CuspA Lisp plugin for Eclipse
What is it?
Cusp is a development environment for Lisp built on top of the Eclipse platform. It runs SBCL and hooks into the Swank half of Slime. It provides a repl, project manager, an outline of your code for simple navigation, code editor, syntax highlighting, auto-indentation, parenthesis matching, auto-completion, library management, and more.
Cusp is both free of charge and free of warranty (however, if you're itching to be parted from your money, there is a tip jar). It is developed by Tim Jasko, Sergey Kolos, and others.
Further questions can be answered at the FAQ or cusp-development@googlegroups.com.
Sergey Kolos has a Cusp tutorial, where you can also find much fresher builds, with many of the nifty new features you'd find in the repository. Personally, I recommend his build, but keep in mind that some things in it are still fairly experimental. He also has an experimental Eclipse Update site for Cusp, though it is in a very early stage, and you'll need to provide your own sbcl. If you don't understand the previous sentence, just use one of the download links. The cutting edge can hurt!
Download version 0.9, released Sept 8, 2007
Screenshots
Autocompletion
Docstring & Parameter hints
Macro expansion
Download version 0.9, Sept 8, 2007 (Changelog)
Choose the appropriate download and unzip it to your eclipse plugins directory.
Getting Started
- Make sure you have the latest version of Eclipse running under Java 5.
- Download the appropriate version of Cusp for your operating system and unzip it into the plugins folder in the Eclipse directory.
- Start Eclipse. Go to Window > Open Perspective > Other... and choose Lisp.
- Right click in the Lisp Navigator and select New > Project. Choose Lisp Project in the wizard, give it a name of your chosing and hit Finish.
- Open the Lisp file in the project you just created and code away!
Why Cusp?
Because EcLisp, however clever the name might have been, was already taken.
Why use Cusp?
There are many reasons you might prefer to use Cusp over Slime, including but not limited to:
- You're just starting with Lisp, and don't want to go through the many-step process of downloading and building sbcl, doing a cvs checkout of Slime, Installing Emacs, and then setting everything up to work together.
- Project management. It really is nice to have.
- It's pretty.
- You hate Emacs.
Of course, there are certainly reasons to prefer Slime:
- You're used to it already.
- RSI builds character.
- You love Emacs.
Handy Key Shortcuts
All commands can be seen in the "Lisp" menu when you have a Lisp file open. Still, here's a quick reference to the most handy ones:
- Alt+C - Compile current expression
- Alt+K - Compile current file
- Alt+. - Go to the definition of the current symbol
- Alt+H - Open the Hyperspec definition of the current symbol
- Alt+U - Undefine the current symbol
While in the Repl, use Ctrl+P and Ctrl+N to move through the history of commands you have sent. Or just click the history button and find them in the menu.