Eclipse

Eclipse, for most people who use it, is an Integrated Development Environments (IDE). Although it is well-known as a Java IDE, it can be used as an IDE for other languages.

Features

(Note: These features applies to Eclipse + JDT. Features for other languages may vary.)

  • Code completion – Shows a list of properties and methods when you type in an object’s name
  • Automatic error checking – Highlights compilation errors and warnings
  • Automatic compilation – Compiles the program as soon as you save
  • Built-in CVS support – checkout, update and commit functions can be done in the IDE

Shortcuts

  • Code completion (ctrl-space)
  • Quick comments – toggle comments on several lines using ‘//’. (ctrl-/)
  • Delete line (ctrl-d)
  • Goto Line number (ctrl-l as in line)

System requirement

  • No installation necessary – just decompress the files
  • You need Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed to start Eclipse. If you want to compile Java in it, then you need Java Development Kit (JDK) installed.
  • Eclipse platform (not SDK) and JDT together takes about 40 MB of disk space. More will be used if you install other plug-ins.

Commonly used Plugins

  • JDT – Java support
  • EPIC – Perl support
  • Subclipse – Subversion (SVN) support

Other Info