Java Tool Smithing - Extending the Eclipse JDT

Tutorial T6

By: Jerome Lanneluc (IBM France) and Martin Aeschlimann (IBM Switzerland)

Abstract

The Java development tools (JDT) contribute a set of plug-ins for Java development to Eclipse. Like the Eclipse Platform, the JDT is designed to be extended so you can add your own functionality and become a JDT tool smith. This half-day tutorial will highlight the concepts behind JDT (e.g. Java Model, AST, Search Engine) and shows how to use the Eclipse Java API and extension points in your own plug-in. In addition, the tutorial will give insights into recent improvements of the JDT like support for J2SE 5.0/6.0 and the new possibility to participate in building and compiling.

Besides consuming the expected "slide show" participants will work on concrete examples as well. So bring your laptop with a working install of Eclipse (3.1 or higher) on it to get your "hands" wet by extending JDT.

Duration: Half day

Level and Required experience

Intermediate level. JavaSE 5.0 and Eclipse 3.1 or higher

Speaker's profile

Jerome Lanneluc has been a committer on the JDT Core component since Eclipse 1.0. His areas of expertise include J2SE 5.0, Java model, DOM AST, Java search, code assist and testing. In a previous life, he worked on the Java debugger for Visual Age Micro Edition, and ENVY/XD. Jerome holds a Master degree from the University of Nantes (France).