The Java(TM) Developer's Guide to Eclipse (Paperback)

~ Sherry Shavor (Author), Jim D'Anjou (Author), Scott Fairbrother (Author), Dan Kehn (Author), John Kellerman (Author), Pat McCarthy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Eclipse is a world-class Java IDE, a platform for building and integrating application development tools, and an open source project and community. Written by members of the IBM Eclipse Jumpstart team, The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse is the definitive Eclipse companion. Drawing on their considerable experience teaching Eclipse and mentoring developers, the authors provide guidance on how to customize Eclipse for increased productivity and efficiency and how to avoid common pitfalls. The accompanying CD-ROM contains Eclipse SDK Version 2.0, as well as exercise solutions and many code examples for easier learning.

From the Back Cover

"This book does an excellent job of helping you learn Eclipse. The practical examples and exercises included have been proven in real-life course situations and are invaluable in helping you to get up and running quickly."

—Dave Thomson, Eclipse Project Program Director, Object Technology International, Inc.

Eclipse is a world-class Java IDE, a platform for building and integrating application development tools, and an open source project and community. Written by members of the IBM Eclipse Jumpstart team, The Java™ Developer's Guide to Eclipse is the definitive Eclipse companion. Drawing on their considerable experience teaching Eclipse and mentoring developers, the authors provide guidance on how to customize Eclipse for increased productivity and efficiency and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Key coverage includes:

Eclipse navigation and terminology

Eclipse and the Java development environment

Extending Eclipse, the plug-in architecture, and Eclipse frameworks

Those new to Eclipse will benefit from the directed exercises on using the Eclipse platform. Advanced developers can learn how to extend Eclipse and use this book as a reference to the Eclipse frameworks.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains Eclipse SDK Version 2.0, as well as exercise solutions and many code examples for easier learning. Whether you want to use Eclipse and Eclipse-based offerings as your integrated development environment (IDE), or customize Eclipse further, this book is your definitive reference.

0321159640B04102003

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Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (May 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321159640
• ISBN-13: 978-0536754509
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #330,172 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The one Eclipse book you should own, January 19, 2005

By	Thomas Paul (Plainview, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

The first edition of this book was excellent for plug-in developers and helpful, although not vital, to all others. Two things make this new edition even better than the first edition. First, plug-in development in Eclipse is now so easy and so well explained in this book that there is no reason why anyone shouldn't be doing it. Have you ever worked with an IDE and thought, "why isn't this function available in the pop-up menu" or "why doesn't it have this feature"? Developing a plug-in will allow you to customize the functionality of Eclipse to provide the missing feature and this book will clearly explain exactly how to do that. Second, the section of the book that deals with developing with Eclipse has been improved with detailed chapters on team development including using CVS as well as an excellent example of integrating with Tomcat to develop an E-Commerce application.

The book is divided into two sections. The first 200 pages deal with using Eclipse and cover everything from the basics to complex team development issues. The next 600 pages cover everything you need to know about extending the functionality of Eclipse. The book ends with 200 pages of exercises that give detailed, step-by-step examples. Five exercises deal with using Eclipse while the rest show examples of extending Eclipse. It is a big book that covers a lot of material but it covers it clearly and with plenty of examples. If you buy one Eclipse book, this should be it.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for those writing plug-ins, June 16, 2003

By	Thomas Paul (Plainview, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The authors of this book are part of a core IBM group formed to share knowledge of the Eclipse universal IDE. The first part of this book deals with using Eclipse from a Java developers point of view. I found this was not any more helpful than the documentation available on the Eclipse web site. Eclipse works extensively with plug-ins that can be integrated into the Eclipse environment to provide new functionality. I would have liked to see something on some of the more popular plug-ins such as those used to run application servers. Even a list of where to go to get plug-ins would have been helpful. Unfortunately, this part of the book only covers the basics of what comes with Eclipse and does not discuss any existing plug-ins.

The second part of the book, about 450 pages, covers writing your own plug-ins. This part of the book is excellent. It covers not just the basics, but virtually everything you need to know to write your own plug-ins. Whether you wish to code a new toolbar, editor, specialized view, or wizard, it is all covered in this section. With this book you will be writing plug-ins in a fraction of the time you would have otherwise spent. The book also contains exercises which allow you to test your new knowledge.

If your only goal is to use Eclipse then you don't need this book. If your desire is to write plug-ins then I wouldn't even try without it.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continues to be excellent reference for Eclipse developers, November 15, 2004

By	Beth R. Tibbitts "Beth Tibbitts" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

The Java Developer's Guide to Eclipse (JDG2E), 2nd edition,
is an updated version of the original popular
and very useful bible for Eclipse developers.
The first book to truly cover Eclipse 3.0 extensively
in both the usage of the IDE (how to use Eclipse) and in developing
plug-ins (how to extend Eclipse), it remains my "bible" in
developing Eclipse plug-ins. Many developer resources as extensive
as this one suffer from the "can't open it anywhere" syndrome.
I rarely have time to read a book from cover to cover at one (or adjacent)
setting. I like a book to use more as a reference, to look up what I want
to do and find a snippet of code, or an idea, to get me on my way.
This book is great in that respect - countless parts of my own plug-ins
have started from a code snippet found in one of the chapters.

The examples are simple enough to follow, in chunks that don't
require you to have read the whole book, but interesting enough
to show you some of the really useful intricacies of Eclipse.

The authors are experienced in training Java developers in Eclipse
plug-in development, and their experience shows in their practical
explanations, example code, and in the exercises included
on the CD in the back of the book.
I have so far only browsed the information on the CD but there
is much supplemental information there in additional to the provided
exercises.