Visual Code Vs Eclipse

0 views

Skip to first unread message

Paul

unread,

Aug 3, 2024, 5:37:58 PM8/3/24

to supptherpaymes

I am working for a software editor and we mainly use Java as backend language. I use to work with Eclipse since around 2010, only for Java projects. Here is my journey and a quick comparison of the tools.

First of all I need to inform that I am actually Product Owner and not anymore a full-time developer. So I am still looking at Java source code project, but with a different level of usage than before.

VSCode is relying a lot on extension. Each extension add a little extra power to the tool. So the initial text editor can be compared with a fully featured IDE once the right extensions have been installed.

Eclipse is relying on a workspace concept where you import Java projects. My main concern with this approch is around multi-modules Maven projects : once you add or remove a module, Eclipse is lost and you need to import again the missing module.

It's not a big difference but for me it is more easy to switch between projects. I do not loose anymore time to import projects, I just open the right folder. There is also a workspace system in VSCode to open multiple folder at once, it may be useful if you work on multiple projects at the same time (front and back for example).

Git is directly available in VSCode. I have never rely on any Git addon in Eclipse, as I found some products buggy. So I was relying only on the Git command line. I still rely a lot on the command line but I am happy to see this very good integration of Git directly into the product.

And you have some indicator directly in the editor (green if new line, red if removed lines...). I have never see this kind of indication inside Eclipse. Probably I have never installed the right extension ;)

One month after VSCode installation and first test on Java projects, I realize that I haven't opened anymore Eclipse. Just today to make a screenshot...
I have not yet speak of the performance too. I have a decent MBP and Eclipse take always a couple of seconds to startup. VSCode start in less than a second.
Last, I am not only coding in Java but also Javascript. I have originally installed VSCode to replace Atom editor for my JS projects... So I am happy to be able to use a single tool for all my programming needs. It's faster and I am more comfortable to use a single tool for coding.
So just an advice: get a try on one of your Java project, you may be surprised to change your habits !

I tried it, but still think it falls behind most of the good Java IDE's (which I never considered Eclipse to be).
I like vscode for pretty much everything other than java or c/c++, .net, where the best of breed tooling is far far ahead (intellij and visual studio imho).

I have developed both in Eclipse and Intellij and I didn't find Intellij better than Eclipse in any significant way.
May I ask why do you find Intellij "best of breed tooling" and don't consider Eclipse a "good Java IDE"? I am not being sarcastic, I am genuinely curious.
PS: Just today I installed Eclipse 2020-9 and I am definitely finding it at par with Intellij which comes at a cost of $150-200.

IntelliJ lately started freezing and slowing down, but this is in regards to Kotlin. Haven't used Java in couple of months but I guess it would be the same. For some scripting stuff like Apache Camel K, I used VS code for Groovy but I guess having 1 file for each integration would better be with VS Code than IntelliJ as you don't care about indexing and such in these scenarios.

I am an old bloke, I started with Borlands JBuilder, then moved to Eclipse when it came out and eventually, about 15 years ago, I moved to IntelliJ, mainly because of its great tooling support for Grails. I also use VSCode for my JavaScript projects and I would love to switch completely, especially because VSCode feels so lightweight, but it doesn't really work for me.

I keep my workspace directory that holds project directories. I can have the workspace directory pulled in and VSCode just works without opening specific directories if I want Eclipse style workspace.

There is also the benefit of developing in a virtual environment. I'm honestly not sure if eclipse has this functionality, but with the VSCode remote ssh plugin you can remote into your virtual machine (vagrant box or what have you), develop through VSCode on the host machine and keep your dev environment isolated.

Eclipse and Visual Studio Code are both popular Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) used by developers for coding, debugging, and building applications. Here are some of the key differences between Eclipse and Visual Studio Code:

User Interface: Eclipse has a more complicated and cluttered user interface compared to Visual Studio Code. Visual Studio Code has a cleaner and more user-friendly interface that is easier to navigate.

Plug-in and Extension Ecosystem: Eclipse has a vast number of plug-ins and extensions available for developers. However, Visual Studio Code has a larger and more active ecosystem of extensions and plug-ins that are constantly being updated.

