrates the interpretation process of the
elements with the proper compilation process.
- This technology offers a very
fast turnaround time.
- This also means that the time taken for recompilation
depends up on the size of the change to be made and not on the overall size of
the program.
- Such melted programs even
though can be delivered readily but still a finalization step is considered
important to be performed before the product is released.
- Finalization step
involves a very highly optimized compilation process which takes a long time
but the executable generated is optimized.
- The interpretation in eiffelstudio
is carried out through what is called the byte code-oriented virtual machine.
- Either .NET CIL or C is generated by the compiler.
History of Eiffelstudio
- The roots of the Eiffelstudio date back to when the Eiffel was first implemented by interactive
software engineering Inc.
- The Eiffel software was preceded by the interactive
software engineering Inc. -The first implementation took place in the year of
1986.
-The current technology used in Eiffelstudio evolved from the earlier
technology called the ‘Eiffel bench’ that saw its first use in the year of
1990.
- It was used along with the version 3 of the Eiffel programming language.
- In
the year 2001, the name Eiffel bench was changed to what we know now, the
‘Eiffelstudio’.
- This was also the year when the environment was developed to
obtain compatibility with the windows and a number of other platforms.
- Originally, it was only available for Unix platform.
- Since 2001, Eiffelstudio saw some
major releases with some new features:
- Version 5.0 (july
2001): The first proper version. Saw integration of the eiffelcase tool
with the eiffelbench as its diagram tool.
- Version 5.1
(December 2001): Support for .NET applications. Also called the eiffel#.
- Version 5.2
(November 2002): The debugging capabilities were extended, an improved
mechanism for C++ and C was introduced, eiffelbuild, roundtripping
abilities etc. were added.
