Understanding the Rascal support for Java

Question

Is it possible to parse Java files that are external to the eclipse environment? I have only realised operations related to obtaining an AST(s) from Eclipse file (or projects).

Does the current version of Rascal support Java 8?

Answer 1

Yes to the first question:

• you could use lang::java::m3::Core::createM3FromDirectory, or read its definition and make your own version.
• this code uses setEnvironmentOptions to the JDT's Java compiler for controlling the classpath and the sourcepath of the compiler.
• there is no dependency on Eclipse as a whole

To the second question:

• No: the current stable release is pre Java 8
• Yes: the current unstable release should work for Java 8. There are no specific tests for this yet, so you may be in for some early adopter surprises.