Compiling Java code in Vim more efficiently

Question

I come from an Eclipse background, but I love Vim as a text editor. I\'m currently experimenting with Vim as a Java IDE. Currently I do this to compile:

! javac          


        

Answer 1

By request I've posted my takeaway from this question as a separate answer.

---

Here's how I used everyone's advice.

Add this to ~/.vimrc:

autocmd Filetype java set makeprg=javac\ %
set errorformat=%A%f:%l:\ %m,%-Z%p^,%-C%.%#
map  :make:copen
map  :cprevious
map  :cnext

F9 to compile, F10/F11 to cycle through errors.