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FAQ What is eScript?
We designed and implemented eScript to describe the various steps in adding support for a new programming language to Eclipse. Our eScript is not an official product but simply serves as an experiment for this book.
The idea behind eScript is that someone can implement an Eclipse plug-in by using a simple script language instead of using a sometimes complicated and confusing combination of XML and Java. Figure 19.1 is a sample eScript that declares an update site containing a feature that contains a plug-in that contributes to the org.eclipse.ui.actionSets extension point.
<img src=../images/escript_editor.png>
Figure 19.1 An eScript example
The eScript language uses as much inferencing as possible. It does not need import statements, type declarations, or even the declaration of a required interface (the example in Figure 19.1 implements IActionDelegate, but nowhere is this specified in the script). Whenever possible, types and identities are inferred from the environment.
Files containing eScript scripts are compiled into Java bytecodes with the eScript compiler. The compiler generates a plugin.xml file and a JAR containing autogenerated Java class files.
This FAQ was originally published in Official Eclipse 3.0 FAQs. Copyright 2004, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. This text is made available here under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0.