The current version of the Eclipse Platform is the 3.x. To get it running, all you need to do is to decompress the package in a directory of your preference and execute it. There's no install manager, and the only thing to set is the workspace at the first time you run it. The workspace is the directory where Eclipse will store your Java Projects.

You will see the Welcome pane, offering to the user the options to see an overview of the IDE, tutorials and examples. You can choose the Tutorials option, Java Development and follow the instructions. After, read and explore the item Workbench Basics at the Overview option, and write about the main topics of this section in your report.

On the same project defined in the task above, create a class called DebugTest.

Add the following counter method to the class:

    int counter(int b) {
        int a;
        for (a = b; a < b+20; a++)
            System.out.println("A = " + a);
        return a;
    }

Add to the main method:

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DebugTest t = new DebugTest();
        int r = t.counter(30);
        System.out.println("Result = " + r);
    }     

Open the Console view, compile and run the program using the Run As -> Java Application option.

Now put a breakpoint in the for line. Choose the Debug perspective and run the program again, but now via the Debug As -> Java Application option. Change to the Variables tab and use the F5 key to step into the breakpoint. What happens? Describe on your report.

The last task in the development of a Java application is to generate a JAR package containing all the classes of the application. A JAR package is a ZIP file that can behaves as an executable binary or simply stores resources (classes, configurations files, images, etc.) for another applications.

To create the JAR file in the Eclipse IDE select the menu File -> Export, choose the option JAR File and then click Next. Select which files will be exported and the package name. The last step is to generate the Manifest, which is a file that specify, among other things, the class that have a main method and can be used as an entry point for the application execution.