Eclipse and Mac OS X: A Natural Combination

ThankstoitshighlyoptimizedbutfullystandardJavaimplementation,MacOSXhasgarneredareputationamongstdevelopersasanexcellentplatformfordevelopinganddeployingJavaapplications.ThemostrecentreleaseofEclipse,thewell-respectedopen-sourceIDE,forMacOSXonlystrengthensthecase,asthisflexibleandhighlyextensibletoolisafavoriteofmanyJavadevelopers.ThisarticleprovidesaquickoverviewofEclipseforMacOSXandexplainshowtodownloadthelatestversionandgetstarted.

WhatIsEclipse?

Eclipsewasoriginallydesignedforbuildingintegrateddevelopmentenvironments（IDEs）,thatwereversatileenoughtocreateapplicationsforarangeofprogramminglanguages.TheintentionwastoprovidetoolsmakerswithanIDEthatwouldincludemechanismsandrulesthatwouldconsistentlyresultinseamlesstoolsintegration.Sincethen,EclipsehasevolvedtoincludeanIDEthatprovidesbenefitsforawiderangeofdevelopmentprojects.

BecauseitisJava-based,EclipseincludestheJavaDevelopmentKit（JDK）;andyetitsarchitecturesupportsallmajorprogramminglanguagesfromC/C++toCobol.

Eclipseisafreedownload,andisavailableonanumberofplatforms.SinceIBMlaunchedEclipseinNovember2001,morethan18milliondownloadrequestshavebeenloggedfromover125countries.

Agrowingconsortiumofhigh-profilecompaniesandorganizationsareactivelysupportingandextendingEclipse'songoingdevelopmentandgivingtheplatformmomentum.Theseorganizationscontributesupportandtechnology,andtheydeterminethedirectionandscopeofEclipse'sgrowth.

HighlyExtensible

Becauseitisahighlyextensible,openframework,Eclipseallowsyoutouse—andcreateyourown—plug-intoolstoextendthebasicEclipseIDEfordevelopingyourapplications.

ThismeansthatifyouaredevelopinganapplicationusingEclipseforMacOSX,andyouneedaspecialtooltofacilitatedevelopmentonyourproject,youcanchoosefromliterallyhundredsofavailableplugintoolsthatworkseamlesslywithEclipseandwithanyoftheplugintoolsyouareusing.

Theseplugins,whichhavebeendevelopedbyawidevarietyofcompaniesandindividuals,runthegamutfromtraditionalcodingtoolssuchassourcecodeanalyzers,graphicallayouttools,andcompilerstoproductivityenhancerslikebugtrackers,sourcecodemanagers,andevengames.Whenyoudownloadandunziptheplugintools,theyareautomaticallyintegratedintotheEclipseframeworkenablingyoutocreatehigh-qualityapplicationsinlesstime.

Eclipse'sarchitecturehasfosteredaworldwidecommunityofplugindevelopers.Asmorepluginsarecreatedthataddresstheentiredevelopmentcycle,Eclipsebecomesincreasinglyuseful,andpopular.

Therangeofpluginsisamazing.OnebiotechconsultantusestheJmechanicplugin,saying,"ourclientscouldquicklyidentifymanyperformanceproblems,andcouldthendecidewhetheritwassomethingtheywantedtofix,outsource,orlivewith."UsingtheEclipsepluginsavedlicensingcosts,andgaveeachdeveloperontheirteamthefreedomtorunatimeprofilebeforecheckingintheircode.

AnotherdeveloperusesEclipseashisprimaryIDE,andsays,"theSysdeoTomcatlauncherpluginisessentialformydailywork,becauseitallowsmetodoruntimedebuggingofmywebapplicationfromwithinEclipse."

Figure1showstheEclipseuserinterfaceonMacOSX,withanopenexampleofasampleplug-inproject.

Figure1:EclipseUserInterfaceonMacOSX

SpeedsDevelopment

YouwillquicklydiscoverthatoneofthereasonsEclipseispopularwithdevelopersisthatitisintuitivetolearnanduse.TheEclipseframeworkincludestheworkbenchcomponentthatprovidesEclipsewithitsuserinterface,acollectionofviewsandeditors.Whenyouselectaperspective,youarespecifyingthesetoftoolsyouneedtouseforthetaskathand.ThiselegantworkbenchmetaphormakestheEclipseenvironmenthighlyintelligent.

