Ian Bull

Ian Bull

Ian is an Eclipse committer and EclipseSource Distinguished Engineer with a passion for developer productivity.

He leads the J2V8 project and has served on several Eclipse technical committees.

Ian holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree from the University of Waterloo and a PhD from the University of Victoria.

Connecting the PicoCluster to your MacBook

June 7, 2018

I have started writing about my experiences with Kubernetes and the PicoCluster.

Propagation and Pagination with Promises

June 5, 2018

GitHub API for querying users & repositories In this article, we will look how we used the GitHub API for querying users and repositories of an organization.

Unboxing Kubernetes, Literally!

June 5, 2018

Cloud native, highly available, web-scale, coordinated containerized applications! Wow, that’s a mouthful, but what does it mean?

Authenticating Reverse Proxy with KeyCloak

January 11, 2018

Authentication & user management is hard Ok, it’s not one of the two hardest problems in Computer Science, but adding authentication to your web-based application is non-trivial.

Securing your Mobile JavaScript Applications

July 7, 2017

JavaScript has been used as a client side language for over 20 years and as a server side language for close to 10.

Tabris.js 2.0 – Top 10 Features: Binary Fetch

July 6, 2017

In preparation for the Tabris.js 2.0 release, we started counting down the 10 features of Tabris.

Tabris.js 2.0 – Top 10 Features: Security

June 29, 2017

After over a year of development, Tabris.js 2.0 is almost here.

Tutorial: AES Encryption and Decryption with OpenSSL

January 17, 2017

AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a symmetric-key encryption algorithm. Symmetric-key algorithms are algorithms for cryptography that use the same cryptographic keys for both encryption of plaintext and decryption of ciphertext.

YubiKey -- Code signing with a smart card

November 25, 2016

Code signing and verification is the process of digitally signing executables or scripts to ensure that the software you are executing has not been altered since it was signed.

Tabris.js Windows 10 Beta Program

November 3, 2016

Tabris.js is a cross platform mobile toolkit that enables application developers to target multiple platforms from a single JavaScript code base.

Tutorial: Code Signing and Verification with OpenSSL

September 7, 2016

Code signing and verification is the process of digitally signing executables or scripts to ensure that the software you are executing has not been altered since it was signed.

Smile: Deploying a mobile app has never been so easy

August 10, 2016

Mobile software development is hard. Before you can even write your first line of code you must: download, install and configure the IDEs and SDKs, configure the emulators or connect a device to your machine, build the application archives (apks / ipas) and install these archives on your device.

Branching Without an if, A Java Puzzle

August 6, 2016

I returned home late the other night, and saw this tweet in my timeline:

Improved Memory Management with J2V8

July 29, 2016

Memory management in J2V8 has never been easy. Because J2V8 bridges V8 and Java, three different memory models are in play.

Java Methods as JSFunctions

July 27, 2016

When J2V8 was first released, all callbacks from JavaScript to Java required a registered Java method.

EclipseCon video: Node.js in a Java World

July 26, 2016

Last week I finally published the Node.js bindings for Java. These bindings allow developers to embed the Node.

J2V8 Supports 16bit Characters

July 26, 2016

When J2V8 was first released, all Java characters passed between Java and V8 were converted to 8bit C-Style strings.

TypedArrays -- Sharing Memory Between V8 and Java

July 25, 2016

J2V8 provides the technology to link V8 and Node.js with the JVM.

Announcing J2V8 4

July 20, 2016

After over a year of development, I am very excited to announce that J2V8 4 is publicly available on all supported platforms.

Running Node.js on the JVM

July 20, 2016

Gone are the days of single vendor lock-in, where one technology stack is used across an entire organization.

Decoding Symmetric Cyphers with Crypto-JS

June 8, 2016

Symmetric cryptographic algorithms are algorithms that use the same key for both encryption and decryption.

Debugging JavaScript with Tabris.js

June 6, 2016

Tabris.js was designed to help developers build native cross-platform apps using a single JavaScript codebase.

Getting Started with Microsoft ChakraCore

April 6, 2016

Earlier this year Microsoft released ChakraCore – their powerful next generation JavaScript engine – as an OpenSource project under an MIT license.

EclipseSource Fall Strategy Meetings

December 16, 2015

The best way to predict the future is to invent it

Announcing J2V8 3.1

December 10, 2015

Just in time for Christmas, J2V8 3.1 is now available. It ships as standard JAR from Maven Central, an Android Archive (AAR) for your Android developer friends, and now as an OSGi bundle.

J2V8 as an OSGi Bundle

December 10, 2015

J2V8 is a set of Java Bindings for V8. I’m happy to announce that with the 3.

Run Your Project Like It's An OpenSource Project

November 9, 2015

October 2015 marked my 7th anniversary with EclipseSource. For s_even__years I’ve been working remotely for an amazing company!

Referencing C++ Objects From Java

November 6, 2015

J2V8 enables developers to embed Google’s V8 JavaScript engine in their Java applications.

Shipping J2V8 as an AAR

November 4, 2015

We built J2V8 to bring highly performant JavaScript to Java in general, and to the Android platform in particular.

Sideloading Apps on Windows 10 Devices

October 29, 2015

Like many other operating system vendors, Microsoft provides a store from which users can install apps from.

Styling the collection view in Tabris.js

August 25, 2015

One of the most common mobile views for displaying information is the collection view.

