Section 1.1.  Eclipse - Eclipse Rich Client Platform: Designing, Coding, and Packaging Java Applications

1.1. Eclipse

If you are new to Eclipse, you are probably wondering, "What is Eclipse?" First and foremost, Eclipse is an open source community of people building Java™-based tools and infrastructure to help you solve your problems. The most obvious output of the community is the Eclipse Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This world-class Java IDE regularly tops the charts in developer satisfaction and use. It's also free from http://eclipse.org.

Underneath the IDE is a generic tooling platform that supports a wide range of tools for languages and systems from Java to C to Python to Web technologies to data manipulation and reporting. The Eclipse component model means that these tools can be combined and integrated as needed.

Under the tooling platform is the Eclipse Rich Client Platform. This is a generic platform for running applications. The Eclipse IDE happens to be one such application. This book focuses on how you can build your application and take advantage of the Eclipse RCP.