Which Eclipse IDE version to choose?

Question

How do I find which Eclipse version I have on my Ubuntu system?

This is what "About Eclipse SDK" says.

Eclipse SDK

Version: 3.5.2

Build id: M20100211-1343

I am not sure if its the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers or the Eclipse Classic version.

What I would like to do is use Eclipse for

Java based Web Application Development

Ant Builds

Deploy using Tomcat

including HTML, CSS Editing

Please help me decide which version I should choose? I would like to upgrade my Eclipse setup from whatever version it is now to a version that supports all the above. Should I go for Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers?

Should I download a totally new version from Eclipse site or can I just ADD necessary features/plugins to my current Eclipse setup.

Please suggest.

Answer 1

What I would like to do is use Eclipse for (...)

The Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers allows to do what you're asking for out of the box.

Should I download a totally new version from Eclipse site or can I just ADD necessary features/plugins to my current Eclipse setup.

Both would work, although it would be simpler to just get directly the Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers (especially if you don't know exactly what plugin(s) you're looking for). Personally, I don't use the version you can get from the repository but download Eclipse from the official website and install it in user mode.

Answer 2

If you want to play with Web development, then the Eclipse java EE for Developers is for you. It is shipped with components to make Java Enterprise applications to create Enterprise Applications (and bundle it in an Enterprise ARchiver, known as EAR file or Web ARchive, known as WAR file).

Answer 3

The default Eclipse shipping with Ubuntu is the Classic version, and you can add more plugins.

I would recommend, however, to download th eJEE version manually and unzip it and run. Then you have a local installation outside the system files.

Answer 4

If you are using Eclipse for only Enterprise Development, then as everybody has recommended I would use the Eclipse Java EE version. If you plan on occasionally using it for other development purposes then I would consider downloading a separate classic version as well.

The reason for this is that everybody is well aware of eclipse's plugin capabilities. Unfortunately, Eclipse can get bogged down with too many plugins or add on tools. What I have experienced is that if you are using it for Enterprise Development(J2EE) it might be a good idea to keep that as a separate environment then your other Java Development. That way you can download the plugins,tools,libraries,etc for your enterprise development, and you can use your classic version for any other development you might need.

The downside is you will have two versions, but this is not a problem granted you do not run them simultaneously.