Eclipse'sfeaturesarewellimplementedandveryeffective,andaredesignedtoincreasethespeedofthedevelopmentcyclebyautomatingtedioustasksthatdistractyoufromcoding.

Otherstrengthsincludebuilt-inCVSintegrationthatmakesitconvenienttosynchronizecodewiththeCVSserver.OneEclipseusersays,"theSynchronizeviewmakesiteasytomergechangesandviewchangesbeforeIdecidetoupdate.TheAnnotationviewallowsmetodeterminewheneachlineofafilewasaddedandwhoaddedit.Thisfeatureisgreatfortrackingdownbugs."

Eclipseintegratesabest-of-breedimplementationoffeaturessuchas:

CodeRefactoring-Allowsyoutoreorganizeandmakeotherglobalchangestoyourcodesuchaschangingthenameofamethodorchangingparameters.Refactoringisawayofmakingsystem-widecodechangeswithoutaffectingthebehavioroftheprogram.ContentAssist-DisplaysalistofphrasesthatyoucanselectfromtocompletewhatyouaretypingwheneditingJavacode.ThislistisbasedonanongoinganalysisofyourJavacode.QuickFix-Enablesyoutocorrectawidevarietyofproblems,fromspellingerrorsandmissingimportstatementstodeclaringlocalvariablesandclasses.TheJavaeditorofferscorrectionstoproblemsfoundwhiletypingandaftercompiling.ExtractMethod-Createsamethodforthehighlightedcode.UnitTesting-ProvidesyouwithaneasywaytorunalltestsinaspecifiedJavaproject,sourcefolder,orpackage.ImportManagement-Providesyouwithseveralfeaturesthathelpyoumanageimportstatements.DocumentationLookup-Displaysdocumentationrelatingtothemethodyoupointtowiththecursor.Thecommentdisplayedshowsthemethodname,documentationformethodparameters,andthereturnvalue.Debugger-Enablesyoutodetectanddiagnoseerrorsinyourprogramsrunningeitherlocallyorremotely.Thedebuggerincludes"hotcodereplace"thatallowsyoutochangesourcecodeduringadebuggersession.Cross-PlatformDevelopmentTeams

WhenusedwithEclipse,MacOSXsupportsheterogeneousdevelopmentteams,enablingyoutomixMacOSX,Linux,UNIXandXPcomputingenvironments.ThismeansthatifyouhaveadozenWindowsusersandadozenMacusersonyourdevelopmentteam,theseteammembersondifferentplatformscanworkonthesameprojectwithoutbarriers.

Eclipseisgreatfororganizingmultipleprojectswithalargeteamofdeveloperswhocanworkcollaboratively."IfoundthatEclipsegaveusaveryclearpictureofthehundredorsointerlockingprojectsatoneclient"adevelopertoldus."Itmadeiteasytoseewheretheseprojectsconnected,andallowedustorefactorcorelibrarieseasily."Thisdeveloperexplainedthattheirbidtoreduceinter-projectdependenciesforaclientrequiredsplittingadozencoreprojectsintoseparateunits.WithEclipse,oneoftheirteamfinishedthecodingworkinunderaweek.Hesays,"Isuspectthatthemanualmethodwouldhavetakenamonth,andthuswouldnothavebeencosteffective.Youcannothaveyourcorelibrariesinturmoilforthatlong."

Infact,insomeindustries,suchasbiotech,asignificantpercentageofdeveloperscurrentlyareusingMacOSXandPowerBooksbecausetheycandevelopapplicationsforMac,Windows,Linux,andSolarisdeployments,withonebox.Ourbiotechdevelopersays,"MostofourworkisinJava,thoughwealsodoPerl,C++,MATLAB,andwhateverelseourclientsask.WechoosethisplatformbecausetheJavaimplementationisgood,wehaveaccesstoafullunderlyingUnixlayer,andwehaveagoodsuiteofproductivityapplications.WithoutMacOSX,wewouldlikelyhavetocarryaroundtwodifferentmachines,withadualbootLinuxoptiononatleastoneofthem."

WhyDoJavaDevelopmentontheMac?

TheeaseofuseofMacOSX,thepowerandstabilityofUNIX,theintegrationofJavaintoMacOSXandtheavailabilityofgreatdevelopmentenvironmentslikeEclipsemaketheMacagreatJavadevelopmentenvironment.

