Eclipse plugin: Bad version number in .class file

I'm using eclipse (MyEclipse) and loaded the JavaCC plugin. The editor wouldn't open, complaining about a bad version number in .class file.

The problem was that the plugin had been compiled using java 1.6, and eclipse was running on a 1.5 jvm. I'm not sure of the best way to find what jvm version eclipse is running from.

I'm not quite sure how I could tell that, except I looked at the properties of the icon I used to start eclipse and the "target" was
"C:\Program Files\MyEclipse 6.5\eclipse\eclipse.exe" -vm "C:\Program Files\MyEclipse6.5\jre\bin\javaw.exe"

I tried
C:\Program Files\MyEclipse 6.5\jre\bin>java -version
java version "1.5.0_11"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_11-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_11-b03, mixed mode)

So I needed to start up Eclipse with a different vm:
"C:\Program Files\MyEclipse 6.5\eclipse\eclipse.exe" -vm "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_05\bin\javaw.exe"

It all works fine now.

Antlr, Ganymede, MyEclipse, Subclipse, and Pulse

I'm trying to write a little lexer/parser for a new project. I've explored ANTLR and JavaCC - a bit hard to choose, but these opinions (still relevant!) suggest Antlr. A nice eclipse plugin could easily make the difference. ANTLR comes with its own gui tool, which is quite nice, but not integrated.

I noticed there's an Antlr plugin, but it's not very easy to get it to work in eclipse3.3 - various dependency issues were hard to satisfy. Advice on a forum seemed to be that it was better to use the brand new eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede). Now MyEclipse doesn't have a "generally available" Ganymede release out yet, but they have just put out version 7 Milestone 1 as a kind of beta. I would normally wait a bit longer before trying it, but with all my spare time...

I decided that the Pulse business looked interesting - might save some of the dependency fussing too. It allows you to store one (or several) profiles for different sets of eclipse plugins, and execute whichever one you want. It's apparently a popular way for people to try out this MyEclipse 7M1, so I gave it a go. It wasn't quite as straightforward as I expected.

They do package a bunch of plugins that I like (subclipse and texclipse in particular). It seems that formatonsave isn't compatible with Ganymede yet. And I noticed that the subclipse version (must have been 1.2) wasn't compatible with the checked out projects that I already had in my workspace (using subclipse 1.4). I don't know why they don't use subclipse 1.4. And why did the Eclipse people choose subversive as their standard instead of subclipse? Doesn't seem to have been a smooth introduction.

One thing about Pulse which seems complex: If you want to add a plugin that isn't already in their catalog, it seems you have to start Eclipse, and then load the plugin there. You can say whether you want Pulse to manage it (although you need to have a Freelance account, which isn't free, if you do). The price of the Freelance account is pretty low ($60 per year, after a 1 month free trial). I'm quite happy to pay small prices for good packaging (like MyEclipse), but I'm not quite sure I see the value yet for Pulse. If I could get the free trial to work, I'd let you know.

Oh, and a random comment: today's upgrade to Firefox 3 was considerably simpler than the pulse stuff!

Links

Bill Mitchell's Page of per-capita & per-GDP Olympic medal tallies
I think I'm a bit like Bill - I don't like watching the Olympics, and I get a bit turned off by all the hysteria. But there is interesting data to explore.

Features Archive: MyEclipse Delivers Advanced Ajax Tools for Ganymede
I'm not sure how long it should take for the latest Eclipse to emerge from Genuitec, but I'm sure a month or two won't be noticed in the long run.

Meme Agora: 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know
Useful patterns.

Commit regularly - advice from a couple of blogs I've read this week:
Coding Horror: Check In Early, Check In Often and clipboarded: for frequent commits

There were these three choirs

I've had a week of marvellous music at the 281st Three Choirs Festival. The Cathedral Choirs of Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester (and their friends in other choirs, orchestras, and small ensembles) have been doing it for some time now, so perhaps you'd expect it to be good.

• Opening service: Howells Collegium Regale Te Deum and Jubilate; Vaughan Williams Lord, Thou hast been our refuge and Old 100th (Although Howells is still probably my favourite composer, I'd forgotten just how amazing some VW music is.)
  


• Choral concert: Elgar The Apostles


• Baroque Splendour: Handel Zadok the Priest, O Praise the Lord with one consent; Garth Cello concerto No 5; Purcell Hail, bright Cecilia!
  


• Messaien Quatuor pour la fin du temps. Heard it before, but this was an outstanding performance. Clarinet crescendi were brilliant.


• Passion and Pomp: Tchaikowsky Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-overture; Elgar Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6; Ferguson Amore Langueo; Gant A British Symphony.


• Cathedral Lay Clerks in Concert: Madrigals, songs, spirituals, and close harmony. Most entertaining - I wished that I could have been in one of those choirs.


