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Eclipse vs Theia: What are the differences?
Introduction
Eclipse and Theia are both integrated development environments (IDEs) that are widely used in the software development community. While they share some similarities, there are several key differences that set them apart from each other.
Architecture: One of the major differences between Eclipse and Theia lies in their architecture. Eclipse is built on a plug-in architecture, where functionalities are added through plug-ins. On the other hand, Theia is built on a modular architecture, where functionalities are provided through separate modules that can be easily combined and extended. This architectural difference allows Theia to be more flexible and modular than Eclipse.
Technology Stack: Eclipse primarily uses Java as its programming language, while Theia is built on modern web technologies such as TypeScript, HTML, and CSS. This difference in technology stack makes Theia more accessible to web developers and provides better support for web-based applications compared to Eclipse.
Customization and Extensibility: When it comes to customization and extensibility, Theia offers more flexibility than Eclipse. Theia allows developers to easily customize the IDE by adding or removing functionalities through its modular architecture. Eclipse, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve for customization as it relies on the Eclipse plug-in development model.
User Interface (UI): The user interface of Eclipse and Theia is another area where they differ. Eclipse has a more traditional UI with a desktop-like appearance, while Theia provides a more modern and browser-based UI. Theia's UI is designed to resemble popular code editors like Visual Studio Code, making it more intuitive and familiar for developers.
Remote Development: Theia has built-in support for remote development, allowing developers to work with code and projects that are hosted on remote servers. Eclipse, on the other hand, requires additional plug-ins or configurations to enable remote development. This built-in support for remote development in Theia makes it more convenient for developers working in distributed or cloud-based environments.
Community and Ecosystem: Eclipse has a long-established community and a vast ecosystem of plug-ins and extensions. Theia, being a relatively newer IDE, has a smaller but growing community and a more limited ecosystem compared to Eclipse. However, Theia benefits from its compatibility with the Visual Studio Code extension ecosystem, which provides a rich set of extensions for developers.
In summary, Eclipse and Theia differ in their architecture, technology stack, customization and extensibility options, user interface, remote development support, and community/ecosystem.
UPDATE: Thanks for the great response. I am going to start with VSCode based on the open source and free version that will allow me to grow into other languages, but not cost me a license ..yet.
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?
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). I 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: https://www.jetbrains.com/toolbox-app/ and have access to all of their great tools.
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.
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'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.
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.
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. For Java I would suggest to go with IntelliJ IDEA but people also prefer eclipse so I would say try both and then decide. For 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.
PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA are both products of JetBrains. They have a free (limited feature) and paid edition. Eclipse is free. VSCode is also free.
This is a very easy to use tool and gives you the opportunity to start coding right after the installation with almost everything setup automatically by the tool.
Easy to learn and everything you need
Pycharm is all you need to get start coding in python or any of its framework. Its an awesome tool you should give it a try :)
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 originally chose IntelliJ over Eclipse, as it was close enough to the look and feel of Visual Studio and we do go back and forth between the two. We really begin to love IntelliJ and their suite of IDEs so we are now using AppCode for the IOS development because the workflow is identical with the IntelliJ. IntelliJ is super complex and intimidating at first but it does afford a lot of nice utilities to get us produce clean code.
Pros of Eclipse
- Does it all131
- Integrates with most of tools76
- Easy to use64
- Java IDE63
- Best Java IDE32
- Open source9
- Hard for newbews3
- Great gdb integration2
- Professional2
- Good Git client allowing direct stage area edit2
- True open source with huge contribution2
- Great code suggestions2
- Extensible2
- Lightweight2
- Works with php0
Pros of Theia
- Familiar UI for VSCode users1
- Easy to use1
- Docker1
- Desktop1
- Online1
- Anywhere coding1
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Cons of Eclipse
- 2000 Design14
- Bad performance9
- Hard to use4
Cons of Theia
- Can be hard to setup2