Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for people who have never used Eclipse
Review: Eclipse certainly breath new life into IDE based software development. Its capabilities are so impressive that even die-hard VIM developer like myself switch to use it as the main Java development tool. After using Eclipse for about a month, I am still running into new impressive functions. I wanted to find out all the cool stuffs Eclipse offers, thus I turned to this book by Steve Holzner.
I would say that this book is most suitable for those who have heard of eclipse but never had a chance to really use it. The first 5 chapters cover the daily operations a Java developer would do: coding, testing, debugging, committing, and building. Reading these chapters the reader can get the basic idea of how Eclipse differs from traditional IDEs, especially how well Eclipse supports refactoring, unit testing, and team development. For me, having used Eclipse for a month, these are all essential stuffs that I have already mastered. I was hoping to find out more tricks and secrets that can further improving the development process. For instance, I discovered code template the other day, which allows you to insert frequently used code snippets very quickly. I later find that this useful feature was introduced in page 59 of the book, which out any headings.
Chapters 6 up to 12 discuss specific development scenarios, including developing Swing applications, Struts applications, and plug-ins. These are interesting chapters to understand the concepts of plugins in Eclipse. They also introducted plugins that are quite useful, such as the V4ALL GUI designer, the Sysdeo Tomcat plugin, and the Easy Struts plugin. If you are planning to develop based on these frameworks, good for you. In addition, I would recommend trying the XML Buddy plugin (for editing XML files), Spindle (for developing Tapestry applications), and Jetty Launcher (for quick web application development).
Overall, the book can be a good starting point if you cannot find any Eclipse users around you. Otherwise, spending some time watching your friend perform magic with Eclipse and then start doing it yourself!
Rating: 
Summary: a dissapointment
Review: first of all the book i got (yes i checked the isbn)
was only 317 pages and was not subtitled,
"A Java Developer's Guide" but instead "Programming Java Applications".
There was less than 20 pages coverage of 3.0. very lightwieght.
I wouldn't say this was a book for programmers, but the equivalent of a user's manual for eclipse(eclipse made EZ, or eclipse for VB programmers).
The first two chapters(60 pages) is just telling you what the menu items do. Almost all the material in this book was covered in the Manning Eclipse in Action book. The exception being this book had 3 chapters(60 pages on gui and swt), and a chapter on struts. I only kept the book for that stuff. I get the impression this is just a knock-off that book so that O'Reilly gets some of the beginner market...
Probably not worth your time if you have used eclipse for more than 10 days...
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful IDE
Review: Holzner continues the O'Reilly tradition of concise books that span a subject. He has produced a How-To for Eclipse, geared towards the Java programmer. Eclipse is an Integrated Development Environment that is free. IBM is reputed to have spent $40 million in its development, before putting it into open source. Since then, the enthusiastic response by programmers has led to even more improvements in its functionality. When Holzner calls Eclipse an IDE, he means more than just the ability to develop a standalone Java application. Some of you may have used IBM's Visual Age for Java. It was quite a nice IDE, and Eclipse is descended from it. But VAJ was really geared towards a standalone context. In contrast, these days you might have to build an application that will be used in a web server. Holzner shows how to do this, using Tomcat as the web container. Plus, if there will be several of you working on a project, and you need a version control system, he describes using CVS with Eclipse. Also, for an easy installation of your application, he gives examples of using Ant and Eclipse. These examples (Tomcat, CVS, Ant) were chosen deliberately. They are probably the most common tools/programs in their fields. And they are free. In this way, the "Integrated" in IDE takes on a powerful meaning to a Java programmer.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent, readable introduction to Eclipse
Review: I have been working with Eclipse and its derivatives (e.g., IBM/Rational's XDE for Java) for over a year now. The most significant reality about Eclipse for a user is its long learning curve. There is so much in Eclipse, and just knowing what you can configure is a challenge. When I read Holzner's book last month, from the first chapter I kept bemoaning, "Why didn't I have this book a year ago?" I can recommend this book without reservation for anyone moving to Eclipse as a Java development environment. Many recent books focus specifically on writing plug-ins for Eclipse. Holzner covers writing a simple plug-in, but what he has written is a book for developers who want to use Eclipse to write and test real Java applications. Holzner's style is to cover a lot of ground without getting tediously deep into any single subject area. This is one reason his writing is so readable. In this book he has a very nice introduction to using the JUnit perspective for automated unit testing, a concise introduction to the debug perspective, a chapter on Ant for building projects, and integrating Eclipse with the CVS software repository. Holzner spends several chapters on GUI and web development, but don't look for detailed information on how to do Swing, or JSPs. Holzner's focus is on how Eclipse supports development in these areas. He has a chapter on Swing GUI application development, two chapters on SWT (IBM's Standard Widget Toolkit) development, and a very accessible chapter on using Eclipse for web development with JSPs, servlets, javabeans, and how to use the Sysdeo Tomcat plug-in to simplify your life. I was not aware of this plug-in until I read this book, and knowing about it was almost worth the price of the book. The chapter on Struts development was the least clear to me, only because I have not worked with Struts, but if you understand the Model-View-Controller architecture you will be able to get a good understanding in this chapter of what Struts is trying to provide, and how Eclipse will support you. Holzner offers two chapters on developing plug-ins, and I am impressed that he could convey so much in just two chapters. Plug-in development can be very complex, but Holzner presents the basic requirements very cogently. He closes out the book with a pro-spective on Eclipse 3.0, now finally available at eclipse.org. It was a fun, quick read, and even after more than a year of using Eclipse I learned some really nice things from this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book got me going quickly!