Calling native V8 JavaScript functions from Java

August 24, 2015

J2V8 is a set of Java bindings for V8. J2V8 brings the V8 API to Java developers.

Announcing J2V8 3.0

July 8, 2015

Last month I spent 10 days in Germany. I spent time at the EclipseSource headquarters in Karlsruhe, where I enjoyed schnitzel, good beer and a few strange sights.

Top 10 Eclipse Mars Features

June 24, 2015

Eclipse Mars is here! Over the past 10 days I’ve been counting down the Top 10 Eclipse Mars features I’m most excited about.

Error Reporting, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #2

June 23, 2015

By this time tomorrow, Eclipse Mars will have shipped. We will be enjoying many of the new features including improved Git support, docker tools, and a number of Java tool enhancements.

Git Flow, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #3

June 22, 2015

After 12 months of work, almost 80 projects, 380 committers, 352 contributors, and 65 million lines of code, we’ve finally arrived at Eclipse release week.

Docker Tools, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #4

June 19, 2015

Eclipse Mars is just around the corner. As the Eclipse team is hard at work putting the finishing touches on everything, I’m traveling Europe, presenting about Tabris.

JDT Improvements, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #5

June 18, 2015

Eclipse Mars will ship on Wednesday June 24th. While Eclipse can be used for C, C++, JavaScript, PHP and many other languages, many people still consider Eclipse a Java IDE, and a pretty darn good one too.

e4 Tools, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #6

June 17, 2015

Eclipse Mars ships in 1 week, and that means that we are at the half-way point in my Eclipse Mars Top 10 List.

C/C++ Launching, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #7

June 16, 2015

With just over one week until Eclipse Mars ships, I’ve been counting down the Eclipse Features I’m most excited about.

UI Monitoring, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #8

June 15, 2015

We all hate waiting! The good news is that Eclipse Mars is only 1 1/2 weeks away and to help you while you wait for this great release, I’m reviewing the Top 10 Eclipse Mars features that I’m most excited about.

Platform Improvements, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #9

June 12, 2015

As we push towards Eclipse Mars I’ve started my annual tradition of counting down the Top 10 Eclipse Features that I’m most excited about.

Mac Application Layout, Top Eclipse Mars Feature #10

June 11, 2015

10 Years ago, while studying at the University of Victoria, I developed Zest: the Visualization Toolkit for Eclipse.

Registering Java Callbacks with J2V8

June 6, 2015

J2V8 is a set of Java bindings for Google’s popular JavaScript engine, V8.

Using J2V8 with Heroku

June 4, 2015

J2V8 is a set of Java bindings for the popular V8 JavaScript engine.

Getting started with J2V8

June 3, 2015

While long overdue, I’ve finally written the Getting Started Guide for J2V8.

Top 10 Tabris.js Features

June 1, 2015

On April 30th 2015, Tabris.js 1.0 was released. Tabris.js is a mobile framework which enables developers to write cross-platform, native, mobile applications entirely in JavaScript.

Implementing WebWorkers with J2V8

May 28, 2015

J2V8 is a set of Java bindings for Google’s popular JavaScript engine, V8.

Build Service, Top Tabris.js Feature #2

May 26, 2015

Tabris.js makes it easy to build native, cross-platform, mobile applications. Since its release on April 30th, I’ve been highlighting many of the features of Tabris.

Single Sourcing, Top Tabris.js Feature #3

May 23, 2015

For the past two weeks I’ve been celebrating the release of Tabris.

Cordova Plugins, Top Tabris.js Feature #4

May 19, 2015

When we built Tabris.js, our goal was to provide a cross-platform, mobile development toolkit that developers love to use.

JavaScript API, Top Tabris.js Feature #5

May 15, 2015

Tabris.js is a mobile app development framework that gives you the tools to develop your mobile apps entirely in JavaScript.

Performance, Top Tabris.js Feature #6

May 13, 2015

For the past week I’ve been celebrating the release of Tabris.

Multithreaded JavaScript with J2V8

May 12, 2015

J2V8 provides a tight binding between Java and the V8 JavaScript engine.

Developer App, Top Tabris.js Feature #7

May 11, 2015

To celebrate the release of Tabris.js 1.0, I’m counting down the Top 10 Tabris.

Modules, Top Tabris.js Feature #8

May 9, 2015

On April 30th Tabris.js 1.0 was released. Tabris.js is a mobile framework which enables developers to write cross-platform, native, mobile applications entirely in JavaScript.

J2V8 2.2 New and Noteworthy

May 8, 2015

I’m happy to announce the availability of J2V8 2.2 (2.2.1 actually).

JNI: Tracking Native References

May 8, 2015

When working with JNI, sooner or later you will need to track references to native objects.

Native Gestures, Top Tabris.js Feature #9

May 8, 2015

On April 30th Tabris.js 1.0 was released, providing developers with the tools to write native mobile applications entirely in Javascript.

Native Widgets, Top Tabris.js Feature #10

May 6, 2015

On April 30th 2015 we released Tabris.js, and so far the reception has been remarkable!

Debugging Tabris.js

April 17, 2015

In this tutorial we will show you how to debug a Tabris.

Reproducible Builds with Docker

April 16, 2015

Wiki’s and Readme files are the most common ways to document a build.

