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Eclipse Cookbook Review by Thomas Duff
Somewhat basic for a cookbook...
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...