Eclipse Tips and Tricks

What is the Eclipse IDE?

Eclipse is one of the most popular IDE’s in the world.

Eclipse is an integrated development environment (IDE) used in computer programming and is the most widely used Java IDE. It contains a base workspace and an extensible plug-in system for customizing the environment. Eclipse is written mostly in Java, and its primary use is for developing Java applications.

Still, it may also be used to create applications in other programming languages through the use of plug-ins, including Ada, ABAP, C, C++, COBOL, D, Fortran, Haskell, JavaScript, Julia, Lasso, Lua, NATURAL, Perl, PHP, Prolog, Python, R, Ruby (including Ruby on Rails framework), Rust, Scala, Clojure, Groovy, Scheme, and Erlang. It can also be used to develop documents with LaTeX (through the TeXlipse plug-in) and packages for the software Mathematica. Development environments include the Eclipse Java development tools (JDT) for Java and Scala, Eclipse CDT for C/C++, and Eclipse PDT for PHP.

The initial codebase originated from IBM VisualAge. The Eclipse software development kit (SDK), which includes the Java development tools, is meant for Java developers. Users can extend their abilities by installing plug-ins written for the Eclipse Platform, such as development toolkits for other programming languages. They can report and contribute their plug-in modules. Since Equinox, plug-ins can be plugged/stopped dynamically and are known as (OSGI) bundles.

Learn various Eclipse tips and tricks

This course is for everyone who wants to work with such rich IDE as Eclipse. Learn various topics on how to use Eclipse to be more productive.

Idea behind course

The idea behind this course was to make a quick overview of tips, tricks, and what you can do with Eclipse, with short and direct “into the head” explanations. This course is free – and it is planned to remain open (with new materials, hopefully soon)!

Contents and Overview 

What is covered in the course:

• setting up IDE and adding Java and Maven to the path (Windows example)
• acceptable practices for enabling faster loading of projects
• validation, controlling console output, bookmarks
• server port problems, setting build path, viewing code changes in real-time
• fixing encoding problems, servlet problem, setting stack size
• faster installing of plug-ins, working behind a corporate proxy
• how to use Maven, pom.xml, and dealing with problematic connectivity
• generating JavaDoc avoiding errors
• enabling curly braces, various shortcuts

What are the requirements?

• Before starting this course, students need to know how to download and install software from the search site like Google or similar. They need to know basic things for working with Eclipse – how to use file and other menus in Eclipse and create an empty project with Eclipse. Although this course is for all levels, for the topic with Maven there is needed knowledge of how to write well-defined pom.xml fine.

  Some examples show possible difficulties that occur in larger projects and complex environments, but that is also why this course is the right path for non-experienced and junior programmers or developers also who want to avoid possible problems before they occur. Basic understanding of Java language – classes and structure are needed to understand examples with tips and tricks when working with Eclipse. Still, some of these tips and tricks should help you even if you are working in Eclipse with other languages than Java.

What am I going to get from this course?

• In the end, of the course, students will gather valuable information. Students should be more productive when working with Eclipse. They will be able to boost their speed and overall performance.

What is the target audience?

• The target student is junior, intermediate, senior programmer, or developer who wants to be more productive with Eclipse and wants to know more tips and tricks when working with Eclipse.