Eclipse is a popular open-source integrated development environment used primarily for Java development. It provides tools for coding, building, running, and debugging applications. Eclipse allows developers to create projects containing classes, automatically compiles code, and provides features like a debugger, task manager, and local file history. Some key Eclipse features include code completion, real-time compilation, an extensible plugin system, and the ability to generate documentation, getters/setters, and implement interface methods.
2. Overview
Eclipse Background
Obtaining and Installing Eclipse
Creating a Workspaces / Projects
Creating Classes
Compiling and Running Code
Debugging Code
Sampling of Features
Summary
3. What is Eclipse?
Eclipse started as a proprietary IBM product (IBM Visual
age for Smalltalk/Java)
Embracing the open source model IBM opened the product up
Open Source
It is a general purpose open platform that facilitates and
encourages the development of third party plug-ins
Best known as an Integrated Development Environment
(IDE)
Provides tools for coding, building, running and debugging
applications
Originally designed for Java, now supports many other
languages
Good support for C, C++
Python, PHP, Ruby, etc
4. Prerequisites for Running Eclipse
Eclipse is written in Java and will thus
need an installed JRE or JDK in which to
execute
JDK recommended
5. Eclipse on GL
This years coordinated release (known as
Ganymede) of the Eclipse IDE for Java
Developers has been installed on GL
From any of the Linux machines in the labs
simply run the command eclipse
6. Obtaining Eclipse
Eclipse can be downloaded from
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/
Be sure to grab Eclipse IDE for Java
Developers
Eclipse comes bundled as a zip file
(Windows) or a tarball (all other operating
systems)
Some versions of Linux (i.e. Fedora, Ubuntu)
offer Eclipse in their respective repositories
and can be downloaded using the appropriate
tool (i.e. yum, apt-get)
7. Installing Eclipse
Simply unwrap the zip file to some
directory where you want to store the
executables
On windows
I typically unwrap the zip file to C:eclipse
I then typically create a shortcut on my
desktop to the eclipse executable
C:eclipseeclipse.exe
Under Linux
I typically unwrap to /opt/eclipse/
8. Launching Eclipse
Once you have the environment setup, go ahead
and launch eclipse
You should see the following splash screen
9. Selecting a Workspace
In Eclipse, all of your code will live under a workspace
A workspace is nothing more than a location where we
will store our source code and where Eclipse will write
out our preferences
Eclipse allows you to have multiple workspaces each
tailored in its own way
Choose a location where you want to store your files,
then click OK
10. Welcome to Eclipse
The first time you
launch Eclipse, you
will be presented with
a welcome screen
From here you can
access an overview to
the platform, tutorials,
sample code, etc
Click on the arrow on
the right to get to the
actual IDE
11. Eclipse IDE Components
Menubars
Full drop down menus plus quick
access to common functions
Editor Pane
This is where we edit
our source code
Perspective Switcher
We can switch
between various
perspectives here
Outline Pane
This contains a hierarchical
view of a source file
Package Explorer Pane
This is where our
projects/files are listed
Miscellaneous Pane
Various components can appear in this
pane typically this contains a console
and a list of compiler problems
Task List Pane
This contains a list of
tasks to complete
12. Creating a New Project
All code in Eclipse needs to live under a project
To create a project: File New Java Project
13. Creating a New Project (continued)
Enter a name for the
project, then click
Finish
14. Creating a New Project (continued)
The newly created project should then appear
under the Package Explorer
15. The src folder
Eclipse automatically creates a folder to store
your source code in called src
16. Creating a Class
To create a class, simply click on the New
button, then select Class
17. Creating a Class (continued)
This brings up the new
class wizard
From here you can
specify the following...