Tabris.js Navigation Drawer

March 26, 2015

Tabris.js provides cross-platform access to native gestures and controls through Javascript.

EclipseSource at EclipseCon 2015

March 9, 2015

The EclipseSource team has landed in San Francisco and many of us are hard at work finalizing our presentations.

Announcing J2V8 2.0

February 25, 2015

Last year I announced J2V8, a new JavaScript engine for Java that wraps V8 with a set of Java Bindings.

Looking for help with a Hackathon at EclipseCon 2015

February 7, 2015

If you are an Eclipse committer and planning on attending EclipseCon 2015, we need your help!

Mobile App Development in JavaScript -- Three Minute Tutorial

February 3, 2015

If you have three minutes and access to an iOS or Android device, you can develop your first cross platform, native, mobile application with JavaScript, using Tabris.

Highly Efficient Java & JavaScript Integration

November 17, 2014

Over the past 4 months I’ve been working on integrating Java and JavaScript in a highly efficient manner.

EclipseCon 2015 -- Final Call For Submissions

November 14, 2014

The EclipseCon 2015 submission deadline is Monday November 17th. Of course we are looking for great Eclipse / OSGi / RCP content, but we are also looking for talks on really cool Java technologies, Cloud Development, Languages and Tools, Modeling or anything else you think the Eclipse community would be interested in.

Happy 10th Birthday Yoxos

June 30, 2014

On Saturday June 28th Yoxos celebrated a pretty big anniversary, Yoxos turned 10!

Java 8 Support, Top Eclipse Luna Feature

June 25, 2014

Eclipse Luna release day is here! As predictable as the sun rising in the east, Eclipse has shipped yet another quality release on-time.

Top 10 Eclipse Luna Features

June 25, 2014

Eclipse Luna is here! 10 years after the first Eclipse annual summer release shipped, the Eclipse team is still shipping quality software on-time and on-budget.

Split Editors, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #2

June 24, 2014

Eclipse Luna ships tomorrow and that means we’ve made it to number 2 on the Eclipse Luna Top 10 Features That I’m Excited About.

Git Improvements, Top Eclipse Feature Luna #3

June 23, 2014

Eclipse release week is here and Eclipse Luna will be available on Wednesday June 25th.

Dark Theme, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #5

June 20, 2014

When Eclipse 3.0 shipped in 2004 it brought a new look to the workbench.

SnipMatch, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #4

June 20, 2014

Code Recommenders is one of the most exciting and innovative plug-ins available for Eclipse.

RAP, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #6

June 18, 2014

Eclipse Luna will ship in 1 week. While some of the development teams are putting their final bits in place, many committers have decided to celebrate by going to EclipseCon France.

TCF Terminal, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #7

June 17, 2014

For 10 years Eclipse has set the gold standard for on-time software delivery.

EMF Forms, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #8

June 16, 2014

Eclipse is obviously known for its great Java tooling, but the real power of Eclipse comes from the thousands of plug-ins that integrate seamlessly.

Sirius, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #9

June 13, 2014

As we get closer to the ship date of Eclipse Luna, I’m counting down the 10 features of Eclipse 2014 that I’m most excited about.

RCP Improvements, Top Eclipse Luna Feature #10

June 12, 2014

Seven years ago Eclipse Europa was released. PDE ‘Brought Sexy Back’, CTRL+Awesome shipped and EMF pushed ahead with the brave new world of Java 5.

Git Partial Staging in Eclipse

June 3, 2014

When committing changes to your source control system, it’s considered good practice to only resolve a single task with each commit.

Configure Problem Severity in Eclipse

May 29, 2014

I’ve been using Eclipse for over 10 years now but today I discovered something new.

Read the JavaDoc -- Then test your assumptions

May 16, 2014

Today I was investigating Bug 427148. The problem is when you update on Windows it sometimes fails if the executable is being updated.

Programming the Pi with Eclipse and Java

May 1, 2014

Raspberry Pi is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation

Combining Different Java Versions

April 25, 2014

Java8 was released in mid-March and the Java 7 End Of Life plan has already been announced.

Eclipse Support for Java 8

March 25, 2014

Last week Java 8 was launched and moments later the Eclipse support for Java 8 was announced.

History Lessons

February 26, 2014

Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it

Ian's Top 5 EclipseCon Picks

February 5, 2014

EclipseCon 2014 is less than 6 weeks away and I’m getting pretty excited.

EclipseCon 2014 -- Final submission deadline

November 18, 2013

The final submission deadline for EclipseCon 2014 is here! If you haven’t submitted your talk, now is a GREAT TIME!

EclipseCon 2014 -- Early Bird Picks

November 12, 2013

Last week was the early-bird deadline for EclipseCon 2014 and I was extremely impressed with the quality of submissions.

EclipseCon 2014 Early Bird Deadline

November 1, 2013

Now that everyone is recovered from EclipseCon Europe – and has plenty of Halloween candy to snack on -- why not spend a few minutes and submit a EclipseCon 2014 talk.

EclipseCon 2014 -- Call for Papers

October 16, 2013

Well I’m going out west where I belong where the days are short and the nights are long

Eclipse Platform 4.4 (Luna) Milestone 1, Available

August 10, 2013

The annual Eclipse release typically indicates the beginning of summer. And if the back-to-school commercials aren’t an indication that summer is winding down, the restarting of the Eclipse milestones builds certainly is.

