Eclipse's documentation
We recommend the following configuation options:
-
Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Compiler:
set "Compiler compliance level" to 6.0
-
Window -> Preferences -> General -> Editors -> Text Editors:
select "Show line numbers"
-
Window -> Preferences -> General -> Web Browser:
set "Use external Web browser" with /usr/bin/firefox
-
Window -> Preferences -> General -> Appearance -> Colors and Fonts:
To change the default font size, select Basic -> Text Font and then click "Change".
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The default is that Eclipse automatically tries to build
projects whenever saved. For now, I prefer to work
without this option. It can be deselected as
Project -> Build Automatically.
After this point, the specific project can be built
manually using
Project -> Build Project.
To create a new project, select
File -> New -> Project and select "Java Project".
Give a project name (this may be different from the underlying
filename for the project). Then select from either creating a
new project in your default workspace or from creating a project
from an existing source. At this point go ahead and "Finish"
the setup.
To run a program, select Run -> Run at
which point you are asked for what kind of project this is.
Select "Java Application". Then you can identify the Main
class. Once you've set up the configuration for your project,
future runs can be done using the
Run -> Run Last Launched option.
Getting Documentation for Java API:
For the moment, it seems that Eclipse does not automatically
find the local documentation for the standard Java libraries.
It is very helpful to have that information within Eclipse. On
our system, you can link it by going to the Package Explorer for
any of your Java projects. Then select the "JRE System
Library", and from within there "rt.jar". With that entry
selected, go to the "File" menu and select "Properties". On the
left, select "Javadoc Location" and then on the right enter the
URL file:/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/docs/api/