Optimizing an IDE for an Evolving Language Ecosystem

TL;DR

This paper presents a strategy for developing a high-performance, feature-rich IDE for the evolving Move smart contract language ecosystem, leveraging the Language Server Protocol and core compiler infrastructure.

Contribution

It introduces a scalable IDE development approach tailored for an evolving language ecosystem, emphasizing infrastructure evolution and optimization techniques.

Findings

Utilized Language Server Protocol for IDE support.

Implemented infrastructure optimizations for language growth.

Shared lessons learned for similar future developments.

Abstract

This paper describes a strategy for developing a high performance and feature-rich IDE for an evolving smart contract language ecosystem. Our target is Move, a programming language for the Sui smart contracts platform. The strategy we chose to support the Move language ecosystem utilizes Language Server Protocol (LSP) and it is based on the already existing "core" language machinery, in particular the core language compiler. We discuss alternatives we considered, as well as the evolution of our infrastructure that was necessary to keep up with the growth of the language ecosystem, particularly with respect to optimizations (and their impact) that needed to be implemented to accommodate this growth. We conclude with lessons learned during the IDE support development process that we hope will be beneficial for others attempting to follow a similar path.