Top 10 Eclipse Kepler Features

June 26, 2013

Eclipse Kepler, the 2013 Eclipse release, is here! This year there are 71 projects, simultaneously shipping 58 million lines of code.

Yoxos -- Sticking with your current release

June 25, 2013

As many of you know, Eclipse Kepler is coming out on June 26th 2013.

Eclipse Platform Improvements, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #3

June 19, 2013

Eclipse Kepler is 8 days away and I’m into the Top 3 Features in my Annual Top 10 List.

Remediation Support, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #2

June 19, 2013

In one week, on June 26th 2013, Eclipse Kepler will ship.

RAP 2.x, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #4

June 18, 2013

As we approach the release of Eclipse Kepler, I’m counting down the Top 10 Features I’m most excited about.

Maven and Eclipse, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #5

June 17, 2013

The Eclipse Kepler release is just over 1 week away, and to help celebrate the release I’m counting down the Top 10 Kepler Features I’m most excited about.

JDT Improvements, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #6

June 14, 2013

Since 2001, Eclipse has been setting the standard for Java Development Tools, and with Eclipse Kepler, the JDT team has shipped another top-quality release.

Linux Tools 2.0, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #7

June 13, 2013

A common theme among Eclipse tools is that they keep you focused on your task by keeping you in the IDE.

Mylyn Reviews with Gerrit, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #8

June 12, 2013

As we move closer to another Eclipse Release, I’m counting down the Top 10 Eclipse Kepler Features that I’m most excited about.

EGit 3.0, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #9

June 11, 2013

As we approach another Eclipse release, I’m counting down the Top 10 Eclipse Kepler Features that I’m most excited about.

BIRT and NoSQL, Top Eclipse Kepler Feature #10

June 10, 2013

This year marks a special milestone for me as it’s my 10 year anniversary with Eclipse.

Custom touchpoints in p2

May 23, 2013

For most people, p2 is simply the Install Software Dialog in Eclipse.

Eclipse Kepler Milestone 7, available for download

May 3, 2013

Spring has certainly sprung on the west coast of Canada, and that means we are into the Eclipse Kepler endgame.

Installing Eclipse Plug-ins from an Update Site with a self-signed certificate

April 19, 2013

Overview This article describes how to install Eclipse plug-ins from an update site (p2 repository) that is hosted on an HTTP(s) server with a self-signed (SSL) certificate.

Help EclipseRT Help You

March 22, 2013

EclipseCon 2013 Starts next week, and from my twitter feed it seems the Eclipse community has already started their pilgrimage to Boston.

Eclipse Kepler Milestone 6, available for download

March 15, 2013

Just in time for the IDEs of March (@wayne gets the credit for that one), the Eclipse and Equinox teams are happy announce that Eclipse Kepler Milestone 6 is now available for download.

Adding your own plug-ins to Yoxos

March 5, 2013

Yoxos is a great way to manage your Eclipse installs. With over 2,000 plug-ins to choose from, you can create your Eclipse, your way.

Pro Tip: Unicode characters in the Eclipse console

February 21, 2013

Today, while fixing some Unicode characters support in Yoxos, I noticed that the Eclipse console was not rendering the unicode characters properly.

Eclipse Kepler Milestone 5, available for download

February 2, 2013

It’s hard to believe that we’re already 1 month into 2013 and that means that Eclipse Kepler release is less than 5 months away.

EclipseCon 2013: 5 Talks I'm Really Excited About

January 25, 2013

EclipseCon 2013 is fast approaching. This year EclipseCon is on the east coast in Boston, MA from March 25-28th.

10 Tips for using the Eclipse Memory Analyzer

January 21, 2013

Analyzing and understanding the memory use of an application is challenging.

Eclipse Community Awards

December 11, 2012

One of my favorite events at EclipseCon is the Eclipse Community Awards.

EclipseCon 2013 -- Last chance to submit a talk

November 19, 2012

For those of you who were procrastinating and waiting for the last minute to get your EclipseCon 2013 submission in, your last chance is here.

Hack'n Eclipse

November 14, 2012

Today I travelled from Victoria B.C. to Vancouver B.C. to attend the Eclipse Hack-a-thon.

Eclipse (SWT) throws an NPE in TaskItem on MacOS

November 6, 2012

I was struggling to track down an NPE in the Yoxos Launcher that only happened on MacOS.

The votes are counted and the results are in!

November 6, 2012

The EclipseCon program committee has voted on the early bird selections.

Eclipse Kepler Milestone 3, available for download

November 3, 2012

In many parts of North America we turn our clocks back one hour this weekend.

Trick or Treat: EclipseCon Early Bird Selection

October 30, 2012

Wednesday October 31st is Halloween, an evening where children go door to door looking for a treat (candy) – at least in North America.

Introducing EclipseSource Developer Resources

October 11, 2012

One of the things I love about working at EclipseSource is that we get the opportunity to work on tools that help developers.

Introducing p2diff

October 10, 2012

There was a small problem when Eclipse Juno SR1 was released late last month.

EGit Tip: Keep up-to-date with Fetch and Rebase

September 26, 2012

There are several good reasons to use a Rebase Workflow with Git, such as the ability to keep a linear history.

