Need some help with eclipse

Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions.

Moderator: General Moderators

Post Reply
hanna
Forum Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:53 pm

Need some help with eclipse

Post by hanna »

Not sure where to put this as it might fit several categories.

I've just started learning php and installed Wamp Server and thinking it was a bright idea installed eclipse. I kind of thought it would be something I could grow into but I'm now wondering if it's too big for me and I should've just chosen something like Notepad++ .
I like what I've seen of eclipse but it's installed itself in my download folder so I want to move it to my program folder instead. I wasn't sure if this was going to upset things so I thought about uninstalling it and doing a fresh install but I can't find an uninstaller. I looked around online and came across a bunch of stuff that implies it behaves like a virus and had tips to uninstall it which freaked me out a bit. Would someone more experience than me (I know this won't be too difficult :lol: ) kindly point me in the right direction. Should I uninstall it or is it safe to keep using? If so, can I just move it? or, Am I trying to run before I can walk using this?? I can't get my practice files to show up in the internal browser either, I just keep getting a 404 error.
Doug G
Forum Contributor
Posts: 282
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:27 pm

Re: Need some help with eclipse

Post by Doug G »

Typically you can just delete the eclipse directory to remove eclipse and start over, and you should be able to move the eclipse files to a new directory location without any problems. I've never used any eclipse version that installs in the manner of a windows program, and I've never seen an eclipse uninstaller.

Eclipse is written using java and it's a full featured (read complex) IDE for development. It works well if your machine has enough horsepower, but you'll have a learning curve to get comfortable using eclipse.
User avatar
JNettles
Forum Contributor
Posts: 228
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:09 pm

Re: Need some help with eclipse

Post by JNettles »

If you're just learning PHP I'd recommend sticking with Notepad++, like you mentioned. You don't really need an IDE unless you're doing a fairly large project with multiple files that rely heavily on each other.

But once you get into the object-oriented side of PHP or you start using a framework like Zend or Yii or Prado, you'll definitely want to start using an IDE as keeping track of the hundreds (literally, hundreds) of available classes, their methods, and their properties would quickly overwhelm you in something as basic as Notepad++.

Sorry if I scared you. Welcome to PHP. :wink:
hanna
Forum Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:53 pm

Re: Need some help with eclipse

Post by hanna »

Thanks for the replies.

I've actually removed eclipse..for the time being. I tried Notepad++ but dare I say it, I found it rather boring to look at and boring to work with. I've installed Komodo but that didn't grab me either. I don't know, decisions decisions..maybe I'm not easily impressed :)
Doug G
Forum Contributor
Posts: 282
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:27 pm

Re: Need some help with eclipse

Post by Doug G »

If you're doing php work, you might want to try out PDT-Eclipse all-in-one package. It's an Eclipse pre-configured with the Zend PHP Development Tools and pretty much works 'out of the box', just unzip to a directory and fire off the eclipse executable. You'll need to do some tweaking to get the php scripts to execute from your own web server rather than the built in web server, likewise debugging from your own web server rather than the internal one will take some work.

I use this for php work. It includes a syntax-colored editor with semi-intellisense popups, built-in SVN support available, global search & replace on a directory, etc. And all you need to do to get started is create a new php project and drag your php files into the project (or import the files if you're on linux). It is fairly easy to get started, and if you get tired of it just delete the eclipse directory, no uninstall needed.

EDIT: Oh yeah, download the pdt all-in-one package from Zend's website, not the eclipse mirrors, to get the zend debugger automatically included.
Post Reply