Home » Eclipse Projects » Eclipse Platform » Newbie trying to migrate from Netbeans
| Newbie trying to migrate from Netbeans [message #207223] |
Mon, 08 March 2004 02:44 |
Eclipse User |
|
|
|
Originally posted by: jfhNO.SPAM.cs.brown.edu
Hi. I've used netbeans for a few years, and it's been OK (heresy!). But
since lots of
folks have been saying I should try eclipse, and I just had a hard-disk
crash and needed
to reinstall everything anyhow, I figured now was the time.
What follows has three parts: (1) a simple question, (2) my context, (3)
some suggestions
about how you might make the migrating or new-user path a little clearer. I
mostly want an
answer to item 1, but I hope that my comments in "3" will be of some use to
those who've
lost their innocence and no longer recall what a pain it can be to get
started with this stuff.
It's a little sarcastic in parts, but it's heartfelt...
Thanks in advance...
John Hughes
1. A simple question.
I installed eclipse. I went to Help...Help Contents. I selected "Java
Development User Guide";
I navigated into "getting started...basic tutorial...Preparing the
workbench." and got this message:
The topic that you have requested is not available. The link may be wrong,
or you may not
have the corresponding product feature installed. This online help only
includes documentation
for features that are installed.
The same goes for everywhere else I navigated to. What's up?
--------------------------
2. Context: I'm on a fresh install (sigh) of Win2K, x86 machine, updated
with all microsoft fixes to
March 7. I've installed java in C:/ProgramFiles <--- Note that there's no
space there; this is a
separate place where I install software that might be sensitive to spaces in
filenames (like some
CVS stuff); it's C:\ProgramFiles\j2sdk1.4.0_01.
I downloaded the Eclipse installer (eclipse-SDK-2.1.2-win32.zip) and
extracted it
to C:\ProgramFiles\eclipse, so that C:\ProgramFiles\eclipse\eclipse.exe is
what
I would run to start it in its most un-tampered-with form.
I did make one change: I made a shortcut and set the target to point to a
folder (F:/usr/jfh/PROGRAMMING/eclipseProjects) where I wanted to store all
my projects.
-------
3. Comments on the migration process.
a. The web page needs an item on the left-hand menu called "Getting
Started." It should say something like "Eclipse is a system that's best
known as a Java development environment; as you
learn more about it, you'll find it's much more than that. But right now,
you probably want
to try it out. Here's how..." [I may have the facts wrong, but the GIST is
right. I mean, look at he front page of eclipse.org:
"Eclipse.org is the website of the Eclipse Foundation.
Eclipse is an open platform for tool integration built by an open community
of tool providers. Operating under a open source paradigm, with a common
public license that provides royalty free source code and world wide
redistribution rights, the eclipse platform provides tool developers with
ultimate flexibility and control over their software technology."
----------------------
Jeez! Straight from the blathermaker. It made me want to run, screaming, for
a place where
people can talk straight.
b. The download page was OK. I got the installer OK. But I put it in
F:/downloadStuff as I do for most things, and double-clicked it, expecting
it to behave like most windows installation stuff. Instead, it took forever
to unzip the files into my F-disk. I moved them to the C disk as above.
What I'd expect is either: (a) double-clicking would give me some sort of
installation hints and say what it was about to do, or (b) it'd extract into
a folder called F:eclipse that'd contain a readme
and another zip-file, which the readme would help explain ("open this other
file, and extract it
to a place where you want the eclipse install to go; we recommend
C:\eclipse, or
C:\Program Files\eclipse, but you can put it anywhere you like on your file
system if these don't
appeal to you.")
c. When I finally had the eclipse folder created (C:/ProgramFiles/eclipse),
I look inside and find...a bunch of stuff, including a FOLDER called
"readme", containing exactly one file (readme.html). I don't know why you'd
put it there. Just to be different? Go figure.
d. The documentation, above all else, should work after a first install. It
didn't.
e. The opening page, when I ran eclipse, said:
"This page will help familiarize you...
Installed Features
To find out more about the features installed in your workbench, choose
Help>Welcome..."
So I chose it, and "Eclipse Platform" was highlighted. "Cool," I say to
myself..."that's what I want
to know about." And it turns out to be...the page that's currently
displayed. Sigh. Deflation. Detumescence, if you prefer. "Sigh," I say to
myself, "What a bunch of (adjective deleted)
bozos. Definitely designing tools for geeks, not humans. Never heard of a
user interface
guideline in their lives. Sigh."
f. Tools are all very well, but some of us use a lot of tools already, and
kinda like them. Browsers,
for instance. I'm great at keystroking my way around a couple of browsers.
Why do I need to
learn a NEW one to use Eclipse. Damn. Netbeans, for all its flaws, is
looking better and better.
At least their install WORKS.
g. Thinking "maybe there's just something glitchy about the initial doc
setup," I try a "search" in the "Help" window. I search for "Introduction."
Up pops a little window that tells me it's building an index, which takes a
couple of minutes. "Hey," I think, "I must be getting somewhere. It's
clearly
looking at lots of files, etc., or it couldn't take this long. It's gonna be
OK. I'm on my may now."
Wrong-o. After all its index-building, it says "nothing found." And then
there's no way to get
back to the (apparently useless, but at least comforting) list of documents
that were there before.
I erase the search field...nothing. I click "Go." Nothing. I close the help
window, and re-open it
from the "Resource - Welcome -Eclipse Platform" window (who thought up THAT
informative
title???) with Help...Help Contents, and the contents-list is back. No
"retained state" here, no sir.
Later I discover that the little bluish book at the lower left returns me to
the index. But more and
more I'm loving Netbeans.
----
So...for all the wonders of this tool, it sure stinks from a newbie point of
view.
-John Hughes
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
Current Time: Thu Jul 17 22:16:28 EDT 2025
Powered by FUDForum. Page generated in 0.07433 seconds |
Home