• Vespers for St Wulfstan (for the 1000th anniversary of his death, using old Worcester plainsong).


• Bach and Bells: Bach Christmas Oratorio (What interesting instruments the Academy of Ancient Music have - baroque trumpets, with finger holes not valves, and funny curved oboe da caccias.


• Saintly Visions: Elgar Overture Froissart; Mussorgsky (arr Stokowski) Pictures at an Exhibition (don't think I've seen 7 french horns in an orchestra - fantastic performance); Britten St Nicolas.


• David Rees-Williams Trio: piano, bass, and drums with improvisations on works by Debussy, Bossi, Vivaldi, etc.


• Seascapes: Messiaen Les offrandes oubliées; Britten Four sea interludes from Peter Grimes; Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony. (The VW again was splendid. I felt very lucky to have had the chance to perform it before.)


• Acoustic Triangle: improvisatory jazz based partly on contemporary European music. Core trio of piano, sax, and bass, augmented with a string quartet and two additional violins.


• Gillian Weir Recital on the brand new Worcester Cathedral quire organ. Reger, Bridge, Whitlock, Parry, Messiaen L'Ascension, Handel, Messiaen, Charpentier, Mulet, and Bovet.


• Christopher Allsop recital: Shostakovich Festive Overture, Alain Deux Danses à Agni Yavishta, Liszt Variations on Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen.


• Evensong: Spicer Responses, Howells New College Service, Harris Faire is the heav'n.


• Love and Lust: Ferguson Overture for an Occasion, Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Orff Carmina Burana.


• Fireworks (percussion?)


• Angela East Cello Recital: Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites 2 and 3.
  

18 concerts in a week was a great thing to be able to do. I don't think it would have been possible to attend all 64, as some events were on at the same time, but maybe I could aspire to more "next time"! If my annual leave quota hadn't been such a carefully managed commodity, I'd have used some this week - except that then I'd have been due to go on the Peak District jaunt with Joanna, Stephanie, and Helen. I only had the cheapest (unreserved) seats, which meant that I had a good view of the proceedings on a TV screen. But the stewards invited us to move to better seats at interval, which I did many times. The stage was at the West (rear) end of the Cathedral, and there was a stand of tiered seating in the crossing. That meant that seats in the Quire and the transepts couldn't see the stage.

Musical Teeth

We seem to be keeping the tooth fairy in business at the moment. Helen's just reported a lost tombstone, and Stephanie lost two last week. I don't know what sort of track we would look for to tell if the fairy is making one, but I feel sure it must be there.

Now the real point of this blog was going to be: I've just attended the opening of the 281st Three Choirs festival. I've heard about these festivals over the last twenty years, and sung plenty of music written for or premiered at them. But now I'm actually at one. I've got tickets to 14 events, and if the opening service was anything to go by, I'll be blissed out by the end. Fortunately, there were congregational hymns, a psalm (Vaughan Williams Old 100th), and even national anthem (arranged specially for choir, organ & brass by the MD). The other Anthem (RVW, Lord thou hast been our refuge) reminded me just how good his music is. And these festivals were the crucibles from which so much of it emerged. Elgar's Apostles tonight.

We've also just been swimming at the local Malvern Splash again, which everyone (especially Christopher) enjoyed.

Still lots of Steph's birthday presents to play with, too. She had a good time - especially the slumber party a week before.

I've interesting discussions with the MSc students whose projects I'm supervising - at Malverm, Birmingham, and most recently Newcastle. Now that we're approaching the last month, things are getting very interesting, and the guys are really enjoying the work.

Last weekend, we went to Eastnor Castle for the Teddy Bear's Picnic, and also to the RAF Cosford museum, which we all found very stimulating - much more than Whitewick Hall, I think. Pictures may emerge here later.

Joanna's wishing that there was a way she could get to the Edgbaston test, which is happening only 30 miles away in Birmingham (between England and South Africa), but it doesn't appear to fit into the schedule. Berenice will arrive home from Iceland on Monday, just after the match finishes.

Links for this week

Seven reasons why people hate reason - opinion - 23 July 2008 - New Scientist

Cuil A new search engine. Performance not quite up to Google, but nice categorisation.

Who Are You Calling a Hypocrite? A Guest Post - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog
And How Big is your Halo, a followup.

Muphry's Law - The bane of grammatical pedants.

These links will give some clues about some slightly more work-related things I've been looking at. Note that the title of this entry doesn't claim that they're all interesting!
Jena Semantic Web Framework
Pellet OWL Reasoner
OWL Web Ontology Language Overview
OWLED 2008 OWL Experiences and Directions Conference
SAFECOMP 2008 Intl Conf on Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security