UNIXusersfeelathomeinDarwin,therobustUNIX-basedenvironmentthatunderliesMacOSX.ThatenvironmentisaccessibleatanytimefromtheTerminalapplication.AllofthestandardUNIXutilitiesandscriptinglanguagesareincludedinMacOSX—editorssuchasemacs,vimandpico;filemanagementtoolssuchascp,mv,lsandgnutar;shellscriptsincludingbash,tcsh（csh）andzsh;andscriptinglanguagessuchasPerl,PHP,tcl,RubyandPython.ForJava-basedwebengineers,Apache,TomcatandJBossarealsoincluded,soyoucandoJSPdevelopmentorenterpriseclassJ2EEapplications.

MacOSXalsogivesyouahighlymobileplatform.ThePowerBookseriesprovidesahigh-poweredworkstationthatiscompletelyportableandallowsyoutopickupandgo,andthenquicklyresumeworkatanewlocation.Evenasyouopenyourlaptop,networkconnectionsarebeingreestablishedandthecomputerisimmediatelyupandrunning.

ApplehasmadeJavaacorecomponentofMacOSX—everyMacshipswiththefullversionofJava2,StandardEditionincluded—meaningyouhavetheJavaDeveloperKit（JDK）andtheHotSpotvirtualmachine（VM）withoutdownloading,installingorconfiguringanything.AndbecauseApplehasoptimizedJavaonMacOSX,Javaapplicationsactasfirst-classcitizensonMacOSX.

InadditiontoEclipsemanyoftheindustryleadingtoolsareavailable,includingIntelliJ'sIDEA,Borland'sJBuilder,Oracle'sJDeveloper,andSun'sNetBeans,justtonameafew.MacOSXalsoincludesfreedevelopertoolswhichsupportrapidJavadevelopmentrightoutofthebox.

GettingStarted

YoucangetacopyofEclipsebyvisitingtheEclipsedownloadpageanddownloadingthelatestbuild.（ThecurrentversionofEclipserequiresMacOSXv10.3Panther.）Allbuildsaredeliveredas.ZIPfiles.

DownloadandinstallEclipseUsingyourSafaribrowser,gototheeclipse.orgWebsite.ClickDownloads.ClickMainEclipseDownloadSite.IfyouarenotlocatedinNorthAmerica,usethemirrorsiteclosettoyourlocation.ClickthenameoftheReleaseBuildyouwant.Atthetimeofthiswriting,the"3.0StreamStableBuild"isthelatestdeveloperpreviewofversion3.0.Thisversioniscurrentlyfinefordailyuse.Under"EclipseSDK,find"MacOSX（Mac/Carbon）（SupportedVersions）"—thefilenameisalsodisplayed.SelecteithertheHTTPorFTPdownloadoption.AfterreadingtheNotes,click"Download"atthebottomofthepage.Whenthedownloadiscomplete,unzipthearchiveintotheappropriatefolder.

（OlderversionsofStuffittruncatedfilenamesandcausedproblemswithEclipse.Makesureyouareusingtheappropriateversion.）

Yourinstallationisnowcomplete.ClicktheEclipseicontolaunchtheIDE.

ThefirsttimeyourunEclipse,itcompletesafewremaininginstalltasks—suchascreatingaworkspacedirectory—beforetheEclipseenvironmentappears.

Workthroughthetutorials

WithEclipseinstalledandrunning,youcanbeginbylookingatanoverviewofEclipsefeaturesandpluginsinstalledonyoursystem,andthendoingatutorialthatguidesyouthroughbuildingasimpleJavaapplication.

ToseetheoverviewoftheEclipsefeatures:fromtheHelpmenu,chooseAboutEclipsePlatform

TodoatutorialonbuildingasimpleJavaapplication:fromtheHelpmenu,chooseJavaDevelopmentUserGuide>GettingStarted>BasicTutorial

ResourcesforMoreInformationMailinglists:www.eclipse.org/mail/index.htmlPluginarchives:www.eclipse-plugins.info/eclipse/index.jspJoincommunity:www.eclipse.org/community/index.htmlEclipseLive,byBillDudney（paidsubscription）.Eclipse,bySteveHolzner.

Posted:2004-06-07