Eclipse 3.1 and Support for Generics

Some articles turn up right when you need them. About two weeks ago, for purely strategic reasons, we decided to switch to Java 5.0. The whole point of developing
on Java 5 is to get support for new language features such as generics. Eclipse, the IDE we use at work, fully supports Java 5.0 as of version 3.1.

Before you start using Java 5.0 in Eclipse, you'll need to set the compiler to 5.0. That turns on support for 5.0 in the IDE's standard tools, including Quick Assist, Quick Fix and refactoring. If you're moving an existing project over, I'd also suggest going to the Errors/Warnings tab in the compiler settings, finding J2SE 5.0's Unchecked generic type operation setting, and setting it to ignore.

Once everything compiles and you're ready to try a new language feature, generics are a good place to start. If you're curious how Eclipse helps, take a look at Neal Ford's article Java generics support in Eclipse V3.1.