Why is SpringSource Tool Suite (STS) so slow? And how can I fix it?
I've been running STS 2.3.2 on a MacBook Pro for a few days now. I'm finding the performance to be significantly slower than any other build of Eclipse I've used. For example, switching from one tab to another can take up to 4 seconds.
I tried turning off much of the validation, and increasing the memory, but it's not making a difference.
Are others having similar experiences?
I had the same problem on a MacBook Pro i7. Switching editors or views was painfully slow. Solved it by turning off Spring validators that I didn't need. Go to:
SpringSource Tool Suite -> Preferences -> Spring -> Project Validators
Specifically, I deselected all validators except for Spring Validator, Beans Validator and STS Bean Validator.
I would also suggest turning off automatic build feature. Uncheck Project -> Build Automatically. Combined with Michael's suggestions it made difference for me.
Edit: automatic content assist feature was also slowing me down, so I turned it off. I just use it only when I need it by pressing CTRL + Space. See here for details.
Disable the startup window (called Dashboard) which downloads RSS feeds from the Spring team upon program launch: http://tux2323.blogspot.se/2010/08/eclipse-tipp-reloaded-disable-sts.html. Should you want see it you can use Help->Dashboard.
Couple of more ways to reduce the memory foot print on Eclipse/STS
you can right click on project and choose to close unrelated projects
you can try creating working sets with related projects and select only the one you are working on, you can do this from Top Right corner(View Menu) on the Project explorer tab
Youcan monitor Heapsize, from Preferences General you can check the "Show Heap Status" to show the currently used heapspace , this will show a "recycle bin" icon beside the heap value, you can click this to force Garbage collection
I had a problem with a Maven update process running for a while, every time I launch STS.
Maven tried to connect to http://dist.springsource.com/release/TOOLS/update/e<your_eclipse_version>
As per the Jira of STS, I changed it to
http://download.springsource.com/release/TOOLS/update/e<your_eclipse_version>
in Window -> Preferences -> Install/Update -> Available software
And now the process is immediate.