Customer Reviews

Eclipse Kick Start

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The latest Eclipse is well described here by Valcarcel. It has rapidly become perhaps the most popular IDE for Java programmers. Of course, being free didn't hurt the uptake.

He assumes you have already programmed in Java itself. The book has three parts and an Appendix. The first part covers the basics. Essentially, it shows how to write and debug a standalone Java application in Eclipse. Competently done. But frankly, little to distinguish from other Eclipse texts. At this level, we are basically in an IDE equivalent to IBM's earlier Visual Age for Java, circa 2000. From which Eclipse is derived, by the way.

The second and third parts of the book are far more interesting. Part two is all about using plug-ins to build up an application. Here is where Eclipse really shows its power. Also, the author describes how to make a Web Service using Eclipse. Web Services are a hot topic, and for those of you wanting to get into it, without giving up your familiar Eclipse environment, that chapter may justify the entire book.

Finally, part 3 is about the basics of writing a plug-in. You can really dig deep into the Eclipse framework for this. It may be the most advanced part of the book.

The value in this book is it's breadth of coverage. It never digs very deep into topics. The coverage of UML editing, for example, is about 30 pages. But that's thirty more pages than most of the Eclipse books have on UML. And the coverage is of a wide variety of these topics, including Struts, web services, JSPs, and others. The basics are covered as well, starting with installation and the basics of starting up a project, going through source control, unit testing, and refactoring. It's all there. It's just set to a whirlwind pace that may leave you a little breathless. Good book, just not for very beginners.

I needed a book to get up to speed on Eclipse 3.0 for work, I found it with Carlos Valcarcel's book. The chapters are just the right length and cover a vast array of topics, from MyEclipse, GUI Layout, CVS, Struts, building your own plug-ins, its all there and then some. The book's site can be found here: http://www.eclipsekickstart.com/

I found this book a pretty good intro for a Java Developer/Architect who knew Borland JBuilder and Ant very well but who "just didn't get it" in terms of Views / Perspectives in Eclipse etc.
This book was a good tutorial / introduction to the various features in Eclipse and how to us it (focuses on the 20% of those features you will use 80% of the time). I found Eclipse 3.1.2 was a bit different than the version he used and with Eclipse 3.2 now out (Q2 2006) I'm sure a few more changes have occurred but the exposition style is good and gets to the point.
Although I think it is the best book for the purpose, I think those who want to learn and use the Eclipse Java IDE don't have much in the way of quality choices to learn it in terms of books at least.