Eclipse Marketplace has a variety of eclipse tools and plugins but the following is a list of very useful Eclipse plugins that I must have.

• Perforce Plugin is a must have for developers using Perforce as their revision control system. Once setup, it provides seamless integration with P4.
• SQL Explorer Plugin is a nifty little SQL client that allows you to query and browse any JDBC compliant databases. It supports Oracle, DB2 and MySQL and could be extended to include support for other databases.
• JadClipse Plugin is a must have for seamless integration with JAD (Java Decompiler)
• FindBugs plugin is used to perform static analysis to look for bugs in Java code.
• Regex Util (Tester) plugin is used to test Regular Expressions.

The following is a list of plugins you might need depending on the nature of your work etc.

• Google for GWT development
• BIRT is an Eclipse Based Reporting Framework.
• Tomcat allows integration with Tomcat.
• ADT Android Development Tools is an excellent plugin required for Android Development.
• Ivy if your application uses Ivy for modular dependency.

JAD has been around for a long time but is no longer maintained. I’m not sure about the “legality” of it’s use etc. but if you’re doing “legit” decompilation then it can be extremely useful.

At the time of writing this, JAD could be downloaded from Tomas Varaneckas site for Windows, Linux, Solaris and a plethora of other Operating Systems.

Once downloaded, you can easily integrate it with eclipse using JadClipse.

I’ve been skiing at Lake Tahoe Resorts since 2002 and have developed some favorites. I’m an intermediate to advanced skier and stay pretty much on groomed runs and far away from powder. Based on my experience, I’m writing reviews on the resorts I’ve been to.

• Northstar

My new favorite – I’ve been here 3 times now and enjoyed every time I was here. Excellent conditions and relatively easy runs for intermediate skiers throughout the mountain. If you’re an expert, you will probably find this way too easy. But for me, Northstar is perfect! Only thing is that after park, you have to take the shuttle to the village and if you’re with beginners might have to take the Gondola instead of the Chair Lift to the School area. Nice village for non-skiing buddies to hang out.

• Sugarbowl

Another fantastic resort for intermediate and advanced skiers. I’ve been here 12 times and enjoyed every time I was here. This has a wider variety of nice groomed blue and black runs that’ll never disappoint. Driving from the SF Bay Area, it’s one of the closest “real” ski resorts in the North Lake Tahoe area.

• Kirkwood

What can I say? I had season passes for 3 years. Another great resort for beginners to expert skiers. Also, Costco sells Kirkwood 2 pack tickets which is good. It’s in the South Tahoe area and probably the closes to SF Bay Area. Season passes used to be sold for $299 – unbeatable! I have the map of Kirkwood memorized so always love coming here.

• Heavenly

HUGE Resort, Excellent runs for all types of skiers. Awesome Night Life since it’s close to the casinos in the South Lake Tahoe area. A little pricey but then if you’re staying at the Casinos its very close. I’ve been here couple of times.

• Squaw Valley

Another HUGE Resort and has proudly hosted the Winter Olympics. I’ve been here 5 times but that’s because I was with Bay Area Ski Bus and got a good deal. Pricey but lot of good ski terrain.

• Diamond Peak

Close to Reno, Costco sells Tickets and Good for Beginners to Intermediate. Relatively small and cheaper than the “real” resorts.

• Boreal

Closest to Bay Area, Small resort but offers Night skiing. Good for Beginners.

• Alpine Meadows

I don’t know but I had a bad experience the one time I was here – Crowded, long lines. Snow was powdery and had bumps all over. I had a bad day, but given that it’s a “real” ski resort its probably worth the price.

OnTheSnow.Com also has a poll based comparison.

• XMarks Bookmarks & Password sync
• AdBlock Plus
• Oldbar URL slimmer
• Del.icio.us post to delicious

And if you’re a developer

• Firebug for javascript debugging
• Web Developer lot of features
• IE Tab simulate IE behavior

Must have Open Source (FREE) programs for your Mac:

• Firefox Web Browsing
• Transmission Torrent Downloader
• VLC Media Player AVI, MP3 etc.
• Quick Silver App Launching
• Burn CDs, DVDs etc.

After getting used to the spoon-feeding IDE’s, writing some one-off classes might lead to this Exception.

Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: HelloWorld
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: HelloWorld
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:200)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:252)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:320)
Could not find the main class: HelloWorld. Program will exit.

Very common problem. Your classpath needs a .: followed by the classpath, to include the class(es) in your current directory.

java -cp .:./lib/mysql.jar HelloWorld