Re: I have a dream... about tags

[Scott Frazer <frazer.scott@gmail.com>]

Nordlöw wrote:
> I have a dream...
> 
> I have been using gtags (GNU GLOBAL) for some time now. The problem
> with gtags is that is does not handle C++ namespaces, that is you
> can't lookup ClassName::member just by entering this language
> construct from the minibuffer.

[snip]

> etags can however lookup such ClassName::member C++ constructs, which
> is great. But, for what I have seen, etags has other deficiencies. It
> doesn't handle lookups of symbols that have multiple definitions
> (occur multiple times and/or in different files/functions).

Sure it does.  Besides tags-loop-continue, see:

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/EtagsSelect

> Nor does it index static variables.

Try using this, it's much more thorough:

http://ctags.sourceforge.net/

> I also haven't found a way to lookup all
> uses (calls) of a structure, variable or function, which gtags can do.

I find recursive grep good enough for that.

> Has anyone else also found these problems annoying, and perhaps found
> some solutions to them? Are there alternatives to etags or gtags that
> solves these problems?
> 
> Personally, what I really think Emacs needs is a unified way to reach
> *all* parts of your content in your project, regardless of whether
> they occur multiple times, are static in C, private in C++, etc. Al
> this should be reachable from a single interaction in the minibuffer,
> of course with completion. These are the main categories of patterns
> that I thinks should be possible to enter in my unified version of
> find-tag that I am day-dreaming about:
> 
> C_Struct::struct_member_x
> C_Union::union_member_x
> C_Enum::enum_member_x
> 
> Cpp_class::member_function()
> 
> <some-file.h>::function_declaration()
> <some-file.h>::inline_function_definition()
> <some-file.c>::function_definition()
> <some-file.c>::function_definition()::local_variable
> <first-file.c>::commonly_named_global_variable
> <second-file.c>::commonly_named_global_variable
> 
> As you can see the scope operator :: is thereby also used to reach
> file- and/or function- local content.
> 
> I have a dream...

Try the above suggestions, maybe you can get close enough :)

Scott