What is the "Scala Presentation Compiler"?
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The Scala Presentation Compiler is provided as part of Scala so that IDEs can have access to the intermediate information that doesn't make it into the final compiled output.
A quick googling gives this. Odersky also discussed it in this (very interesting) talk about what's coming in Scala 2.10 (at about 22 minutes in).

dhg
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It would be better if you've linked that youtube video exactly at the time when Martin talks about Presentation Compiler (so others wouldn't need to search through the video). – om-nom-nom Feb 27 '12 at 17:58
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As a side note, I believe IDEA doesn't use it, but instead implemented their own version. – Luigi Plinge Feb 27 '12 at 23:54
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On the IDEA topic, you are right. Here is the November 2011 thread where the question is asked: http://devnet.jetbrains.net/thread/430505 Alexander's reply is "I'm not sure that we will do it. We will spend time on improving current plugin, and I hope It will not be behind." – ebruchez Feb 28 '12 at 18:05
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It's a compiler that provides the hooks necessary to work well to support the interactive features of an IDE, like color-coding, autocompletion, etc. One of the technical challenges is efficiently staying in sync with what's been edited. See this talk.

Mario Galic
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Ed Staub
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