Since eclipse is widely used in industry, it is to your benefit to become comfortable using eclipse as a development environmnet. To be able to say you know eclipse well in a job interview is a big plus.
Eclipse works in a fixed directory. Every time you work in a new directory, Eclipse needs to be set up again. For our purposes, go to your cs475 directory. Create a Project directory under that. Change your working directory into Project then type at the Unix prompt:
eclipse &
After the splash screen, you will see a collection of windows. It will take a minute or so to install some files in a new workspace directory.
Read the opening window about the "Eclipse Platform" focusing on Eclipse's perspectives and views.
When you move the cursor over a button, you will see a small text window explaining what the button does. Do this for every button.
On the far left side, third from top, click on the "Open a Perspective" button and select "Java." A new "Java Persective" button (with a J in it) will appear.
In Eclipse, you must create a project first. Go to the File menu and select New -> Project -> Java. Then Next and give the project a name, say "First." Then press Finish. Eclipse will create a new directory with the project name and this is where it will place all your files for the project.
Hold the right mouse button down while you select the project name in the "Package Explore" window and a menu will appear. Select New -> Class. Give the class a name, say "Helloworld," and press the button for a main method stub. Then press Finish. A Java editor window should appear with the Java code for the main stub along with an "Outline" window. Notice that javadoc-style comments are included with the date and your login name. Using the editor, add a statement to print "Hello World!" in the main method.
Notice as you type, eclipse will try to help. If you type "Sys" then press control-space, a small window appears with information.
Try typing "System.out." then press control-space.
If eclipse underlines in red, that means a syntax error. Remove the semicolon from the end of "System.out.println." and see what happens.
From Run menu select Run As -> Java Application. In the new window, press OK. Eclipse will save the file, compile, open a "Console" window at the bottom and display the output.
Create a new project and call it Temperatures. Select the project in the "Package Explore" window. From File menu, select import. Select File System then press Next. Type in the directory /home/accounts/COURSES/cs475 and press Return. Open the cs475 folder, click on the small white rectangle in front of the file TempConverson2.java and press Finish.
Return to eclipse's "Package Explore" window. Open "Default Package" under "Tempertures" to find "TempConversion2.java". Select "TempConversion2.java" and using right mouse button select Open With -> Java Editor. Study the code and also look at the "Outline" window. Select "fahrLabel" in the Outline window. Notice that you can quickly maneuver through the code using the outline. Run the program to see what it does. Enter a new temperature in either text box.
From the Help menu, select Welcome... -> Eclipse Java Development Tools and read the information displayed.
From the Help menu, select Tips and Tricks... -> Eclipse Java Development Tools and a Netscape browser window will appear. Read all of the Tips and Tricks. They have lots of neat stuff to increase your productivity using the eclipse environment. As you read the Tips and Tricks, you may want to experiment with some. Look for tips and tricks which will be useful for you.
Read through the local copy of the 3plus4 Tutorial to see what is there.