 <p>Some Points which should be true for most IDEs:</p> <ul> <li>automated generation of build scripts</li> <li>highligting of compiler errors and warnings in the source</li> <li>integration with source control svn, git, ... (subversion, egit, ...)</li> <li>code completion</li> <li>debugging</li> <li>other things (plugins)</li> </ul> <p>Eclipse against other IDEs:</p> <ul> <li>Platform independent</li> <li>Free with complete functionality</li> </ul>