What is the difference between a source folder and a (normal) folder

java ide directory src
Eric Francis picture Eric Francis · Oct 4, 2012 · Viewed 24.5k times · Source

I'm following this guide: Spring MVC and I realized that I do not know the difference between a source folder (src) and a plain folder.

I'm using eclipse, so maybe the difference is only useful in an IDE?

Also, I've noticed that java classes tend to go in src folders; whilst every other file goes into a plain folder (or the project root folder).

So, What is the significance of the source folder (src)? Why use a source folder over a plain folder?

Thanks!

Answer

admenva picture admenva · Oct 5, 2012

A source folder is marked by Eclipse as containing java sources. Then, when you compile your project Eclipse will look for your source code into all your source folders.

You can make any folder become a source folder adding it to the java build path. Thus, next time you compile your project Eclipse will also look for java classes in that folder.

Related questions

How to configure Eclipse build path to use Maven dependencies?

I would like to take advantage of the features that Maven provides for managing dependencies in a project. My brief understanding of how Maven works is that it will aquire the JARs needed and then build the project with these …

Read More
Eclipse/Java code completion not working

I've downloaded, unzipped and setup Eclipse 3.4.2 with some plugins (noteable, EPIC, Clearcase, QuantumDB, MisterQ). Now I find when I'm editing Java projects the code completion is not working. If I type String. and press ctrl+space a popup shows "No …

Read More
Which @NotNull Java annotation should I use?

I'm looking to make my code more readable as well as use tooling like IDE code inspection and/or static code analysis (FindBugs and Sonar) to avoid NullPointerExceptions. Many of the tools seem incompatible with each others' @NotNull/@NonNull/@Nonnull …

Read More