For all those who think of the Eclipse as Java IDE, please ….come out of this notion. If you strip all the plug-ins that makes Java IDE, then we are left with the core components like… views, perspectives, menus, toolbars, etc… all these core components put together is RCP.
In short its the minimal set of plug-ins, required to make Rich UI.
Eclipse RCP offers the application developer:
- A consistent and native look and feel for applications and features
- Common application services such as window management, update management, help, and selection management
- A native look and feel, leveraging real platform widgets on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and embedded devices
- A standardized component model
- Pervasive extensibility
- Integrated update mechanism
- First-class development tools (the Eclipse Software Development Kit (SDK) is a world-class software development environment)