IDE Guide
JDeveloper 10.1.3.3; Eclipse 3.3; IDEA 7

Basic Terminology

IDEA

• Project - projects contain modules (Note: IDEA is the odd one out in using the term "project" differently than all other major IDEs.)
• Module - IDEA has the concept that you can make a module, doing so makes all projects in that module
• http://www.softwareengineeringsolutions.com/thoughts/IDEs/IntelliJ-IDEA.htm - Damodar's IDEA Web Application Tutorial

JDeveloper

• Application - grouping of projects
• Project - grouping of class files and settings (libraries, source trees, JDK/JVM)

Eclipse

• Workspace - grouping of projects & IDE settings(?)
• Project

To use a different JDK with JDeveloper open the project properties and under the "libraries" page change the JDK.

To create an Eclipse project with source in a common source directory structure (not in the workspace):

• Create a New Java Project
• Contents - "Create new project in workspace"
• Project Layout - "Create separate folders for sources and class files"
• Next
• "Link Additional Source" and browse to root directory of where source files are saved
• Finish
• In Package Explorer right click on the root source and create a new package (if necessary)
• Right click on that package and create a new class - Presto! Everything is in the correct place.
• There appears to be no way to hid other packages that exist in the same tree as the source of the project you are working on (thus all projects "see" all other projects in the same source tree).

• Make sure directory for new Java class files exists (create it if there are no existing source files)!
• Create a New Java Project
• Give the project a "name" and allow it to be created in the workspace and in "Project Layout" select "Use project folder as root for sources..."
• On the next screen click "Link Additonal source";
• browse for the root directory you want as linked folder location (this would be where you would select "src" or "Source"); allow "Replace existing project source folder entry to solve nesting" to be checked; click Finish not Next.
• Highlight all package paths you do not want in this project and click "exclude from build path";
• Select the package path you desire and click "add to Java build path"

Eclipse: Detailed Notes

Eclipse "Key Features"

• Debugger - "drop to frame" option - this allows "going back in time" during a debug session.

Eclipse "Key Flaws"

• Project Source - there is no way to configure an Eclipse project so that other project source files don't show in the project even though they are not part of the project. They can be excluded from the build path, and thus are not part of the project, but they are still visible. This means that you can't have a single corporate source tree package structure. A workaround is to design your source tree such that source files for different projects are in different directories on the disk. But existing source structures should not have to be changed to accomodate an IDE design.

Eclipse "Cool" Features:

• "Export" to easily create a zip file containing a project (or multiple projects)

IDEA "Key Features"

IDEA "Key Flaws"

• Very slow
• Display of help is inferior (fixed width displays require enlarging the help screen or horizontal scrolling)

IDEA "Cool" Features:

Overall Impressions

JDeveloper has the best combination of features and design for efficient development.

Eclipse has a stronger debugger than JDeveloper.

IDEA - very slow

Netbeans key strokes can be found at: http://developers.sun.com/jsenterprise/reference/techart/shortcuts.html