Eclipse is an extensible integrated development environment that can be customized for hardware design. It supports many languages like Java, C/C++, VHDL, and Python through plugins. Documentation can be generated with plugins like Doxygen. Version control is supported through plugins for SVN, Git, and other systems. The Eclipse Marketplace provides many useful plugins to customize Eclipse for tasks like warnings, documentation, and team collaboration through plugins like Mylyn. Domain specific languages can also be created with tools like Xtext to generate custom IDEs within Eclipse.

1. Assembling your own
IDE for hardware design
Dr. Ir. Philippe Faes
Dr. Ir. Hendrik Eeckhaut

2. Overview
● Eclipse
○ What is Eclipse
○ Why is it so slow
● Installing
○ Organizing Eclipse
○ Installing multiple plugins
● Plugins
○ Languages
○ Create documentation
○ Version Control
○ Warnings
○ Team: Mylyn
● Customization
○ Domain Specific Languages (DSLs)
● The Eclipse Marketplace
● List of interesting Plugins

3. What is Eclipse?
● Integrated Development Environment
● Community
● Modular
● Extensible
● Multi-language
Industry standard in HW design community

4. Why is Eclipse so slow?
Startup time is longer than notepad / Vim / ...
but: Think about what you get in return.
Getting on an airplane is a lot slower
than getting into your car.
That does not make your car
faster than an airplane.

5. Organizing Eclipse
● One or several Eclipse installations?
● Update cycle
○ managed by IT department?
○ never update?
○ continually update?
○ File > Import > Install > From Existing Installation
http://support.sigasi.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/140
● Sharing settings across your team
○ http://support.sigasi.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/77

6. Installing multiple plug-ins
● Share with your colleagues
○ Export / Import list of plugins
File > Export > Install > Installed software items
● Managed by your IT department
○ Genuitec SDC
○ https://yoxos.eclipsesource.com/
○ Eclipse Oomph (new)
○ Local mirror

7. Languages
Dozens of languages supported.
Java, most prominently. but also:
● C / C++
● Tcl
● Python
● VHDL / (System)Verilog
● XML / HTML / CSS
● Wikitext (e.g. Markdown; used for documentation)
● and much more...

8. How to create documentation
● Doxygen (all languages)
● JavaDoc (Java)
● Sigasi documentation generator (VHDL)
● HTML
● Wikitext / Markdown
● LaTeX

9. ● See which files have changed since the
latest commit
● Commit, annotate (praise), diff
Supporting:
● Subversion
● GIT
● Clearcase
● Perforce
● ...
Version control

10. Warnings
● Java:
○ Java annotations:
// @SuppressWarnings(“unused”)
● Language independent:
○ MarkerManager:
-- @suppress

11. ● Find tasks (from issue tracker)
● Track changes
● Track which file you need for a task
● Commit to version control, using correct task
reference
For example: GitHub, Trac, Jira, ...
Team connectors: Mylyn

12. Customization
● External Tools
○ run a command, optionally based on selected file
● Custom builder
○ automatically run command as part of compilation
● Process output of external tools
○ generate warning markers in your source files
● Create a plugin
○ plain plugin
○ Xtext
○ Zest

13. Domain Specific languages
Refrigerator description
Cooling algorithm
Code Generation
C-code
Documenation
Domain specific
simulator
http://www.voelter.de/data/presentations/RefrigeratorsAndDSLs.pdf

14. The Eclipse Marketplace
The Eclipse Marketplace is where you
find all these nice plugins.
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/
or
Click Help > Eclipse Marketplace…

15. List of interesting plugins
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/mylyn-wikitext
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/sigasi-vhdl-plugin
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/marker-manager
https://eclipse.org/dltk/ (used for Tcl)
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/pydev-python-ide-eclipse
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/open-explorer
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/mousefeed
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/eclox (for Doxygen)
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/anyedit-tools (editor extensions)

16. List of interesting plugins
Revision control:
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/egit-git-team-provider
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/subversive-svn-team-provider
https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/p4eclipse
http://sourceforge.net/projects/eclipse-ccase/ clearcase
Mylyn connectors
http://www.eclipse.org/mylyn/

17. Free trial
Get a free 2-month trial of the Sigasi IDE:
http://www.sigasi.com/plc2-2015