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Is Eclipse on par?

 
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Hi folks.
First I don't want this to devolve into discussion of open source versus commercial IDEs, so if you have the urge to make that kind of comment - please don't.
Now onto the question. I'm interested in whether or not Eclipse now has feature parity with the EA of IntelliJ Idea. While I currently use Idea and do love the tool - its plugin community is trivial compared to eclipse and have been considering a switch. So all of you out there who actively play with the IDEs - would you say that an Idea user who actually does use all of the nifty features of Idea would be able to migrate over to Eclipse?
Also, has Eclipse gotten rid of that confused and (IMO) broken scheme for project and library management?
Thanks,
Greg
[ September 25, 2003: Message edited by: Marilyn de Queiroz ]
 
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Now onto the question. I'm interested in whether or not Eclipse now has feature parity with the EA of IntelliJ Idea. While I currently use Idea and do love the tool - its plugin community is trivial compared to eclipse and have been considering a switch. So all of you out there who actively play with the IDEs - would you say that an Idea user who actually does use all of the nifty features of Idea would be able to migrate over to Eclipse?
Which nifty features are those? You'll need to spell out those areas that you consider to be "nifty".
But, given the fact that I don't know what you think is "nifty", I do have a few points: first, Eclipse doesn't do much of anything. By itself, Eclipse pretty much is a bad version of Windows Explorer. However, the JDT is a great piece of work. There are tons of features, from debugging to code completion to refactoring.
However, the beauty of Eclipse is its extensibility. You can go commercial and get the WebSphere product line, which adds every conceivable feature your might need to develop web applications, or you can scour the over 300 plugin project to find what you want for free, or you can even write your own. Or any combination of the three.
So I would say that from a future growth standpoint, not much compares with Eclipse.

Also, has Eclipse gotten rid of that confused and (IMO) broken scheme for project and library management?
Well, what exactly do you find broken? I've been using Eclipse for some time now and I'm comfortable with the project structure.

Joe
[ September 25, 2003: Message edited by: Marilyn de Queiroz ]
 
Gregory Pierce
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I consider it broken that I could not previously create a project and say "the source is here", "generate classes here", "use these globally defined libraries" as opposed to conforming to a directory structure that Eclipse uses which wanted files to live elsewhere.
 
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Originally posted by Gregory Pierce:
I consider it broken that I could not previously create a project and say "the source is here", "generate classes here", "use these globally defined libraries" as opposed to conforming to a directory structure that Eclipse uses which wanted files to live elsewhere.


1. create a project
2. "the source is here"
2.1. new folder, link to folder in file system
2.2. new source folder, designate newly linked folder
3. "generate classes here"
3.1. go to project properties -> java build path -> source tab
3.2. set default output folder / or create folder for output
4. "use these globally defined libraries"
4.1. go to project properties -> java build path -> libraries tab
4.2. add external jar
5.0 fin!
 
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My two cents:
I use both. I generally like IDEA better -- it's just generally more "polished", as you might expect from a commercial product. But there are so many more plug-ins available for Eclipse, that if you have a project that depends on some extra-lingual thing not supported by IDEA (one example is the ANTLR parser generator) then Eclipse suddenly becomes superior. Likewise, if you can't afford the $400 or so per developer, Eclipse is a happy substitute.
IDEA's got more refactorings available, and in general it takes fewer mouse-clicks to do what you need to do. Eclipse's UI continues to improve, but it's still messier than need be.
 
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We don't allow "flame-fests" here on Javaranch.

I really like IDEA. I have not used Eclipse, so I guess I can't really say much about a comparison/contrast between the two.

Are you asking about hot keys? functionality? look and feel? Are you including the plug-ins that are available for IDEA in your question about nifty features? What is the last version of Eclipse you saw, the one with the broken scheme for project and library management?
 
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Having used JBuilder for several years before switching to Eclipse earlier this year ('twas either that or cough up �1000 I didn't have for the next upgrade which I didn't have) I must say Eclipse works quite well once you get used to the different way of working.
I had been quite sceptical, especially since I'd in the past tried downloading it and constantly got corrupted archives or installations that wouldn't work properly.
But now I like it a lot.
 
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Originally posted by Gregory Pierce:
I consider it broken that I could not previously create a project and say "the source is here", "generate classes here", "use these globally defined libraries" as opposed to conforming to a directory structure that Eclipse uses which wanted files to live elsewhere.


You've been able to create projects and point to multiple points of source located nearly anywhere as well as direct the output wherever you like. You can include jar files from anywhere on your machine as well. This has been in Eclipse for some time now.
 
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I use IDEA primarily, but I also use WSAD which is eclipse based as well because it had great integration and debugging for websphere. In a straight up coding environment I choose IDEA every time. Here are a few of my reasons in no particular order.
1.) you can map a keystroke for ANY possible menu item or process
2.) I don't like the fact that eclipse project don't stay in sync with what is happening on the local filesystem without refreshing manually.
3.) code folding
4.) Aurora, the next version of IDEA has WAY better CVS integration. For instance in the text view there is a small gutter that has color coded highlighting of lines that have changed since you last checked in. red for changed, green for new, arrow for deleted etc...
5.) The code inspection and intentions are much stronger in IDEA
6.) You can completely navigate up and down the quick javadoc popup, parameter insight is much better.
7.) IDEA has a better templating system, file templates and code templates
8.) IDEA's code formatting does not enforce line wrapping if you dont want it to, eclipse formatting is not as smart.
9.) IDEA has more detailed syntax and error, warning highlighting
10.) Eclipse open type, open resource dialog include every library and possible file in the project, I'm only interested in my own code 99.99% of the time.
11.) IDEA has more refactoring.
Here are few things I like about WSAD5.1 aka Eclipse 2.1.1
1.) SWT menus are faster than swing and have the correct XP l&f
2.) I like the debugging view and options a little bit better.
3.) Incremental compilation.
4.) can have open multiple projects at a time in the same window each building to a different directory.
 
Andre Tow
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oh i thought of another big one, ctrl-w which is IDEA's awesome highlighting engine and is light years ahead of eclipses select element, if you are used to using this eclipse is going to feel so klunky.
 
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