Oracle releases an Eclipse plug-in

FULL SERVICE IT VENDOR Oracle has released a set of free plug-ins to help developers use Eclipse to code for Java Enterprise Edition 6.

The Oracle Enterprise Pack supports the popular Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE). The company is also promoting several new features, including improved debugging for Weblogic Script Tool scripts, visualisation of MBeans and syntax highlighting for Python.

According to Ted Farrell, chief architect and SVP of tools and middleware at Oracle, "The latest release of Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse 11g continues to provide Java developers with new tooling that can enhance their productivity."

Farrell continued, claiming that the plug-in "enables developers to deliver more value with even greater ease".

Oracle is hoping that by giving developers who use Eclipse an easier ride, more will incorporate its Fusion Middleware software into their applications. Given the extensive support Eclipse offers for Oracle's various back-end services such as Glassfish, Weblogic Web Services Annotations and Coherence, it's surprising that the plug-ins don't install an Oracle banner within Eclipse.

The firm got the go-ahead to complete its purchase of Sun Microsystems earlier this year, which means that it now controls the future of the Java programming language. Eclipse is one of the most popular IDEs in the Java development community and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The Enterprise Pack is available for all these operating systems for Eclipse 3.5.2 and 3.6.

While the plug-ins are little more than conduits to peddle Oracle's expensive back-end software, for those poor developers who slave over code and debugging taaks, it can save hours, if not days. µ