satukubik

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:

1. SVN client. The client is more integrated and more Eclipse-like since it enters Eclipse incubation.
   
2. Ruby support as part of DLTK.
3. Cleaner update page.
   
   
4. The Eclipse Compiler for Java now takes advantage of multiple CPUs. This will be only one thing, it will be faster!
5. Full JavaScript support with customizable formatter and templates.
   
   
6. 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
   
7. 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:

1. 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.
2. Eclipse needs decent UML editor, unfortunately IBM still doesn’t want to open source its Rational product.
3. 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Save (Ctrl+S). OK, I know that this is a must for nearly all applications.
4. Quick Fix (Ctrl+1). You get error or warning? Many times you will find that this shortcut can solve the problem for you.
5. Rename (Ctrl+2+R). Since I’m a refactoring guy, I never escape from this task, renaming variables/methods/classes.
6. 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?