I would like to start working on my own custom IDE. The biggest reason I want to work on the IDE is to help me gain an even greater, more intimate understanding of java (and other languages I add into it.)

I don't want to do anything super fancy or revolutionary, I'd be happy if I could create something as compact as the BlueJ IDE I used in high school and be content.

I have a few question on the specifics of the task that I hope I can get cleared up before I start investing time in this:

• Is there anything I should be aware of when writing the parser?
• Does anyone have any pointers that I should be aware of; pitfalls, brick walls or other constraints?