Eclipse, you are bloated

I'm using Netbeans for my day-today java projects, and I really have difficulties when I have to use Eclipse, but I often think that part of it is due to me being new to Eclipse rather than Eclipse itself. However, I also often find that there are real problems with Eclipse, and that my problems are not just coming from my own perception.

Some days ago, I had to install Google Web Toolkit, which is basically an Eclipse Plug-in allowing to generate some complex Javascript code using Java source code . The Java source compilation does not compile Java binary code, but Javascript code, and you can also use a very well done UI designer to create your UI by drag-and-drop rather than having to use complex Javascript libraries.

But this post is not about GWT, on which I have nothing bad to say, but about Eclipse itself, because GWT is an Eclipse plug-in.

First installing Eclipse itself (I used the last Helios version) take ages, in fact it takes so much time (and often it is freezed during the process) that you often think that there may be a problem. And I'm just talking about the first Eclipse internal configuration after you had unzipped the file containing the Eclipse file structure (what, no proper installer?).

Second installing plug ins is really awkward. You have to know the exact URL of the files to be able to download them (from Eclipse), and you HAVE to do it in Eclipse itself. And the UI to choose them is really poorly designed (it seems that you can't put a load of different URLs and download them all at once, you have to download the:m one by one). As for Microsoft software, it also seems that you have to restart Eclipse a lot of times in the process.

Another problem is that if you have to use Eclipse with it's plug-in on a PC not connected to internet, it's really difficult to do so. Basically you have to download it on the spot (something which is not always possible). Which is really awkward considering that there is no proper installer for the core Eclipse itself.

I also have to mention the fact that Eclipse is generally slow (that is, if you succeeded in the previous steps).

I really don't know how Eclipse can be so successful, where it has so much major shortcomings. I have to say that none of these problems exist in Netbeans: finding and downloading plugin-ins is really simple, you can do this by internet or using local files, installing Netbeans is REALLY shorter, and it's generally much more responsive. You can even copy an entire Netbeans directory with it's plugins, and it's working with really minor changes in the configuration (in fact, only one, the path of the JDK).

On Eclipse versus Netbeans

It's amazing how Eclipse has gained so much momentum that people don't even try to look on Netbeans to see if their need could not be fulfilled by this other IDE. OK I am a longtime Netbeans user, but my (recent) experiences with Eclipse were not good ones:

• having the right install and dependencies for a particular plugin is very very often a nightmare. Believe me, it never works out of the box, even with commercial plugins


• I really don't like the perspective stuff, it is surely a good idea, because you think that you will only have what you need for your current task, but at the end this forever changing environment is really disturbing. And having the IDE saying that "you must change your perspective" is something that is the contrary of a user-friendly experience


• Eclipse UI is bloated and not homogeneous. I don't count the times when I had to search for a particular basic thing, and discover that it was hidden deep somewhere in the configuration options


• Some things that are done very well and "out of the box" by Netbeans are complex with Eclipse: UI development (no good UI designer in Eclipse), Jar creation and ant configuration (I was amazed to discover how it was complex to simply create a jar with a main class attribute on the version of Eclipse I used, and you have nothing to do to make it work with Netbeans, it is working out of the box)


• Some cryptic bugs in Eclipse with the projects, that can be very very annoying, especially considering that they don't disappear when you restart. I never had these in Netbeans

But the problem is that people like Eclipse, just because they never look at Netbeans and they think that the problems of Eclipse are just a downside of all What Eclipse can offer to them. It reminds me of the dreaded "Start" button of Windows. In more than one cases, I discussed with people who wanted to begin development with Java in my company, they had a pre-installed version of Eclipse on their PC, and as they asked me, I stated the differences between these two IDEs (it is very easy to work with Netbeans even with copying the installation directory anywhere). They often choose to work with Eclipse (because of the buzz, I think), so they never choose. And they are happy, because they know nothing else, and think that their problems can't be avoided. And in the end, I often had to help them with their Eclipse problems...

Update: And The Visual Editor only works with Eclipse 3.2 (Callisto), it has not been updated since then. Eclipse is now 3.4 !!! Want to do easy Java UI development ? Use Netbeans or buy MyEclipse. Beware that if you want the UI designer (code copied from Netbeans, so don't expect it to be bleeding edge stuff), you have to throw 60$ a year for the professional edition. Netbeans UI designer is bleeding edge and is free.