Exercise #1: Starting Up Eclipse

Objectives

• to be able to locate and start-up Eclipse
• to be able to identify the Java Perspective within Eclipse
• to understand the difference between a perspective and a view

Start up the application "Eclipse" which is located under "All Programs".

Once it is invoked, you will be greeted with a screen will look something like this*:

Dismiss the "Welcome to Eclipse" tabbed pane. You can look at it later by looking under Help → Guide .

Now the app will look something like this*. This window shows a set of four "views" arranged into a "perspective". This particular configuration of views is called the "Java" Perspective. We will look into each of the four "views" (clockwise, starting from top left):

• the "Package Explorer" view
• the editor view (not labelled, the big empty square in the middle)
• the "Outline" view
• a view consisting of a set of three tabbed panes (labelled Problems, Javadoc, Declaration) (You may see more or other tabbed panes than what is shown below. This is ok.)

Use Window → Open Perspective in order to select the "Java Browsing" and then the "Debug" perspective. This will demonstrate to you what a few different perspectives look like.

Switch back to the "Java" Perspective. Use Window → Open Perspective to do this. Alternatively, there are also short-cut buttons to switch the view in the upper right-hand corner.

HINT: If you ever find yourself in the wrong perspective, you can always get to the Java Perspective using Window → Open Perspective.

Now we're back in the Java Perspective. Let's have a look at the editor view. It is the big empty pane in the middle of the window. The title bar is empty, but you can see the title bar decorators are there (e.g., to minimize and maximize the view). Once there is a file open within Eclipse this view will be populated with content (but at this point you have no project nor any files). The empty editor window is shown below.

Now let's look, on the lefthand side, at the "Package Explorer" view. This is where all of your projects will be listed. It is shown below

*This screen shot is from Eclipse running on Mac Os X and so may looking slightly different from Eclipse running on Windows 7.