Codex.org

Getting started on any new development platform/project can be a fun and yet daunting task. So I recently decided that I was going to start writing some apps for Android based phones. Following the links to the developer information shows that there is a plugin for Eclipse but no support listed for other IDEs. This is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but seeing as how I prefer Netbeans as my development environment, I was going to have to install Eclipse if I wanted to use the plugin provided by Google.

The problem is that for Eclipse there is not just a single download, or a list of the different downloads and their differences. Instead you are faced with a list that is rather lacking in information. There are 11 variations of the platform to choose from:

1. Eclipse IDE for Java Developers (99 MB)
2. Eclipse Classic 3.6.1 (170 MB)
3. Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers (206 MB)
4. Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers (88 MB)
5. Eclipse for PHP Developers (141 MB)
6. Eclipse IDE for JavaScript Web Developers (108 MB)
7. Eclipse Modeling Tools (includes incubating components) (249 MB)
8. Eclipse IDE for Java and Report Developers (241 MB)
9. Eclipse for RCP and RAP Developers (188 MB)
10. Pulsar for Mobile Developers (122 MB)
11. Eclipse SOA Platform for Java and SOA Developers (188 MB)

Some of these can be canceled out right away, but others you just end up scratching your head at. Why is the classic 71 MB more than the IDE for Java Developers? What do they include that is not included in the Java edition, and will I even miss it? Next, I am looking at mobile phone development, so should I go with Pulsar? Actually, what isPulsar?

Clicking on the details link did help provide some additional information, but still there was not a clear cut explanation of all of the differences. Most of the details links contained a Feature List. This list though was laid out in the manner of the the plugins that are included by default. One such example is org.eclipse.mylyn.java_feature. To understand what this is, you must do more research. Only then do you discover that it is “the task and application lifecycle management (ALM) framework for Eclipse.” Overall the entire list of packages and features could be better displayed.

Part of the application that I am considering writing may have a web based component. While I could do that portion in Netbeans, and only the phone work in Eclipse, the goal is to attempt to utilize all of Eclipse for the entire project. Not sure it is the wisest thing to do, but that is what I set my mind to when taking on this undertaking. As a result I have downloaded the IDE for JAVA EE Developers. Only time will tell if this was a mistake or not.