EclipseCon 2013 -- Call for Submissions

September 19, 2012

What happens when you mix one of the best open source communities with some awesome open source software in a really cool city like Boston Massachusetts?

Clearing your p2 cache

August 31, 2012

There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things and off by one errors.

Sharing Git Configurations With Your Team

August 28, 2012

When new developers join a team, or existing developers move quickly between projects, setting up a development environment can be a real headache.

Tips and Tricks: Using Eclipse with GitHub

August 28, 2012

If you’re using Eclipse and sharing your code (and issues) on GitHub, you really should take a look at the variety of Eclipse Plugins for working with Git.

Patching your own Eclipse IDE

July 30, 2012

Eclipse is an extensible IDE, giving users lots of freedom (and opportunity) to customize the tool for their own use.

Eclipse proxies part 2

July 27, 2012

In June I discussed how to programatically configure Eclipse proxy settings.

Access between different EC2 nodes

July 24, 2012

Most web architectures make use of several machines working together to serve content.

Top 10 Eclipse Juno Features

June 27, 2012

In 2004 a new Major Version of the Eclipse platform was released: Eclipse 3.

Code Recommenders, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #2

June 26, 2012

The original architects of Eclipse knew that developing a single IDE that met everybody’s needs was an impossible task.

Xtext / Xtend, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #3

June 25, 2012

Eclipse Juno, the simultaneous Eclipse release for 2012 will be available in 3 days.

Orion, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #4

June 22, 2012

And now for something completely different… or maybe not. Since I first got involved with the Eclipse ecosystem (in 2003) I’ve struggled to come up with a common theme among all Eclipse projects.

JDT Enhancements, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #5

June 21, 2012

There is less than 1 week to the Eclipse Juno release and I’ve been busy counting down The Top 10 Juno Features that I’m most excited about.

Git, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #6

June 20, 2012

Designing and delivering a piece of software that has a lasting effect on almost all software developers is hard.

RAP Protocol, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #7

June 19, 2012

Many Eclipse projects follow a common theme of extensible platforms with exemplary tools.

Mylyn & Intent, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #8

June 18, 2012

As we often say, Eclipse is a platform for everything and nothing in particular.

LDT & Koneki, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #9

June 15, 2012

As Eclipse sprints towards another release – Eclipse Juno – I’m counting down the Top 10 Features that I’m most excited about.

MacOS App Integration, Top Eclipse Juno Feature #10

June 14, 2012

Eclipse has provided high-quality tools to millions of developers for over 10 years, for free.

Exploring the Request in a CouchDB Show Function

June 8, 2012

CouchDB is very powerful, NoSQL database that uses JSON for Document, JS for Map/Reduce queries and HTTP for an API.

Understanding the p2.index file

June 5, 2012

Lately the p2.index file (or lack thereof) has caused a serious problem for the Eclipse foundation infrastructure.

Eclipse proxies and p2

June 1, 2012

If you use Eclipse and the Eclipse provisioning platform (p2) behind a proxy, then you´re no doubt aware of theNetwork Connection Preference Dialog.

Eclipse on a Mac

May 30, 2012

As Pascal mentioned yesterday, on a Mac, Eclipse based applications can now be shipped with the standard Mac layout.

Eclipse Juno Milestone 7, available for download

May 5, 2012

Each year Eclipse publishes 7 milestone releases before starting the endgame.

Yoxos: Configuring your bundle pool

April 5, 2012

Yoxos not only provides you with a way to pool all your plugins in a single directory, but you can also configure that location.

p2 in DC

March 23, 2012

Next week I’ll be at EclipseCon in Reston, Virginia. EclipseCon has always been my favorite conference and if my math hasn’t failed me, this will be my 6th one.

Eclipse Juno Milestone 6, available for download

March 17, 2012

EclipseCon is just around the corner (1 week away). While many people are busy getting their talks finalized, suitcases packed, and studying their maps of Washington DC, the Eclipse and Equinox teams have been busy pushing towards another milestone for the Eclipse Juno Release.

Publishing Negation Requirements

March 15, 2012

The Eclipse provisioning platform (p2) has a pretty awesome resolver (the planner) that computes all the requirements when you try to install something.

Yoxos 5.5 and Eclipse 3.7.2

February 26, 2012

I’ve just pushed 1900+ Eclipse plugins to amazon cloud front for fast delivery to Yoxos users.

Lending a hand with the Eclipse SDK

January 28, 2012

Shipping Eclipse each year is a lot of work. The SDK contains code from 3 Top level projects (Eclipse, RT and Tools (Orbit)).

SNAPSHOTS, Nightly, Milestones... oh my!

December 12, 2011

There have been a discussion about build naming conventions lately. SNAPSHOTS, nightly, milestone, GA, maintenance, integration, stable, etc…

EclipseCon Europe -- Talks On-line

November 17, 2011

Eclipse has two annual conferences, EclipseCon (North America) and EclipseCon Europe.

Eclipse -- Splash screens throughout the years

October 30, 2011

Eclipse sure has made a splash over the years. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Eclipse, I pulled all the Eclipse splash screens from Git and put them all here (I skipped a few when there were only minor updates to the copyrights, etc…).

My history with Eclipse

October 27, 2011

Inspired by David Orme’s retrospective on Eclipse – and with the 10th anniversary of Eclipse almost upon us – I though I would share my personal history with the Tool, Platform and Community.

