The Eclipse RCP Platform

I've started in my quest to learn the Eclipse RCP Platform, the Java Rich Client Platform built on the Eclipse foundation softwareand using the Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT).

While I think that Swing and the Swing Application Framework (JSR 296) would be a more pure Java approach, I personally prefer the Eclipse RCP approach for large scaled projects, where it can provide high degree of modularity to the system (this can be also achieved in the NetBeans Platform, but I prefer the look and feel of the Eclipse-based applications).

Also I think that the NetBeans IDE is better in the more broad Java picture, where I assume it is better in handling the Java EE and Java ME applications and provide a higher of community participation in its code base (this may not be correct, but I got this impression, maybe because I was a close watcher for the NetBeans news earlier than Eclipse).

But the Eclipse RCP won because of its large base of implemented applications, one for example was the main reason that I tried the Eclipse RCP in the first place, uDig, the internet-friendly desktop GIS application, and i don't know until now if I'm gonna to run inside it with my plug-ins, or that I will embed its plugins inside my application(s).

Also the Eclipse SWT library is more responsive and native-looking than Swing (personally I love the Java Metal look and feel, but thats just me, everybody else hates it).

So, in the next few days, I will start posting about my findings in the Eclipse RCP world and the Java world in general.