You've probably heard the buzz about Eclipse, the powerful open source platform that gives Java developers a new way to approach development projects. It's like a shiny new car--no longer content to just admire Eclipse, you're now itching to get in and drive. Eclipse is to Java developers what Visual Studio is to .NET developers--it's an integrated development environment (IDE) that combines a code editor, compiler, debugger, text editor, graphical user interface (GUI) builder, and other components into a single, user-friendly application. It provides a solid foundation that enables Java developers to construct and run integrated software-development tools for web development, application design, modeling, performance, testing, and much more. As with any extensive programming tool, however, there's a lot to learn. And there s no better guy than well-known Java expert Steve Holzner to teach you. An award-winning and best-selling author who has been writing about Java topics since the language first appeared, Holzner delivers just the kind of targeted, practical, everyday knowledge you need to hone your mastery of Eclipse. Perfect as a companion to an Eclipse programming tutorial (such as Holzner's own Eclipse, O'Reilly, April 2004) or an ideal stand-alone for all those developers who either don't want or don't need the tutorial approach, the Eclipse Cookbook contains task-oriented recipes for more than 800 situations you may encounter while using this new Java platform--from deploying a web application automatically to reverse engineering compiled code, from re-naming all references to a class across multiple packages to initializing the SWT JNI libraries. Each recipe in the ever-popular and utterly practical problem-solution-discussion format for O'Reilly cookbooks contains a clear and thorough description of the problem, a brief but complete discussion of a solution, and in-action examples illustrating that solution. The Eclipse Cookbook will satiate Java programmers at all levels who are ready to go beyond tutorials--far beyond writing plug-ins and extensions--and actually use the powerful and convenient Eclipse day to day.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 11 Ratings

too much padding - 2005-01-12
Reviewer Rating:
The book has some useful information, but does not
go beyond the very basic. In light of this, it is
annoying that so much space is taken up with repeated
samples of the same code, and with more screen shots
than are needed. I've encountered this before in one
of Mr. Holzner's books (XML Complete), and I have to
wonder if this is done to pad the book to a length
that justifies the cost.

Handy Starters' Reference to Eclipse - 2004-12-05
Reviewer Rating:
After getting used to the fundamentals of the Java programming language, a versatile integrated development environment like Eclipse would bring developers to next level of productivity, and Eclipse Cookbook is handy for the start. Readers are guided step-by-step with numerous illustrations about its support for tasks from creating packages, classes, methods to refactoring, and debugging. The book demonstrates Eclipse 2.1.2 with the difference of early release of version 3.0 being mentioned. Now when versions 3.0.1 and 3.1M are readily available, you might need to resort to online help for the exact updated steps. You will find the use of application programming interface of platform dependent SWT for building GUI with both AWT and Swing being mixed. However, it gets nothing to do with the drag-and-drop style of building graphical components. Web development is included but too concise. No elaborated features like performance profiling or modeling tool of round-trip development are described. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to introduce to target audience with various commonly referred plug-ins on tasks like integrating with different kinds of version control, validating XML, modeling UML, and J2EE support.

Somewhat basic for a cookbook... - 2004-10-03
Reviewer Rating:
A recent addition to my Eclipse library has been Eclipse Cookbook by Steve Holzner (O'Reilly). It works well for my level of expertise at the package, but experienced users might find it lacking...

Chapter list: Basic Skills; Using Eclipse; Java Development; Refactoring, Building, and Launching; Testing and Debugging; Using Eclipse in Teams; Eclipse and Ant; SWT: Text, Buttons, Lists and Nonretangular Windows; SWT: Dialogs, Toolbars, Menus, and More; SWT: Coolbars, Tab Folders; Trees, and Browsers; JSP, Servlets, and Eclipse; Creating Plug-ins: Extension Points, Actions, and Menus; Creating Plug-ins: Wizards, Editors, and Views; Index

Like all O'Reilly cookbooks, this follows the standard formula. A problem is presented, a short two or three line solution is given, and then there's a discussion and fuller explanation of the answer. There are plenty of screen shots and coding examples to help you through each of the recipes.

Overall, the book will benefit new and intermediate users. The author covers quite a few of the features of Eclipse that make it so powerful, like refactoring, running the debugger, and other various tasks. You may know that these exist but not know how to use them, or you just may be ignorant of the fact that they even exist. In that sense, it's really good. The SWT portion seems to be more centered on programming with Eclipse as a secondary focus. Maybe because it's because I don't do SWT development, but it just seemed to be a bit out of place. The material also seems to be pretty basic for a cookbook. Usually the recipes are more beyond the basics and get into things that aren't quite as intuitive as they might be.

This will help me get up to speed on Eclipse, and I do like the book. I'm just not sure it's for everyone...

Very good reference for Eclipse. - 2004-09-27
Reviewer Rating:

Prof. Steve Holzner is an authority in Java and has many books to his credit. Prof. Holzner's

expertise and patience is well brought in this book with adequate explanation of the different aspects

of Eclipse.

The book is full of screen prints that adequately explain how the screen would look while using the

built-in features of eclipse. the author has taken the time to take different scenarios and ways to

work around the different problems encountered while using the tool to develop Java applications. to

demonstrate some of the features, the author debugs a sample program and identifies the errors

commonly encountered and ways to resolve the errors.

as mentioned at the beginning book, this book does not intend to teach programming aspects of Java but

the features and the nuances built in the tool. The author has taken the time to explain how the

tool integrates with ANT and TOMCAT.

although this book was written with Eclipse 2.x, the author indicates the features that would be built

in eclipse 3.x. the author's style is simple and straight to the point. it is a well written book

and an excellent reference on eclipse 3.0. the book has earned a place in my shelf.

Good book for those use to simpler editors - 2005-04-06
Reviewer Rating:
I was use to using a much simpler editor for writing Java code. This book did a very good job helping with learning how to use Eclipse.

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