I am Java developer who is using Eclipse on a X86 computer to code. I am considering to buy for other reasons an Desktop Mac computer and I would like to use this computer to do my coding work. I know there is a Eclipse version for Macs, I am asking if there may be some problems/issues related to Macintosh computers. Thanks!
+2
A:
http://developer.apple.com/tools/eclipse.html
and if you want the non-Apple-bs experience:
EMMERICH
2010-10-20 10:59:54
Doug Schaefer complains about an issue that most developers won't ever run into. His point is still valid, though.
Zsolt Török
2010-10-20 11:04:19
+3
A:
No, Eclipse works just as well on a Mac as on a Windows or Linux computer. Key bindings are different though; if you're used to the shortcut keys of Eclipse on Windows, you'll need to get used to different shortcuts on the Mac.
Jesper
2010-10-20 11:00:24
A:
eclipse for mac works exactly as you know it from your pc. the only thing that differs is the arrangement of some keys (the @ is on L, the arrangement of the braces differs a bit)
oezi
2010-10-20 11:01:12
+9
A:
It really depends what you'll be doing.
In terms of the IDE, it will work just fine and you can copy your files/projects over and they will "just work".
However, there are some things you need to be weary of:
- Key mappings might be different
- You won't be able to do any JavaME programming as there is no Mac toolkit for that.
- If you're doing Swing development, make sure you test your code on your target environment as things might look different.
Other than that, Macs work fantastic for Java coding.
iggymoran
2010-10-20 11:03:20
+1 for mentioning key mappings. Ctrl+S (for non Macs) became (Command + S). It's annoying when working on 2 different OS'es.
The Elite Gentleman
2010-10-20 11:37:15
I disagree for the JavaME part. There is a JaveME sdk that works fine on Mac OS X 10.5.8 +. I developed myself several mobile application for symbian os with it.
Spredzy
2010-10-20 12:03:19
I am used to ctrl+S/Cmd+s because this is the sase for almost all apps. For me the most annoying is F11 for debug last launched. Depending on the mac you use, f11 might default to "Show Desktop"
Nivas
2010-10-20 12:03:40
@Spredzy I stand corrected. As of the end of last year there is an Oracle/Sun SDK for ME on OS X. I was unaware of it as I have had no need to use it in the past year.
iggymoran
2010-10-20 13:36:33
IMO (having done Java on Mac before), "fantastic" is a bit of an overstatement. It works fine, but is just a hair behind the Windows/Solaris/Linux platforms. I do have to commend Apple for coming a long way, just a couple years ago doing Java on Mac was quite unpleasant (as they were so incredibly far behind on JDK updates).
Brian Knoblauch
2010-10-20 14:20:43
@Brian, "fantastic" is quite subjective. While updates, for instance, might be a tad behind and linked to OS upgrades, I quite like the whole experience and UI of the entire platform.
iggymoran
2010-10-21 05:42:17
A:
Eclipse works fine, but with different keybindings.
I have found that sharing files with other computers - e.g. through a source repository - may give you character set conversion issues. If you stay with pure ASCII in your source you should not have any problems.
You can download Eclipse 3.6.1 from eclipse.org directly (where your platform is autodetected) or from http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops/R-3.6.1-201009090800/index.php#EclipseSDK
I would suggest getting the JEE version from the frontpage. It contains web stuff I use regularily.
Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
2010-10-20 11:04:51
+1
A:
Personal experience for RCP-development: 2G of RAM are not enough (at least not for our project), so the current MacBook Airs are not suitable at all for development. But then, you're talking about desktop Macs anyway, so if you can get the >2G, it should be fine.
During the 64bit transition phase, there were some glitches with missing 64bit Cocoa, but that has been resolved. Some of the extensions may be platform specific: currently, TPTP (Test and Performance Tools Platform Project) still has some limitation.
ShiDoiSi
2010-10-20 11:19:41
A:
From my personal experience, Eclipse actually works better on OS X and Linux than it does on Windows. I'm a professional plugins developer and I do all my coding on Mac. I blog about Eclipse and Mac related topics, so I invite to read it.
Adding to the limitations mentioned in other answers, if you have specific plugins that you need, not all support Macs, although most. For example, The Eclipse TPTP (short for profiler) project doesn’t profile on Mac. There are alternatives in most cases, though (AFAIK, not free in the case of TPTP).
zvikico
2010-10-20 11:38:21
+3
A:
Apple just announced that they are deprecating their Java platform. That may cause some problems in the future. Update: however, I have seen that Eclipse works with the soylatte OpenJDK port.
Graham Lee
2010-10-21 10:44:48