# Eclipse

Eclipse, for most people who use it, is an Integrated Development Environments (<span class="caps">IDE</span>). Although it is well-known as a Java <span class="caps">IDE</span>, it can be used as an <span class="caps">IDE</span> for other languages.

**Features**

(Note: These features applies to Eclipse + <span class="caps">JDT</span>. 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 <span class="caps">CVS</span> support – checkout, update and commit functions can be done in the <span class="caps">IDE</span>

**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 (<span class="caps">JRE</span>) installed to start Eclipse. If you want to compile Java in it, then you need Java Development Kit (<span class="caps">JDK</span>) installed.
- Eclipse platform (not <span class="caps">SDK</span>) and <span class="caps">JDT</span> together takes about 40 MB of disk space. More will be used if you install other plug-ins.

**Commonly used Plugins**

- [<span class="caps">JDT</span>](http://www.eclipse.org/jdt/) – Java support
- [<span class="caps">EPIC</span>](http://e-p-i-c.sourceforge.net/) – Perl support
- [Subclipse](https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/subclipse) – Subversion (<span class="caps">SVN</span>) support

**Other Info**

- [An introduction to Eclipse for Visual Studio users](http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-eclipse-visualstudio/)