Package
Class name
Superclass
Whether or not to include a
main
Etc
Fill in necessary
information then click
Finish to continue
18. The Created Class
As you can see a number of things have now
happened
Directory structure for
package and actual java file
created automatically
Source is loaded into the
editor pane, already
stubbed out
Source displayed in a
hierarchical fashion listing
each method name
19. Compiling Source Code
One huge feature of Eclipse is that it
automatically compiles your code in the
background
You no longer need to go to the command prompt
and compile code directly
This means that errors can be corrected when
made
We all know that iterative development is the best
approach to developing code, but going to shell to do
a compile can interrupt the normal course of
development
This prevents going to compile and being surprised
with 100+ errors
20. Example Compilation Error
This code contains a typo in the println
statement
Packages/Classes
with errors are
marked with a red X
Often Eclipse may have
suggestions on how to fix the
problem if so, a small light
bulb will be displayed next to
the line of offending code
Error underlined with red
squiggly line (just like
spelling errors in many
word processors)
Methods with
errors are marked
with a red X
Position in file is
marked with a red
line 1 click allows
you to jump to line
with error
The Problems tab will contain a
tabular representation of all errors
across all files of all open projects
21. Example Compilation Error (continued)
When clicking on the light bulb, Eclipse suggests
changing printn to either print or println
22. Running Code
An easy way to run code is to right click on the
class and select Run As Java Application
23. Running Code (continued)
The output of running the code can be seen in
the Console tab in the bottom pane
24. Run Configuration
Advanced options for executing a program can be found
by right clicking the class then clicking Run As Run
25. Run Configuration (continued)
Here you can
change/add any of
the following:
JVM arguments
Command line
arguments
Classpath settings
Environment
variables
Which JVM to use
26. Re-Running Code
After you run the code a first time, you can re-run it just
by selecting it from the run drop down menu
27. Debugging Code
Eclipse comes with a pretty good built-in debugger
You can set break points in your code by double clicking in the left
hand margin break points are represented by these blue bubbles
28. Debugging Code (continued)
An easy way to enter debug mode is to right click on the
class and select Debug As Java Application
29. Debugging Code (Continued)
The first time you try to debug code you will be
presented with the following dialog
Eclipse is asking if you want to switch to a perspective
that is more suited for debugging, click Yes
Eclipse has many perspectives based on what you are
doing (by default we get the Java perspective)
30. Debug Perspective
List of breakpoints
These buttons allow you
to step through the code
Note new Debug
perspective click Java to
return to normal
Variables in scope are listed here
along with their current values (by right
clicking you can change values of
variables as you program is running)
Current high level location
(class and method)
This pane shows the current
line of code we broke on
Output console, just like
in normal run mode
31. Sampling of Some Other Features
Import organization
Context assist
Javadoc assist
Getter/Setter generation
Add unimplemented methods
Exception handling
Reminders
Local history
32. Import Organization
Eclipse can automatically include import statements for any classes
you are using, just press Control + Shift + o (letter o)
33. Import Organization (continued)
If the class is ambiguous (more than one in the
API) then it will ask you to select the correct one
34. Import Organization (continued)
Import statements automatically included and organized
You can organize imports to clean them up at any time
35. Context Assist
If you are typing and press a . character and pause a second,
Eclipse will show you a list of all available methods for the class
Prevents having to browse javadocs to see what methods are available
Get context assist at any time by pressing Control + Space
36. Javadoc Assist
Eclipse can also help generate javadoc comments for you, simply
place the cursor before the method and then type /** then Enter
37. Javadoc Assist (continued)
Eclipse will automatically generate a javadoc header for the method
all stubbed out with the parameters, return type and exceptions
39. Getter/Setter Generation (continued)
To generate getters and setters, right click in the main pane, then
select Source Generate Getters and Setters
49. Tasks
Eclipse allows you to insert reminders into your code and
stores them for you to come back and revisit them
Eclipse recognizes
the following tags
inside comments
TODO
FIXME
XXX
You can even add
your own custom
tasks through the
preferences menu
50. Tasks (continued)
To add a table of all reminders in all of your source code you can
add the Tasks view by clicking on Window Show View Tasks
52. Local History
Eclipse maintains a local history of file revisions which can be accessed by
right clicking on the class, then selecting Compare With Local History
53. Local History (continued)
Previous saved revisions are displayed in the History pane, double
click a revision to view in the built-in diff viewer