Summer is coming! My favorite IDE will release its newest version in three weeks. This time it will be released with code name ‘Ganymede’.
Here are the things that I like in the next release:
- SVN client. The client is more integrated and more Eclipse-like since it enters Eclipse incubation.
- Ruby support as part of DLTK.
- Cleaner update page.
- The Eclipse Compiler for Java now takes advantage of multiple CPUs. This will be only one thing, it will be faster!
- Full JavaScript support with customizable formatter and templates.
- Old Eclipse’s project can’t use classes that is located in the external place. You have to either wrap it as jar or copy it to the project
- Formatting now can be done only to the edited lines. This is very useful sometimes when editing someone else work. And better yet, you can undo the formatting in one step. Before undoing format is a headache since the cursor can move awkwardly to random position.
What still missing from this release are:
- Visual Editor. I miss this editor. Mantisse and other editors are just sucks in my opinion. Visual Editor is the smartest GUI editor concept I’ve ever found. Too bad that its development is just stucked.
- Eclipse needs decent UML editor, unfortunately IBM still doesn’t want to open source its Rational product.
- Project templating. Sometime I want to store a project configuration to be able to create the same project with different name. It will be nice if Eclipse support this in the future.
If you use Eclipse a lot you must have your favorite keyboard shortcut. Here are mine:
- Context Assist (CTRL+SPACE), I believe this is all favorite since they just have so many functionality. You want assistance about class name/method name/variable name. You get all. More than that, it also shows the template available for the context. It even suggests the possible variable name/method name. And it works in all places, even in the dialogs. This is a must know keyboard shortcut for all Eclipse user. Without it, you just will not get anything from Eclipse.
- Format (Shift+Ctrl+F), I usually type anything as fast as I can without bothering the format of the code. This shortcut will tidy up all the clutter and make my code readable.
- Save (Ctrl+S). OK, I know that this is a must for nearly all applications.
- Quick Fix (Ctrl+1). You get error or warning? Many times you will find that this shortcut can solve the problem for you.
- Rename (Ctrl+2+R). Since I’m a refactoring guy, I never escape from this task, renaming variables/methods/classes.
- Quick Type Hierarchy (Ctrl+T). Nice way to get information about classes tree without opening JavaDoc
So if you are also using Eclipse, what’s your favorite keyboard shortcut?
The newest edition of Dr. Dobb’s Journal wrote:
Open-source developers do something that Microsoft and Apple can’t: Deliver a complex bundle of software on time, year after year.
I already impressed with the work that Eclipse Foundation had done. From release 3.0 to 3.3, I am one of many programmers that downloaded the newest milestone every time it released. And I never have to wait more than 1 week before that milestone published. And for the stable version, it always delivered on time.
I don’t know if they do it with sacrificing the quality of the software. As far as I experience, that was never the case and I always satisfied with the major release (well, since I always try the milestones, you were probably more satisfied that I am). How can they do that?
I expect there are a lot of conflict of interests happen in the organization. But eventually they solve it and deliver a product that is used by millions of programmers. And I don’t say Java programmers. There are also many C++ programmers that use CDT and web developers that use Aptana etc. This is simply amazing!
29th June 2007 will be a very remarkable day for a long time. Well, at least for me.
The biggest news is of course that Apple launch its iPhone. I witnessed the queue in front of Apple Store in Las Vegas 8 hours before it officially launched.
Second thing, for those of you that uses Java. Eclipse Europa is launched in the same day. The press is not so big, maybe because of all Apple iPhone news. But it’s here with all new features that are very tempting, especially those Mylyn offered. This plugin is the first project that got included in standard distribution of Eclipse Java Package.
The last, 29th June 2007 is also big day for TopCoder. The winner of TCO07 is announced and I got the opportunity to see the magnificent event myself. See the official blog to know more about it. But you probably already screwed if you miss the webcast.
In the spirit of Europa, the next release train of Eclipse 3.3, I will try to post some improvements that are available in the release. These improvements will be limited to the ones that I will use and I think will be useful for most programmers (Java especially).
So, the series will be begin with scripted refactoring.
Continue reading ‘Scripted Refactoring’
Ever wants to code an Eclipse plugin to improve your productivity or to check consistency of your code? Well, learning those Eclipse SDK can be a little tedious.
This little project started in the big research institute in France will overcome your problem. Spoon JDT is a plugin of Eclipse to help user process Java file. It integrates tightly with Eclipse (I guess using Eclipse JDT).
What you can do with Spoon? You can create your own FindBugs, checkstyle. Those two projects, while they have a plugin for Eclipse, lacks one feature: Quick Fix. Using Spoon JST, you can even program the quick fix! A wonderful plugin… I must say
Eclipse has silently released Milestone 2 of its next version Eclipse 3.3. There are many improvements in many fields as you can see in the New and Noteworthy page.
One feature that I like from the list is this one:
Continue reading ‘Eclipse 3.3 Live Rename Refactoring’
