I would
hardly call your post a comparison -- all you did was
list a few bullets about VS.NET. I guess we're supposed to assume
that Eclipse does NOT have any of the listed traits? Hmmm, I'll have
to disagree there.
Furthermore,
I think you've made a common mistake in assuming that Eclipse is only
an IDE. Rather, it is an application framework that is particularly
well suited for an IDE, among other things. Many people see the Java
Development Toolkit, with is often distributed with Eclipse, and
assume they are one in the same. But I digress.
I think
your bullets need more background to fully understand them, but I'll
take a shot. Let's take this point by point:
really
"intelligent" to know the context: I'm not
exactly sure what this means. Again, Eclipse is a framework, but
I'll assume you mean the Java development environment. In all of my
experience with it, I find the JDT to be EXTREMELY intelligent.
As of the 2.1/3.0 era of JDT, the IDE can tell me everything about
every type of class/project I am using, gives me unbelievable code
completion, gives me every compiler flag and optimization I can
think of using, pop-up context displays of class characteristics and
JavaDocs on mouse-over, etc. I could go on and on. Without more
clarification on what you're going for, I won't bother.
Faster
(or) more responsive than any other IDE: I guess this would
have to be quantified in some meaningful way, so I'll make my
comments here simple. In the Eclipse JDT, loading times depend on
your Workspace, which Perspectives you are opening, etc. I have
been perfectly happy with the loading times of my environment. If I
want something faster, I don't have as much open.
language
parser works unobtrusively while coding: Again, I think
you're assuming the Java development environment here not
Eclipse. In my Eclipse/JDT environment, I enjoy full syntax
highlighting, code auto-formatting, compile-checking, etc., without
any noticeable hesitation. Furthermore, I can skip options and
reformat as necessary with a simple keystroke or by simply typing
right over its suggestions. I don't see anything obtrusive
can you quantify your statement? Also, considering that my
development laptop is by NO MEANS the latest and greatest in the
hardware arena, I don't think that is a major factor (although I do
have a nice amount of RAM).
Customization
of the IDE GUI is easy: Let me respond like this: I
recently reinstalled my Eclipse environment from scratch (for
reasons unrelated to anything discussed here). After installing, it
took me about 5 minutes or so to have my customized development
environment customized again, including rearranging of the standard
window docking, new perspectives open, special views enabled,
compiler options configured and custom tools (like JUnit) in place.
I will say that I've never tried to rearrange the standard key
mappings, so I can't respond there.
Your
comments make me wonder which version of Eclipse and the JDT
environment you last tried. In any case, if you're a VS.NET
developer then you may not be interested in the JDT anyway. Did you
know that there is a budding C/C++ IDE environment for Eclipse as
well (as well as for PHP and other languages)? Perhaps you were
referring to one of them?
While
I do agree with your statement about lack of annoyances over
features, my real purpose in an IDE is to make me more productive.
If it doesn't do that, I'll use VIM or JEdit.
Just some quick answers to your questions (link references posted below):
1) Does Daniel Robbins own all of the stock in Gentoo Technologies?
A: I believe so. However, that company will no longer hold the intellectual property/copyrights for Gentoo (as it currently does). Those are being transferred to the new, NFP entity, The Gentoo Foundation: From the Gentoo site:
"In the proposal, Gentoo Foundation, Inc. will hold the intellectual property of the project..."
From Daniel: "Gentoo Technologies, Inc. will transfer the copyrights and trademarks to the
Gentoo Foundation. In exchange, the Gentoo Foundation will grant Daniel
Robbins & Gentoo Technologies, Inc. perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free
use of the "Gentoo" trademark and "G" logo. This will allow me to continue
to run the Gentoo Store if I want."
2) Why was Gentoo Technologies, Inc. initially set up as a for-profit?
A: The project was supported by donations, but was also supported by commercial offerings through the Gentoo Store and other ventures. From past postings I've read it was easier to structure the company that way (at least initially), even though there were drawbacks to the tax exemption possibilities, as you point out. It was just simpler given the many things they were doing (Gentoo Store, Gentoo Games, etc.).
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I would hardly call your post a comparison -- all you did was list a few bullets about VS .NET. I guess we're supposed to assume
that Eclipse does NOT have any of the listed traits? Hmmm, I'll have
to disagree there.
Furthermore, I think you've made a common mistake in assuming that Eclipse is only an IDE. Rather, it is an application framework that is particularly well suited for an IDE, among other things. Many people see the Java Development Toolkit, with is often distributed with Eclipse, and assume they are one in the same. But I digress.
I think your bullets need more background to fully understand them, but I'll take a shot. Let's take this point by point:
Your comments make me wonder which version of Eclipse and the JDT environment you last tried. In any case, if you're a VS .NET
developer then you may not be interested in the JDT anyway. Did you
know that there is a budding C/C++ IDE environment for Eclipse as
well (as well as for PHP and other languages)? Perhaps you were
referring to one of them?
While I do agree with your statement about lack of annoyances over features, my real purpose in an IDE is to make me more productive. If it doesn't do that, I'll use VIM or JEdit.
Just some quick answers to your questions (link references posted below):
1) Does Daniel Robbins own all of the stock in Gentoo Technologies?
A: I believe so. However, that company will no longer hold the intellectual property/copyrights for Gentoo (as it currently does). Those are being transferred to the new, NFP entity, The Gentoo Foundation: From the Gentoo site:
"In the proposal, Gentoo Foundation, Inc. will hold the intellectual property of the project..."
From Daniel:
"Gentoo Technologies, Inc. will transfer the copyrights and trademarks to the Gentoo Foundation. In exchange, the Gentoo Foundation will grant Daniel Robbins & Gentoo Technologies, Inc. perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free use of the "Gentoo" trademark and "G" logo. This will allow me to continue to run the Gentoo Store if I want."
2) Why was Gentoo Technologies, Inc. initially set up as a for-profit?
--------------A: The project was supported by donations, but was also supported by commercial offerings through the Gentoo Store and other ventures. From past postings I've read it was easier to structure the company that way (at least initially), even though there were drawbacks to the tax exemption possibilities, as you point out. It was just simpler given the many things they were doing (Gentoo Store, Gentoo Games, etc.).
For more information you can check the Gentoo Weekly Newsletter edition for April 19, 2004.
Please also see Daniel's transition plan.