Eclipse IDE 2019-12: Quarterly release adds two new Java 13 features

The final Eclipse IDE update for the decade landed. The December update includes some productivity-enhancing features, performance improvements, improved Java development tooling, and editor improvements.

Seventy-six participating Eclipse projects updated with this quarterly release. Altogether, this update totals 69.3 million lines of code and the efforts of 192 contributors.

Download the Eclipse SDK and check out the latest build.

Eclipse IDE 2019-12 is released!

See what’s in https://t.co/qjfG3R8uXJ (book some time, it’s a loooong list!), to all those who contributed!

Boost your productivity ASAP, get your from now on at https://t.co/o8C3qHRwq7 , or by upgrading https://t.co/7bTH9yoYTq

— Eclipse Java IDE (@EclipseJavaIDE) December 18, 2019

2019-12 Eclipse IDE updates

Some of the noteworthy changes included in this update:

The Quick Search gets a brand new UI overhaul and is now Find Actions. Its new UI tweaks a few visuals for better accessibility.
Startup times and performance receive a boost.
View error messages, warning, and info markers inline in most text editors. Save time by viewing available quick fixes with just a click.
CSS customization of ExpandableComposite and Section have been reworked for more added control and better dark mode integration.
The Debug view gets a few quality of life tweaks, including a collapse all button.
Visuals for dark mode have been made more visually consistent.
The text editor receives a new optional setting called ‘Remove multiple spaces on backspace/delete’.

New Find Actions UI. Source: Eclipse Foundation.

Windows 10 users should take note. The Eclipse Foundation warns that by default, Windows 10 Defender slows down and freezes Eclipse. This bug is not unique to Eclipse and is related to Windows Defender scanning JAR files.

Thanks to Holger Voormann (@howlger on Twitter), two informative videos summarize the long list of changes.

View all the participating Eclipse projects that are in this release train and the current documentation.

Java improvements

Java 13 text blocks. Source: Eclipse Foundation.

This update includes support for Java 13 and adds the Switch Expressions (JEP 354) and Text Blocks (JEP 355) features. (Since these features are in the preview phase, you must enable the preview options in order to use them.)

A new keyboard shortcut for creating text blocks also comes packaged in this update. Simply use Ctrl + Shift + ‘ in the Java Editor.

Other additions to the Java Editor include a new cleanup action for removing unnecessary array creations, a new cleanup/save action that reduces double negation, and new basic templates for empty Java source files.

The Java Formatter receives a new way to handle text blocks with the text block indentation setting.

Be sure to watch Holger Voormann’s explanatory video for more information about Java and Maven improvements.