[nfbcs] Accessibility of Eclipse and How to Debug and use code completion

[Tony Malykh]

Hi Timothy,
I have successfully used Eclipse to debug code in Java and Python. 
Debugging C++ is more complicated, I believe it is still doable. but  It 
takes some time to figure out all the options, but once you have all of 
them correct, debugging will make your life easier. It is almost accessible.
The main problem with debugging with screenreader is that it wouldn't 
tell you if there's a breakpoint set on a current line. Or if current 
statement is in current line it wouldn't tell you either. ( was using 
Eclipse with NVDA, please let me know if I'm wrong and there is a way to 
make NVDA announce breakpoints and current execution statement, or if 
Jaws can do that.)
But these are things you can infer from other sources. There is 
breakpoints window in eclipse where you can see all your currrent 
breakpoints. As for current line of execution, you just need to keep in 
mind that once you step through the code, it will take your cursor 
there. So if your cursor has jumped somewhere after you pressed "Step 
over" command for example, that means that current statement has 
advanced to wherever your cursor has jumped.
Then there is Expressions view in eclipse where you can check the values 
of your variables. Then there is Debug view where you can see all your 
threads and their stacktraces if they are paused. You can also infer 
current point of execution from this debug window.
I cannot say much about code completion as I don't use it myself. I have 
tried it with Pydev in eclipse and I found it egregiously annoying as it 
would try to insert keywords that I don't need too often, so I always 
disable it. Java autocompletion might be better.

Best
Tony

On 4/20/2019 12:52 PM, Timothy Breitenfeldt via nfbcs wrote:
> Hi, I am a computer science major, in my last quarter of my degree. I
> use Jaws and NVDA as my primary screen readers. I have used Eclipse as
> my primary IDE of choice for the past year or so. I have struggled in
> the past picking up modern mainstream IDEs do to the complexities of
> the user interfaces, and I wasn't feeling like I was gaining much more
> than what simpler code editors like ED Sharp, or Notepad++ had to
> offer. Eclipse is the IDE that my university uses, and from my
> research, is amung the most accessible.
>
> I still frequently use ED Sharp, but I have started using Eclipse
> because it does provide some useful features that I can't get in ED
> Sharp. I know that Eclipse is far more complicated, and has far more
> features than I am aware of, and some that I know of that are not very
> accessible.
>
> My main questions are how to debug in Eclipse? and has anyone actually
> found the code completion in eclipse useful as a screen reader  user?
>
> I regularly work with classmates who are using eclipse, and when we
> are trying to debug our code, they will open up the Eclipse debugger,
> and have the ability to step through the code and see the values of
> the variables as the program runs. This seems very useful, but I have
> never been able to figure out how to use any debugger with Jaws or
> NVDA. I have just debugged the old fassion way, by dropping in print
> statements in places where I believe the code is crashing. Has anyone
> managed to use the Eclipse debugger, and found it to be useful when
> using Jaws or NVDA? If so, can you share how to use the debugger?
>
> My second question is about Eclipse code  completion. I have found the
> Eclipse code completion system more frustrating than helful, at least
> the part that I see. Eclipse will try to guess what I am trying to
> type, and auto fil the rest of my statement, but I get no indication
> through Jaws or NVDA that code completion just occured. I know of no
> way to actually take advantage of code completion with Jaws or NVDA by
> choosing out of a list of auto complete options. I have used visual
> studeo a bit, and found that intelisense, microsofts code completion
> tool, is very accessible. Can Eclipse achieve a similar effect? Is
> there a way to make it accessible?
>
> Visual studeo has its own issues that I found, that there are probably
> work arounds for, but figuring out what my errors were, was the
> biggest issue. That may be a topic for a different thread though.
>
> What is people's experience using Eclipse, do you use Jaws or NVDA? I
> have found Jaws to work the best personally because jaws will actually
> notify you in line if there is a syntax error, then all I have to do
> is press f2 on the code and it will provide options for fixing the
> issue. I wasn't able to get that behavior using NVDA.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions of plugins, resources, or even other
> IDE that would work better?
>
> Sorry that this is such a lengthy post, as a senior computer science
> student, it is just frustrating that I don't know how to use the tools
> available for debugging code, and have the ability to take advantage
> of a lot of the features that most sited programmers use every day.
>
> Thanks,
>
> TJ Breitenfeldt
>
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