The open source desktop IDE Eclipse is in version 2020 – 12 published. It is available in expandable IDE packages for different purposes and programming languages. A Java installation is not a mandatory requirement, at least not when using the Eclipse installer or when installing one of the popular IDE packages for Java, for Enterprise Java, for C / C ++, for Web and JavaScript, as well as for Rust. The new “Eclipse IDE for Embedded C / C ++ Developers” for writing C / C ++ code especially for ARM and RISC-V processors also contains the Java runtime environment required to run it.

The 14 IDE packages are available for Windows, Linux and macOS ready. In Linux, Eclipse now supports in addition to x 64 – also 64 – bit ARM processors. This means that the IDE can be run natively on a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4, for example, without the x 86 emulator. The new Eclipse version contains adjustments and corrections for macOS 11 aka Big Sur. Apple’s own new ARM processor M1 is not yet supported natively.

Java 15 built-in Support for Java 15, which had to be installed in the previous Eclipse version, is now permanently installed. Code coverage, for recording test coverage, now works with Java 15. Text blocks, multi-line strings that were still a preview feature in Java 14 are now final and can be use productively. The two preview features “Pattern Matching for instanceof” and “Records” remained in comparison to Java 14 same or syntactically unchanged. Only the “Sealed Classes” are new. They only allow certain classes to inherit from them, which can be useful with interfaces. In Eclipse, text blocks can be created using keyboard shortcuts and records can be created using a dialog. If a class that extends a sealed class is missing “sealed”, “non-sealed” or “final”, this can be done using a quick fix ( Ctrl + 1 ) correct.

Clean up Java code Code completion behaves different in two ways. On the one hand, existing items are overwritten by default. To prevent this, the Ctrl key must be pressed instead of the other way around. On the other hand, the IDE inserts the most suitable one as a parameter instead of the parameter name. In Eclipse 2020 – 12 there are 15 new functions for cleaning up Java source code, all of which the AutoRefactor plug-in. Cleanup functions can be applied manually to projects, packages or files or can be executed automatically as save actions when a file is saved. The new functions delete unnecessary or duplicated code, use new language features, adhere to a given style or optimize the code with regard to speed and memory consumption.

In the look of the operating system A new user interface called “System” has been added to the existing light and dark modes. The system theme takes on the colors and appearance of the operating system. It can be activated in the settings in General | Appearance . The Eclipse team has also revised the light mode in macOS: toolbars, status bar and backgrounds now shine in white instead of gray.

RIP – Farewell to Dani During the development of the release Eclipse 2020 – 12 Daniel Megert, Eclipse developer from the very beginning, passed away unexpectedly. Even before Eclipse 2001 became open source, he was active in the original team of Object Technology International in Zurich, Switzerland. Daniel Megert most recently headed the Eclipse Platform and Java Development Tools (JDT) projects.

Upgrade or Download More details and the respective innovations of the Eclipse projects involved in the issue are on the website for 2020 – 12 Find release. The new Eclipse IDE packages can be installed via the Eclipse Installer or downloaded as a ZIP file. Updating an existing Eclipse IDE can be done via Help | Initiate Check for Updates (for older versions, the “Latest Eclipse Release” update site must be activated).

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