Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In this video, we'll look at creating a very simple project using Eclipse. After I double-click
on eclipse.exe, the splash screen appears and I am then prompted for a workspace folder.
Using multiple workspaces can allow you to organize your different projects by category
and not have them all visible in Eclipse at once. I'll accept the default folder and continue.
I now reach the Welcome screen. This screen has an overview, samples and tutorials. I'll
proceed to the workbench. If you need to get back to the Welcome screen, you can select
it from the Help menu.
Now let's write a simple Java program. On the "File" menu, we select new Java project.
This brings up a screen where you can give the name and location of the project. I'll
call this MyFirstProject, and accept the default location, which is my workspace. Below that
it asks what version of Java I wish to use, and how I want the files laid out. I'll accept
the defaults on those and push "Finish."
Next I need to create a Java class. From the "File" menu, I select Class. Eclipse is going
to store this in the "src" folder and I will give it the name "HelloWorld." I want a main
method, so I'll ask eclipse to create a stub for me. I then pick finish.
Now let's look at the folders Eclipse created. In my workspace, I have "MyFirstProject".
Inside that are "src", which is where the Java source code will go, "bin", which will
contain the compiled classes. You'll mostly be interested in what is in the "src" folder
and can ignore all the rest.
Back in Eclipse, we can see the created project. There are also windows for task list and outline.
I'm going to close these to reduce the amount of clutter. If you want them back, you can
get them from the Window menu, under show view. You can see that Eclipse has added a
lot of code for us, and put a "TO DO" for us to add code. I'll add a println. Notice
that after I type "System dot", Eclipse shows a lot of suggestions. Also, Eclipse is constantly
compiling in the background, so if I type something wrong, like leaving off the "n"
at the end of println, a red squiggly appears under the line indicating there is an error.
Hovering over the red "X", I can see the error messages. I'll finish off the code, printing
out "Hello World." To run the program, simply hit the green "run" button.
We can add more than one file to a project. By simply dragging a file into the project,
it is added. Eclipse is an extremely powerful IDE with lots of options that can be intimidating,
but you can also use only a small subset of it fairly easily.