EclipseSource Training: The p2 API

October 24, 2011

EclipseSource now has a 2 day course that focuses entirely on the p2 API.

Git Tip: Reviewing and Committing a branch full of changes

October 18, 2011

Pascal Rapicault, DJ Houghton and I have been hacking on a new feature for p2.

Eclipse Juno Milestone 2, available for download

September 20, 2011

With summer behind us and autumn almost here (in the northern hemisphere), you can feel the change in the air.

Eclipse turning 10, let's go to Europe!

September 1, 2011

Eclipse is turning 10 this fall! My first experience with Eclipse came 8 1/2 years ago when I started building visualization tools on top of GEF.

JGit API: Reading configuration information

August 16, 2011

Lately I’ve been adding Git support to the Yoxos Workspace Provisioning.

Eclipse Juno Milestone 1, available for download

August 9, 2011

While I’ve been enjoying some time-off in Northern Ontario, many Eclipse committers have been keeping busy.

Multiple Google accounts in the same browser

July 15, 2011

A number of people in the Eclipse community have been trying out Google+ and some good Eclipse related discussions are starting to happen there.

Looking at Git Statistics

July 6, 2011

It’s interesting to see how Eclipse projects change over time. As projects ramp up, hit heavy development and finally start to mature, the flurry of activity changes.

Yoxos: A Whole New Way to EPP

June 23, 2011

The Eclipse Packaging Project defines pre-configured Eclipse distributions. If you are developing in C/C++ there’s a package for that.

On Time and On Budget

June 22, 2011

As you may know I live on the Canadian west coast (In Victoria British Columbia).

Top 10 Eclipse Indigo Features

June 22, 2011

After 12 months, 62 projects, 46, 000, 000 lines of code, over 400 committers and 1 Top 10 List: Eclipse Indigo is available on eclipse.

Window Builder, Top Indigo Feature #2

June 21, 2011

We are one day away from the Eclipse Indigo release, and that means we are into the Top 2 Features On My Eclipse Indigo Top 10 Feature List.

RAP: Bringing Eclipse APIs to Mobile Devices, Top Indigo Feature #3

June 20, 2011

There is no question that the mobile market is huge and practically growing by the second.

CDT Codan, Eclipse Indigo Feature #4

June 17, 2011

The C/C++ Tooling for Eclipse is old Mature! In fact, the first bug report filed against the CDT was opened on January 14th 2002, Only a few months after Eclipse 1.

Xtend2, Eclipse Indigo Feature #5

June 16, 2011

The Eclipse Indigo release is now less than 1 week away, which means I’m into the Top 5 Entries in my Eclipse Indigo Top 10 List.

Gravatars (and Other Mylyn Improvements), Top Eclipse Indigo Feature #6

June 15, 2011

In one week we will be waking up to a new Eclipse release – Eclipse Indigo.

JDT Improvements, Top Eclipse Indigo Feature #7

June 14, 2011

As we approach another Eclipse release – this time with over 46 million lines of code – I’m counting down the 10 Indigo features that I’m most excited about.

PDE improvements, Top Eclipse Indigo Feature #8

June 13, 2011

As we count down the days until June 22nd – the day Eclipse Indigo will ship – I’ve been counting down the top 10 Indigo features, according to me.

Equinox / p2 improvements, Top Eclipse Indigo Feature #9

June 10, 2011

When most people think about Eclipse they think of a kick-ass IDE.

From CVS to Git, 9 Things I've Learned

June 9, 2011

As frequent readers of my blog know I’ve been transitioning to git lately.

Maven and Eclipse, Top Eclipse Indigo Feature #10

June 9, 2011

June is my favorite time of year. Not only is summer starting (in the northern hemisphere), but it’s Christmas time for software developers.

Merging branches in Eclipse git (EGit)

May 30, 2011

It’s always a great idea to use a Source Control Management (SCM) system – even when you are working on personal projects, without any collaborators.

Git Lesson: Be mindful of a detached head

May 29, 2011

A severed head is never fun, and in git this is no different.

Welcome Maggie

May 11, 2011

I’m proud to introduce the newest member of our family, Maggie Anne Bull.

Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) M7, available for download

April 30, 2011

For those of you wondering what to get Will and Kate for a wedding gift, what about a nice, new, shiny version of Eclipse.

Up and running faster... whose idea was that?

March 25, 2011

Another EclipseCon has come and gone. As an Eclipse user, community member, contributor and committer, EclipseCon is a chance for me to make new contacts, renew old friendships and help payoff my beer debt.

p2, 10 common pitfalls and how to avoid them

March 23, 2011

On Tuesday, Pascal and I presented “p2, your savior or your achilles heel?

Why did you close my p2 bug as INVALID?

March 19, 2011

Have you used p2? Have you tried to replace plug-in with an updated version, only to find p2 doesn’t find it?

Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) M6, available for download

March 12, 2011

Just in time for EclipseCon, the Eclipse and Equinox teams have delivered another milestone.

Eclipse -- Managing your upgrade path

March 8, 2011

What’s the latest version of Eclipse? Which version of Mylyn works well with Eclipse 3.

Dining philosophers using OSGi (Equinox) data service locations

March 4, 2011

In p2, if you’ve ever tried to write to the same artifact.

Tagging Eclipse for the next integration build

February 15, 2011

For anyone who follows the Eclipse developer mailing lists, you might notice the weekly e-mails regarding the tagging process.

Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) M5, available for download

January 29, 2011

Well here we are just over half way through the NHL season and the norther hemisphere is in the middle of winter.

Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) M4, available for download

December 11, 2010

If you were looking for something to give that hard-to-buy-for person on your Christmas list, what about Eclipse 3.

Eclipse 3.7 & 4.1 (Indigo) M3, available for download

October 30, 2010

There are only a few guarantees in life, death, taxes and an Eclipse milestone every 6 weeks.

Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo) M2 available for download

September 17, 2010

Well summer is finally over (Autumn is almost officially here), but it doesn’t mean that everyone has been slacking.

Help, I'm looking for directions -- Eclipse Active Help

September 2, 2010

I know Eclipse ‘Help’ is not a very exciting topic, but today I found myself working with a little known secret of Help.

OSGi in Dublin

September 2, 2010

If anybody is going to be in Dublin next Thursday (Sept 9th), I’ll be talking about OSGi, Software Modularity and Single Sourcing.

PlanetEclipse in March 2005

August 11, 2010

What do the following people have in common: Andre Oosthuizen Ed Burnette Euxx Frank Sauer Gunnar Wagenknecht Luis de la Rosa Martin Perez Vasanth Dharmaraj They were the original 8 feeds on PlanetEclipse.

Top 10 Eclipse Helios Features

June 23, 2010

Two weeks ago I asked you to think about high quality software that has been consistently delivered on-time.

Git Support, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #2

June 22, 2010

Only 1 more day until Eclipse Helios is release and we are down to my Top 2 features.

EMF, Riena and RAP integration, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #3

June 21, 2010

Well here we are, it’s release week. Eclipse 3.6 – Helios – will be available on Wednesday June 23rd.

MarketPlace Client, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #4

June 18, 2010

As most of you know, Eclipse Helios will be released next week.

p2 API and the b3 Aggregator, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #5

June 17, 2010

The official Helios release is less than 1 week away, and we are now into the Top 5 Features that I’m most excited about.

Target Platform Improvements, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #6

June 16, 2010

There are three large groups of artifacts that play a key role while writing software.

Java IDE Improvements, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #7

June 15, 2010

As Eclipse committers, we spend lots of time emphasizing that Eclipse is not just an Integrated Development Environment.

Improvements to API Tools, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #8

June 14, 2010

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what defines an Eclipse project?

Feature based configurations, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #9

June 11, 2010

Yesterday I asked you to think about high-quality software that has been consistently delivered on-time for eight straight years.

Resource Improvements, Top Eclipse Helios Feature #10

June 10, 2010

Pop quiz: Can you name any ‘high quality’ software that has been consistently delivered on-time, for 8 years in a row?

The Doc Days of Summer

June 3, 2010

It’s been overcast and raining here in Victoria B.C. (Canada) over the past 2 weeks.

Code Reviews: Good, A Complete Waste of Time or a Necessary Evil?

May 26, 2010

Eclipse developers are in the middle of the ‘End Game’. Half way through the release candidates and getting ready for another major release.

Many hands makes light work -- help test Eclipse

April 27, 2010

There are a lot of very good reasons for developers to get on board with Open Source Software (OSS).

An introduction to p2

April 16, 2010

At EclipseCon I had the pleasure of presenting an introductory tutorial on p2 with an awesome co-presenter Kim Moir.

Helios +1 -- vote for your favorite name

April 8, 2010

I realize that Helios isn’t even out the door yet, but some people are already looking ahead to next years release.

EclipseCon My Top 10 List

April 6, 2010

Last summer when Galileo was released, I wrote a series of blogs in which I discussed my top 10 favorite features of the release.

p2 and Agile Software Development

March 6, 2010

One of the key aspects of Agile Software Development – or any iterative software development process – is keeping your customer in-the-loop.

AP2 API

February 10, 2010

As I mentioned a while back, Eclipse Helios M5 was made available for Download.

If you're not on Twitter, you're missing half the conversation

February 10, 2010

Traditionally the Eclipse community has used the mailing lists, newsgroups and an aggregation of blogs to stay connected.

Eclipse 3.6 M5 (Helios) available for download

January 31, 2010

Eclipse 3.6 M5 is now available for download. There are lots of new and exciting features, like the ability to open and file directly from the command line.

I See You -- SWT Spy

January 7, 2010

I spent part of today trying to debug a Linux specific issue in which wizard pages are not being shown properly.

Eclipse 3.6 M4 (Helios) available for download

December 12, 2009

Just in time for the Holidays, the Eclipse platform team has made Eclipse 3.

Eclipse Community, Thanks!

December 1, 2009

There has been a lot of talk lately about what the Eclipse community is and is not doing.

Compile errors... I should have set my EE

November 18, 2009

Lately I have been working on (and committing) a repository analyzer tool for p2.

Tips for Successful PDE Product Builds

November 7, 2009

Recently I had the pleasure of updating the way Yoxos is built.

An Introduction to OSGi in Victoria

November 3, 2009

Have you heard about OSGi but are not sure about the details?

Come on Eclipse, let's grow a Mo

October 31, 2009

As most of you know October is coming to an end.

e4 0.9 M5 is Now Available

July 12, 2009

e4 0.9M5 is now available for download. One of the things that excites me about this work is the web based form editors that Boris Bokowski has been working on.

