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Eclipse isn't slow, it's really that their plugin framework is extremely complicated and writing fast plugins is difficult. It's important to note that everyth

by kyrra 13y ago

Eclipse isn't slow, it's really that their plugin framework is extremely complicated and writing fast plugins is difficult. It's important to note that everything within eclipse (even their Java editor) is done as a plugin. I've been using Eclipse for a long time and I'm fine with it. It has a lot of quirks and can be difficult to learn them, but it gets the job done. For me, moving to IntelliJ isn't really an option as my codebase has languages that aren't supported by the IntelliJ, which would mean I'd get no code support for that or I'd have to use a second editor. Eclipse is nice as it has plugins for about every language out there. They may not be great all the time, but having them all in a single IDE is nice.

FeloniousHam 13y ago
"their plugin framework is extremely complicated" This (along with the terrible plugin management UI)is the most annoying thing about a product that is just a host for plugins. I suspect it's the reason Google moved to IDEA for the Android IDE.
- hrjet 13y ago
  No, I remember reading that JetBrains offered to help Google develop the IDEA plugin. With Eclipse it would have been a solo effort. I have written Eclipse plugins (one with a graph editor as well) and didn't find it all that complicated. I haven't written an IntelliJ plugin, so can't compare.
  - FeloniousHam 13y ago
    JetBrains support is interesting. But given that Google bought Instantiations, and had much sunk effort in the Android plugin (not just code, but documentation and training) there has to more too it. I think IBM reducing their support to the Eclipse foundation must have had something to do with it. Fair dues on the plugins; my own frustration with the plugin architecture is probably just my own frustration :).
    - jebblue 13y ago
      I looked into IDEA when that was announced, I can't figure out at all why a smart outfit like Google would do such a thing. Eclipse is very sophisticated and complete. Unreal.
  - kyrra 13y ago
    (I've never developed an Eclipse plugin, I've just looked at it from a high level. Mainly tracking down issues with various plugins). I'm not sure what kind of plugin you created, but have you dealt with creating an editor for a language? The issues I've seen is that to populate various views you have to use an event system. When you start having to work with a lot of different views and populating it with various data it starts to open up holes where things can start to slow down. Then depending on the type of events you throw, other plugins have react to them and cause certain operations (like a save or recompile) to slow things down a bit.

by kyrra 13y ago

FeloniousHam 13y ago

"their plugin framework is extremely complicated" This (along with the terrible plugin management UI)is the most annoying thing about a product that is just a host for plugins. I suspect it's the reason Google moved to IDEA for the Android IDE.

hrjet 13y ago
No, I remember reading that JetBrains offered to help Google develop the IDEA plugin. With Eclipse it would have been a solo effort. I have written Eclipse plugins (one with a graph editor as well) and didn't find it all that complicated. I haven't written an IntelliJ plugin, so can't compare.
- FeloniousHam 13y ago
  JetBrains support is interesting. But given that Google bought Instantiations, and had much sunk effort in the Android plugin (not just code, but documentation and training) there has to more too it. I think IBM reducing their support to the Eclipse foundation must have had something to do with it. Fair dues on the plugins; my own frustration with the plugin architecture is probably just my own frustration :).
  - jebblue 13y ago
    I looked into IDEA when that was announced, I can't figure out at all why a smart outfit like Google would do such a thing. Eclipse is very sophisticated and complete. Unreal.
- kyrra 13y ago
  (I've never developed an Eclipse plugin, I've just looked at it from a high level. Mainly tracking down issues with various plugins). I'm not sure what kind of plugin you created, but have you dealt with creating an editor for a language? The issues I've seen is that to populate various views you have to use an event system. When you start having to work with a lot of different views and populating it with various data it starts to open up holes where things can start to slow down. Then depending on the type of events you throw, other plugins have react to them and cause certain operations (like a save or recompile) to slow things down a bit.