Chapter 1. Using Eclipse Tools

This chapter discusses using the Eclipse development environment to create Java applications and, more to the point, to create enhancements for Eclipse itself. We with an explanation of where to get Eclipse and how to set it up. This is followed by a quick introduction to the Eclipse user interface (UI) and how it can be customized. Next, this chapter introduces a number of important Eclipse tools and describes how they are used to create an initial Java project, navigate and search the environment, and create and edit Java code. Eclipse developers typically want to work as part of a team and share their code with other members of their team, so this chapter also includes the setup and use of the Concurrent Versions System (CVS), which ships as part of Eclipse. After creating an initial Java project and class, we follow up with details for executing, debugging, and testing the code that has been written.