Use the Eclipse plug-in to edit, compile, and debug your application

Editor's note: This updated version of "Getting Started with Eclipse platform" was published in August 2008. This initial version will be retained for your reference. To learn about Eclipse's latest features, read the new article.

What is Eclipse?

Eclipse is an open source, java-based, extensible development platform. For its part, it is just a framework and a set of services for building the development environment through plug-in components. Fortunately, Eclipse comes with a standard set of plug-ins, including Java development tools (Java Development tools,jdt).

While most users are happy to use eclipse as the Java IDE, Eclipse's goal is not limited to this. Eclipse also includes the plug-in development environment (Plug-in Development Environment,pde), which focuses on software developers who want to extend eclipse because it allows them to build tools that seamlessly integrate with the eclipse environment. Because everything in Eclipse is a plug-in, all tool developers have an equal place to play for providing plug-ins to eclipse, as well as providing a consistent and unified integrated development environment for users.

This equality and consistency is not limited to Java development tools. Although Eclipse is developed in the Java language, its purpose is not limited to the Java language; For example, plug-ins that support programming languages such as C/S, COBOL, and Eiffel are already available or are expected to be rolled out. The Eclipse framework can also be used as a basis for other application types unrelated to software development, such as content management systems.

An outstanding example of an ECLIPSE based application is IBM's WebSphere Studio Workbench, which forms the basis of the IBM Java Development tools family. For example, WebSphere Studio application Developer adds support for JSP, servlet, EJB, XML, Web services, and database access.

Eclipse is open source software

Open source software is a software that comes with a license designed to ensure that certain rights are granted to the user. Of course, the most obvious right is that the source code must be available so that users can freely modify and redistribute the software. This protection of user rights is done through a policy called copyleft: the Software License advocates copyright protection, and the user is not allowed to distribute the software unless expressly granted such rights. Copyleft also requires the same license to cover any redistributed software. This actually inverts the purpose of copyright-using copyright to grant user rights, rather than retaining copyright--copyleft for software developers, which is often described as "preserving all copyrights".

The many fears of open source software that have spread around concerns and concerns are related to the so-called "viral" nature of certain copyleft licenses-if you use open source software as part of the program you develop, you will lose your intellectual property because the license will "infect" the proprietary part of your development. In other words, the license may require all software packaged with open source software to be published under the same license. While this may be true for the most famous copyleft license (the GNU general Public License, such as Linux, which is issued under the license), there are other licenses that provide a better balance between commercialization and community considerations.

Open Software Initiative is a non-profit organization that clearly defines the meaning of open source code and the authentication license that meets its standards. Eclipse is licensed under OSI's approved general Public License (CPL) version 1.0, Cpl "is designed to facilitate the commercialization of the program ..." (for a link to the full text of the general Public License version 1.0, see Resources later in this article).

Developers who create plug-ins for Eclipse or use eclipse as the basis for software development applications need to publish any Eclipse code they have used or modified under CPL, but they are free to decide how to grant the code they have added. Proprietary code packaged with software from Eclipse does not need to be licensed as an open source, and the source code does not need to be supplied to the user.

Although most developers do not use eclipse to develop plug-ins or create new products based on Eclipse, the open source nature of Eclipse does not mean that it makes eclipse available for free (although a commercially convenient license means that Plug-ins may cost money). Open source encourages innovation and motivates developers (and even business developers) to contribute code to the public open source repository. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the most fundamental reason is that the more developers who contribute to the project, the more valuable the project will become to everyone. As the project becomes more useful, more developers will use it and build a community around it, just like the communities that surround Apache and Linux.

What organization is Eclipse?

The Eclipse.org Association manages and directs Eclipse in ongoing development. After it was said that IBM spent 40 million of dollars on developing Eclipse and released it as an open source project, the Eclipse.org Society absorbs a number of software tool providers, including Borland, Merant, Rational, RedHat, SuSE, TogetherSoft and QNX. Since then, other companies have joined, including Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu, and Sybase. Each of these companies sent a representative to the Council, which was responsible for determining the direction and scope of the Eclipse project.

At the highest level, the Project Management Committee (Management COMMITTEE,PMC) manages the Eclipse project. This project is divided into subprojects, with one owner in each subproject. Large subprojects are divided into groups, and each group has a person in charge. Most of these management roles are currently owned by the IBM affiliate Object Technology International (OTI), which originally developed Eclipse, but as an open source project, it welcomes anyone's involvement. The responsibilities of any particular department are sought through the contribution of the Department to the project.

Now that we've examined some of the theories, histories, and management behind Eclipse, let's examine the product itself.