A Zesty Summer

July 10, 2009

On Canada’s west coast we have been having an unbelievable summer.

PDE Build Compile Errors

July 10, 2009

Yesterday I spent the day working on examples of how PDE Build can be used to build OSGi bundles.

p2 Provisioning, Eclipse Galileo Feature #1

June 24, 2009

Today is the big day! Eclipse 3.5 – Galileo – is available for the general public.

OSGi Declarative Services, Eclipse Galileo Feature #2

June 23, 2009

As many people have already said, Galileo is available for Friends of Eclipse.

Improved Target Platform Management, Eclipse Galileo Feature #3

June 22, 2009

Software development can be characterized by the management of two separate, yet equally important groups of artifacts.

Mylyn WikiText, Eclipse Galileo Feature #4

June 21, 2009

As I mentioned yesterday, tools such as the Memory Analyzer demonstrates just how dominant Eclipse is in the IDE space.

Memory Analyser, Eclipse Galileo Feature #5

June 20, 2009

With all the great work going on in the Eclipse Run-time space, like the EMF Runtime, RAP, Birt Charting Engine, ECF, Jetty and of course Equinox, I sometimes forget that Eclipse started as an excellent platform for tools.

Install into Self, Eclipse Galileo Feature #6

June 19, 2009

As readers of my blog are no doubt aware, I have been counting down the Top 10 Galileo features that I’m most excited about.

Eclipse Modeling Project Refinements, Eclipse Galileo Feature #7

June 18, 2009

The next feature on the Top 10 Galileo Features (according to me) comes from the Eclipse Modeling Project.

Improved RAP Styles, Eclipse Galileo Feature #8

June 17, 2009

Just 1 week until the Galileo release, and I’m using this opportunity to count down the top 10 features in Galileo that I’m really excited about.

Enhanced JavaScript Bridge, Eclipse Galileo Feature #9

June 16, 2009

With Eclipse 3.5 – Galileo – just around the corner, I am counting down the top 10 features I’m most excited about.

Java Compare Editor Enhancements, Eclipse Galileo Feature #10

June 16, 2009

The Eclipse 2009 Release – codename Galileo – will be available in about 10 days.

p2 Publisher -- Part II

June 10, 2009

Last week I presented the publishe, the tool used to put your deployable entities (e.

Who writes your metadata? The p2 publisher!

June 4, 2009

There has been a lot of talk lately about p2. Using p2, you can:

OSGi 101 -- What would you teach?

June 2, 2009

One of the things I really like about my job is that I get to spend time working with students.

p2 Metadata Analyzer

May 29, 2009

Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.

Categorize your p2 repository

May 8, 2009

Have you had the experience of creating an interesting application, exporting it, generating a p2 repository, connecting to your repository, and *BAM*, nothing there!

Summer of Code -- Congratulations students

April 22, 2009

20 Eclipse projects were accepted this year for Google Summer of Code and you can see the complete list here:

Looking for students, looking for ideas

March 31, 2009

As everyone should now know, the application process for Google Summer of Code is well underway.

Calling all students

March 30, 2009

This week should be “Go Time” for all students. This is the week students from across the globe are submitting their applications for Google Summer of Code.

#eclipsecon, +1

March 28, 2009

As I left EclipseCon I was a little surprised there wasn’t the famous +1, -1, 0 buckets outside the Hyatt.

Just in Time for #eclipsecon, Custom Figures in Zest

March 20, 2009

I have been working on one of the most requested Zest features, custom figures, and by EclipesCon it will be finished.

Are you following #eclipsecon?

March 16, 2009

The “conversation” around #eclipsecon is really starting to pick up. If you are following the blogs but not twitter, then you are only getting half the news.

SoC, What are you doing this summer?

March 13, 2009

For those of us in Canada, it can be hard to think about summer.

Eclipse in Victoria

March 6, 2009

As I mentioned previously, Wayne Beaton from the Eclipse Foundation paid a visit to Victoria this week.

A Zesty e4

March 2, 2009

Over the past week I have ignored my daughters, gave-up on work, haven’t seem my wife, and managed to create a web-enabled version of Zest.

p2 in a non-eclipse system

February 19, 2009

Somebody asked me a great question the other day, can p2 be used in non-eclipse systems?

Extending p2 for fun and profit

February 16, 2009

On Monday March 23rd at EclipseCon, I’m helping to deliver a tutorial on one of the most significant platform-level changes made in the Eclipse Ganymede release.

7 Years of Eclipse

February 10, 2009

I saw this presentation today InfoQ. In this video, Erich talks about the Eclipse Way process and how the Eclipse development process evolved over the years.

Migrating your p2 application to Eclipse 3.5

February 5, 2009

Anybody building plugins / products / tools based on Eclipse, Milestone 5 is a pretty important time.

Service Widgets and e4

January 30, 2009

Yesterday I stumbled upon a pretty interesting google code project, the Google Visualization API.

Eclipse Git Tutorial

January 1, 2000

There are a number of different ways to grab changes from a remote Git repository and bring them into your local repository.

Eclipse p2 Tutorial

January 1, 2000

p2 is a provisioning platform for Eclipse / Equinox based applications.

J2V8

January 1, 2000

Getting Started J2V8 is a set of Java bindings for Google’s popular JavaScript engine, V8.