# Projects

A program in ebe is generally managed using a project file to keep track of the source code files in the program. The name of a project is the name of the program with ".ebe" appended to the name. Thus to build a program named "hello", you would use a project file named "hello.ebe".

It is not necessary to use a project file with programs consisting of a single source code file. Ebe starts execution with no known project name (if not given on the command line). As long as there is no known project name, it is assumed that there is only 1 source file. Creating a project or opening a project will change the state so that ebe will be aware of having a project file. After that point ebe will keep track of the files using the project file.

## Creating a new project

You can create a new project using the "New project" option under the File menu. This option will allow you to navigate to a new directory and to specify the name of the new project file. After creating the project file, any open source files will be closed and the project will be empty. Any changes to the project will be written automatically so there is no need to save a project file.

## Opening a project

You can open an existing project using the "Open project" option under the File menu. This option will allow you to navigate to a new directory open a file with the ".ebe" extension. After opening the project file, any open source files will be closed and the first file in the project will be opened in the editor.

## Closing a project

If you close the active project ebe will return to the default mode of not using a project. It will close all open files.