For those in a quandary over the right plug-in for the Eclipse IDE, Peter Nehrer at IBM developerWorks offers help. "There's more to Eclipse than writing Java code," Nehrer says. He talks about the capabilities that have been built into Eclipse plug-ins, such as the ability to program in other languages like Ruby or to build interactive multimedia with environments such as Open Laszlo.

"The Eclipse Software Development Kit – the most popular Eclipse.org download – comes with the Plug-in Development Environment (PDE). The PDE extends the functionalities of the Java Development Tools to build Eclipse plug-ins – the fundamental building blocks of any Eclipse-based application. In fact, it is the ability to extend existing Eclipse applications, or even create entirely new ones, using tools provided by Eclipse itself that allows it to reach far beyond Java development," Nehrer says.

Nehrer goes on to describe the use and functions of Eclipse plug-ins, how to install them, enterprise Java and web application development, desktop application development, and the features of Eclipse as an RCP.

"Thanks to its plug-in-based architecture, Eclipse is a versatile platform for integrated development tools, as well as many other kinds of applications. As an IDE, Eclipse may not only be used to write Java code but also to develop in other programming languages. As a Rich Client Platform, it can even be used to perform a wide range of non-programming tasks. The availability of commercial and open source applications utilizing Eclipse technology for a variety of purposes continues to expand," he says.