One of the main characteristics of Eclipse is that it is open source, which means that it has a wide compatibility with extensions and plugins for almost everything, even the program offers us the possibility of developing our own plugins. Many of them free and developed by its large community.
Benefits that add-ons bring us
In its origins, Eclipse was born as a programming IDE for Java, but today it is compatible with all major languages, including Python, Scala, Kotlin, Ruby, PHP, and even Android, among others. That is why developers will need different add-ons for all kinds of activities. From modifying a default theme for the one that best suits your style or for a better integration of third-party tools.
By using plugins in Eclipse it will be possible to design the user interface with a dark theme, a light theme or other color options. It also makes it possible to speed up development with frameworks or integration with version control systems, as well as being able to detect quality problems, such as static code analysis as we write. Also, we can get improved support for application servers like JBoss or Tomcat.
Plugins to improve the Eclipse interface
Next, we are going to name a series of plugins for Eclipse that can be practically essential for any programmer and that will give the program a better appearance and usability.
Darkest Dark Theme, customization for Eclipse
We talk about one of the best accessories of all time, so it is almost essential today. The reason for its popularity is based on its ability to make the user interface look especially striking, as it allows icons and fonts to be transformed among other aspects. It has different types of settings that will allow us to change the color scheme from light to dark or customize it to our liking. We can also change the colors of the editor, enable or disable navigation paths among other customization options.
We can download Darkest Dark Theme directly from the code finder that Eclipse incorporates.
Devstyle, greatly improves the interface and appearance
For users who love the enormous capabilities of Eclipse but are disappointed in its looks and ease of use, Devstyle is the perfect match for you. It is a modern and intuitive plugin with which we can improve our experience development with the Eclipse interface. It features a super dark theme, custom icon support, a better online search and startup experience, among other features.
The DevStyle viewing experience is going to provide us with a much-needed face lift. As a result, it offers us an attractive interface with which we can fully immerse ourselves in our work. We can download it from this link.
Plugins to improve its functionalities
If we want to get the most out of a program as complete as Eclipse, nothing better than opting for extensions that provide a greater number of functionalities.
CodeMix, specially designed for professional developers
It is an advanced extension aimed at any developer looking to unleash their capabilities in a different environment that has great support for Maven, Spring and Java. In addition, it includes JSjet, Live Preview, Terminal +, Slack Integration, Navigation, among others. It also features improved and easy navigation, with full support for modern JavaScript (including ES6), TypeScript development, debugger for JavaScript, and instant application preview using Codelive.
CodeMix is a powerful tool specially designed for the professional developer. In this case it is a paid complement, because to enjoy use it will be necessary to pay $ 29 per year or $ 5 per month. We can test it beforehand by downloading a trial version from here.
Subclipse, ideal if we work with SVN and Eclipse
This plugin provides us with project integration with Subversion repositories, allowing us to verify, explore and share code from any Subversion repository, allowing perform SVN operations from the Eclipse workbench. It has key visual tools such as CollabNet Merge for merge tracking and the Muylyn connector to automatically create additional key capabilities. In addition, it provides us with a review chart that allows us to see all the merges and commits in the Subversion branches.
We can access Subclipse from its page on GitHub.
Spring Tools, for the development of applications based on Spring-Boot
We are now talking about the new generation of Spring tools for Eclipse, having largely been built from scratch, providing support for the development of Spring-Boot-based applications. It is specially prepared for your application compatibility using Spring Framework and Spring Boot. With Spring’s flexible and comprehensive set of extensions and third-party libraries, it enables developers to create almost any application imaginable.
Spring Tools is available for various IDEs, including Eclipse, both in versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. We can download it from here.
SonarLint, spell check function
This plugin will help us write better quality code since we will be able to highlight any problem that we find in the code, as we write, functioning as a spell checker of the programming language. It also allows us to verify a set of existing files, as well as to exclude some files whose quality we do not need to verify. Another possibility is to enable or disable the rules that are used to detect problems in many languages such as Java, Python, PHP, among others. In addition, it allows us to connect to sonarCloud to keep the equipment synchronized, so that we can always work with the most recent code.
We can download SonarLint for free from their website.
PyDev, Python plugin for Eclipse
This plugin will allow us transform Eclipse into a full featured Python IDE. It also supports the development of Jython, IronPython, Django Framework, and Django templates Editor using LiClipse. This plugin provides us with a good debugger and also allows us to use functions like hints, a token browser, interactive console, code completion, code analysis etc.
PyDev is an open source extension that is available for free that we can download for free from the developer’s website.
Scala IDE, the ideal complement for Scala Dev
We are facing an ideal plugin to transform Eclipse into a scala development environment with all its functions. Includes support for mixed development using Scala and Java with clean references between the two languages. It has Scala support to complete the code, match braces, go to the definition, highlight errors and warnings, align the code, indent, among other functions.
The latest version of Scala IDE for Eclipse is preconfigured so that we can get optimal performance. You do not need to configure update sites and your option to Check for updates allows us to keep your development environment always up to date. We can download it for free directly from this link.
