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I code both Spring MVC and also .Net stuff, so I can have Visual Studio and Eclipse (STS) running on my Windows x64 machine.

What I've noticed is that the Eclipse seems really slow on compiles and a lot of other functions, whereas Visual Studio seems pretty quick.

Even more noticeable is when I look at the Processes in Task Manager, Visual Studio is taking up 200 Meg while Eclipse is holding on to a Gig of memory!

I don't want to be an Eclipse hater, since I think it has some really good features, but can anyone suggest how I can make it more efficient, or am I stuck with this sluggish IDE? I've been thinking of switching to IntelliJ, but wanted to see if it was possible to tweak Eclipse to speed it up first.

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Working fast for me... not sure what you are doing? –  user195488 Aug 11 '11 at 16:07
A gig seems unreasonably high. Are you using too many plugins? Some plugins are memory hogs. I assume you have gone through the the -Xms and -Xmx settings in your eclipse.ini file. –  Deep Kapadia Aug 11 '11 at 17:03
@Deep, not sure about -Xms and -Xmx in the .ini files, what can I tweak there? –  Mark Kadlec Aug 11 '11 at 19:37
@Code Monkey, unfortunately since it's Eclipse I have a bunch of plugins like Android, SVN, Maven, etc –  Mark Kadlec Aug 11 '11 at 19:43
@Mark: Hmm, ok. Not using Android here but Maven and Plug-in Development is installed on mine along with RCP. –  user195488 Aug 11 '11 at 19:47
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Some pointers that could help :

  1. Make sure you are on 64 bit JDK and Eclipse to leverage your system.
  2. Use the latest version of Eclipse. Indigo is what I am on currently.
  3. Uninstall un-necessary plugins.
  4. Try creating working sets and arrange your projects. Close down sets which you are not working on.
  5. You can try switiching off Build automatically, but that would not be a great idea to catch build errors immediately.
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Thanks Ajay. I'm running all x64, running Helios, is there a big difference? I only have open what I am working on. I have build automatically set on, but I've set it so only the AJ files get built. –  Mark Kadlec Aug 11 '11 at 19:36
Helios should be fine, but its always good to be on the latest version. If you want to take this to the next level, try profiling eclipse using visualvm and find what exactly is happening. –  Ajay George Aug 12 '11 at 10:07
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The best advice is to install just as much of Eclipse as you need and not a plugin more. Eclipse platform and Java support is extremely light-weight and performs quite well. It's when you add other plugins (written with varying degrees of quality) is when you start having problems.

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Konstantin, thanks, you are probably right, but the problem is that I need a bunch of plugins. I'm coding Android, need the SVN plugins, have Roo, Selenium, Maven, all of which I need. –  Mark Kadlec Aug 11 '11 at 19:34
If you don't need all of these concurrently, you can try creating multiple installations tuned to particular usage patterns. The bottom lines is that one or more of these plugins is causing your Eclipse to drag. The only way to resolve that problem is to identify the plugin or plugin that's causing issues and not use it or sandbox it in a separate install that you only reach for when you have to. Also, once you know which plugin is causing the problem, you can report the issue to the vendor. –  Konstantin Komissarchik Aug 11 '11 at 20:42
Thanks, that could be an option. I've also noticed that h2 in-memory DB is quite a hog as well. –  Mark Kadlec Aug 11 '11 at 22:01
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