[technical] How does it work

[genady]

How does it work? Well, it's simple!

(Almost) All the new JDK features are in fact compatible with JDK 1.4 class version (48.0). This means if you compile a java file with "-source 1.5 -target 1.4" you will be able to load the class in eclipse.
The plugin simply invokes the "javac" compiler each time a java file is saved, parses the messages and converts them to tasks.

We cannot have JDK 1.5 files in a Java source folder, so we make a special folder for them. The compiled classes will go into a special output folder, which is declared as ".class files container".

One step further is to link the imported ".class" folder with the jdk 1.5 source folder so we can debug our programs with JDK 1.5!

Eclipse people did a great job - even though the java file is not in a java source folder we have a limited code assist with <Ctrl+Space>. Yeah!

Well - that's all the catch ...

Other optional flags to try with the compiler are -Xlint, -Xlint:all, etc.
Run "javac -X" on the command line to see the list.

Genady