Review: I was just dropped into a position where I'm using Eclipse, Java, and Tomcat, and this book is PERFECT. (I very rarely buy computer books because, frankly, most of the info is online, but I'm glad I bought this one.) I have used Java a great deal, but never Eclipse or Tomcat, and this book got me up to speed very quickly. It was exactly what I needed. It also has a good chapter on Ant (which is a "make" replacement) and a great chapter introducing Struts development. With this book I also learned how I can control the Tomcat server right from within Eclipse using a free plugin for Eclipse. If you're in a similar situation where you have a job where you need to learn Eclipse quickly, then this book is for you. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: O'Reilly swings and misses with this one
Review: I've used big time and expensive IDEs in my time, Together Control Center to name just one, and I was excited to finally get Eclipse and begin learning it. I always look for an O'Reilly book on a subject first because they are usually really good. This book, although good, misses the point of the title of the book. It should have been titled "Intro to Web Programming with an Introduction to Eclipse".
Another reviewer pointed out that the first three chapters covers how to use Eclipse. The rest concentrate on actually using Eclipse to do each chapter's small projects - GUI, Web, and plugins.
I was looking for a book that covered Eclipse in total, how to use it, the neat stuff, everything that Eclipse has to offer. This book doesn't even tell me how to makea bookmark in Eclipse. I saw that in the Eclipse Cookbook TOC at O'Reilly.
The 3.0 coverage is minimal. This book is not about 3.0. That is to be expected since software changes faster than authors can learn the new versions and write the words.
This is a good book if you want a very gentle intro to Eclipse, but don't look to become an Eclipse GURU from it.
Rating:
Summary: Great start, bad finish
Review: If only this book had stayed on course. Chapters one through three are a great introduction to installing Eclipse and using it to work with Java applications. It then takes a turn away from Eclipse by covering CVS in chapter four, and then continues into a basic Java development book in all of the chapters that follow. If I wanted a book on how to develop Struts I would buy Programming Jakarta Struts. I don't need chapter ten to give me a cursory glimpse into Struts programming. Only the first hundred pages are really about Eclipse. Which is a shame because there is so much to say about the Eclipse platform. I can't recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to Java development with Eclipse
Review: If you use Eclipse or any of the expanding list of products based on Eclipse, this book should be on your short list. It is easy to read and follow as the author explains in detail each of the core features which are common across all derivations of Eclipse. The book is geared toward Java developers and will be of limited use to developers who wish to use Eclipse for other languages (which the author essentially admits on page one). It lives up to the claim found in the preface: "It's a programmer-to-programmer book, written to bring you up to speed in Eclipse without wasting time." If you are new to Eclipse, I would definitely recommend this book. It's a great "bring you up to speed" book. There are a lot of screenshots and code examples to move you through each of the basic features: how to create, debug, test (with JUnit), use source control (with CVS) and build (with Ant). Depending on how familiar you are with Eclipse (I have been using Eclipse for a couple years), this may not be the book for you. The first hundred pages or so will likely not be anything new - although, I did have an "Oh, yeah - Scrapbook Pages!" moment. If you are interested in using SWT, Tomcat, Struts or Eclipse plug-in development, keep in mind this is more of a "bring you up to speed" than a detailed "how to" description of these topics.
Rating:
Summary: Not razor-sharp, but still recommended...
Review: In preparation for a webcast I'm giving this month, I'm working through the book Eclipse by Steve Holzner (O'Reilly). While not perfect, it's a good tool for learning about the package.
Chapter list: Essential Eclipse; Java Development; Testing and Debugging; Working in Teams; Building Eclipse Projects Using Ant; GUI Programming: From Applets to Swing; SWT: Buttons, Text, Labels, Lists, Layouts, and Events; SWT: Menus, Toolbars, Sliders, Trees, and Dialogs; Web Development; Developing Struts Applications with Eclipse; Developing a Plug-in: The Plug-in Development Environment, Manifests, and Extension Points; Developing a Plug-in: Creating Editors and Views; Eclipse 3.0; Index
For the person new to Eclipse, this will do a decent job in getting you started. Up through the Using Ant chapter, the focus is primarily on Eclipse. The examples deal with the package, and that seems to be the primary focus. After that, the style seems to change a bit. The GUI development chapters seem to focus a lot on GUI programming, and then after that's finished, they show you how to do it in Eclipse. Mind you, it's good information, but the focus has shifted. The plug-in chapter gets back to Eclipse as the primary focus again. While there are entire books dedicated to plug-in development, this chapter will get you comfortable with the idea and concepts.
So is the book perfect? No. I feel that the material could have been a bit more consistent as to what the foremost goal was... learning the Eclipse platform. But having said that, it still accomplishes the goal of teaching you how Eclipse works in different scenarios. I'd definitely recommend this as an initial Eclipse text for someone.
Rating:
Summary: Covers Basic Fuctions
Review: The book does have lots of graphics as referred to by other reviewers but they are appropriate and explain the text. "One picture is worth a 1000 words". Common development tasks are covered in enough detail to help beginners and those new to an IDE. Not everyone likes to read the online help to learn how to use software while most of us will search for a specific topic. This book satisfies the need for a clear understandable how to manual of the basic functionality. Just think of it as the printed user manual for those who like to have a paper reference. The only criticism is that the cover reference to coverage of 3.0 is misleading because it is discussed in only 18 pages out of 295.
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