Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Using the Jikes compiler
The Jikes compiler isn't included with
IDEA
. To download a copy (it's free), visit
http://jikes.sourceforge.net. Jikes is available for all the platforms supported by
IDEA
, and more. Jikes offers several advantages over Javac. First and foremost,
it's an extremely fast implementation of the Java compiler. This is mainly due
to the fact that it's written in C and is thus a native application for the plat-
form it's running on. When we say
fast
, we mean it can run an order of magni-
tude faster than Javac: Running Jikes for the first time and registering its speed
is a little disorientating.
Jikes' compilation rules are strictly
by the topic—they follow the Java
language specification to the letter. If
you encounter an error, it will likely
quote the pertinent section and para-
graph number from the language
spec. Jikes also lets you do depen-
dency checking and perform incre-
mental compilations (a feature that is
unnecessary when running from
IDEA
, because
IDEA
performs its own
dependency checks). To enable Jikes,
select the
Jikes
radio button in the
Compiler
dialog (see figure 5.2), and
enter the path to the Jikes executable on your system.
Figure 5.2 The options in the Compiler
configuration window change to reflect your
compiler of choice. This figure shows the
Jikes options.
Setting compilation options
IDEA
lets you tweak the compilation as you desire. The following compilation
options are common to both Javac and Jikes:
Generate debugging info,
if enabled, makes the compiler include the
information necessary to run this class in the debugger. See chapter 6 for
more information about the debugger and generating debugging info.
■
Report use of deprecated features
enables warnings about deprecated
methods, classes, or fields encountered by the compiler. Your build will
succeed, but a warning message will be displayed in the compiler's out-
put window.
■
Generate no warnings
disables the compiler's built-in warnings about sus-
picious language usage.
■
