In eclipse, while debugging, how do I access the interactive-top-level (a.ka. the "display console")?
You can use the Display view to execute arbitrary code, access it via:
window->Show View->Display
then type the code you want to execute (you can use CTRL+SPACE for autocomplete).
to execute the code, select it then:
CTRL+SHIFT+D
That should execute the code based on the breakpoint you've hit.
Note: As of 2018, Display View has been renamed to Debug Shell View.
Eclipse has it indeed. Window->Show View->Interactive Console. Note that you can also execute expressions in the Watch view (e.g. result=false, exception.printStackTrace() etc.).