Debugging: Both Eclipse and Visual Studio Code have robust debugging capabilities. However, Visual Studio Code's debugging features are generally considered to be more user-friendly and easier to set up.

Performance: Visual Studio Code is generally considered to be faster and more lightweight than Eclipse. This is because Eclipse is built on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and has a heavier memory footprint.

Community Support: Eclipse has a large and active community of developers, but Visual Studio Code's community is even larger and more active. As a result, developers using Visual Studio Code have access to more resources.

In summary, Eclipse has a broad range of language support and is highly customizable, but can be resource-intensive and has a steeper learning curve. VS Code is lightweight, fast, and has an intuitive user interface with a large and growing extension ecosystem, but has fewer advanced features compared to Eclipse and limited support for legacy languages.

Pycharm is great for python development, but can feel sometimes slow and community version has Somme very annoying restrictions (like they disabled jupyter notebooks plugin and made it premium feature).\nI personally started looking into VS Code as an alternative, and it has some very good potential. I suggest you take it into account.

The Community version of PyCharm is free and should give you what you need to get started with Python. Both PyCharm and IntelliJ are made by JetBrains. IntelliJ is initially focused on Java but you can get plugins for lots of other things. I subscribe to JetBrains' Toolbox: -app/ and have access to all of their great tools.

Hi, I will give my opinion based on my experience. I have used PyCharm, both community and Professional version. The community has limited functions, like you can't use a Jupyter notebook whereas it's available in the Professional version. PyCharm is slower compared to Visual Studio Code. Also Visual Studio Code is an editor which supports various languages. I myself have used both Visual Studio Code and PyCharm. I feel Visual Studio Code would be better choice. You may as well decide based upon your requirements.

I couldn't imagine using a development tool other than the IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate All Products Pack. A single license allows me to work directly on my server running Ubuntu and/or my workstation running Windows 10 Pro simultaneously. My current project uses HTML, W3CSS, JavaScript, Java, Groovy, Grails, C, GO, Python, Flask, and Rust. For me it's worth every penny of the $150 license fee. And you can try it for free.

Visual Studio code is easy to use, has a good UI, and a large community. Python works great with it, but unlike some other editors, it works with most languages either by default or by downloading a plugin. VS Code has built in linting, syntax coloring, autocompletes (IntelliSense), and an api for plugins to do there own tooling.

I'd personally recommend Visual Studio Code as it gives you the flexibility of working in any language, so long as there are extensions to support it. It gives you the flexibility to learn Python, venture into Java, Javascript, and eventually AngularJS, and potentially mobile applications. It's also free and you can install it on your personal computer. I think Visual Studio Code would serve your intended use case best.

IntelliJ really is the best for Java, I switched from eclipse years ago and never looked back. As for javascript, python and angular either using the standalone products from jetbrains (pycharm for python, webstorm for js) or installing the relevant plugins for InteliJ will be your best bet. Pycharm etc. are really just InteliJ with some additional plugins installed.

If you starting with Python then PyCharm is better. \nFor Java I would suggest to go with IntelliJ IDEA but people also prefer eclipse so I would say try both and then decide. \nFor JS/Angular/React I would suggest go with VSCode. I personally use it and prefer as its light weight and have good integration with chrome for frontend development.

All three are great, however, I believe that IntelliJ IDEA's multiple IDE's are slightly more straight-forward and more up-to date than Eclipse. If I had to choose one specifically for Python projects I would go with PyCharm.

I have been working with software development for 12 years, but I am just beginning my journey to learn to code. I am starting with Python following the suggestion of some of my coworkers. They are split between Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA for IDEs that they use and PyCharm is new to me. Which IDE would you suggest for a beginner that will allow expansion to Java, JavaScript, and eventually AngularJS and possibly mobile applications?

Visual Studio Code became famous over the past 3+ years I believe. The clean UI, easy to use UX and the plethora of integrations made it a very easy decision for us. Our gripe with Sublime was probably only the UX side. VSCode has not failed us till now, and still is able to support our development env without any significant effort.