Thread: Need some help moving to Eclipse

Hey guys - it's been a while since I've used Java but I recently wrote a little program to parse FAT data structures for a file systems class I'm in, in order to help make a homework assignment easier/faster. I've decided that I want to continue to work on the project to make it more comprehensive, but I have a few issues:

As I wanted to get the program done as quickly as possible, I wrote it in BlueJ, the only environment I've ever coded in. The program works as intended but all of my methods are contained within one class and I know that if I want to do anything really valuable with it, I'm going to have to bring the project into Eclipse and organize it a little better.

Unfortunately, I really have no idea what I'm doing with eclipse, and any tutorials I have found online have proven to be of little help - I can't seem to grasp some of the basic concepts behind the organizational structure of a java program (packages, classes, libraries - what do all these really mean?, etc.). Do you guys have any tips for learning how to code/develop in Eclipse? I have a great understanding of the programming language and I feel as though I'll be able to make a sweet project but I just have no idea where to start in terms of moving my project over and continuing to work on it.

Do you guys have any tips for what my next course of action should be? Has anyone gone through the same situation as me? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by KevinWorkman

None of what you mentioned is really an eclipse issue. They're more issues with "real" Java, regardless of what IDE you're using.

I might recommend starting out without any IDE- use a basic text editor and the command line. When you get a handle on the setup of a "real" Java project, then import it into eclipse.

Recommended reading: Creating and Using Packages (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Packages)

Thanks for the response. This is kind of what I figured - I need to grasp the basic concepts better before I will be able to use Eclipse effectively. I appreciate the help and thank you for the link, I'll try it out!

Originally Posted by DJMcCarthy12

(packages, classes, libraries - what do all these really mean?, etc.)

Classes: A file containing the syntax to create and interact with an object. Each class is "generally" in its own file
Package: The generic name given to a folder holding one or more classes. You may have none, one, or more than one packages inside a project or jar file.
Library: Think of a library as a package (or package containing packages) ..... (or packages containing packages containing packages, etc) that is not meant to be run as a program, but is meant to be used in different programs. A library is intended to hold code frequently used so it only has to be written once. Java's AWT is a library containing packages of classes useful in making and displaying windows. Swing is another popular package. There are many others provided, or you can invent your own, but basically it is just a way to organize your classes inside folders.