Hi, I haven't read this whole thread (too lazy) just wanted to drop in my $0.02 on the matter.
I am a beginner in Java, and I use eclipse to help me learn. Part of it is that when I'm not actively learning, I like to fool around and see what I can do (auto-generate a .Jar file for a hello world program with 1 click, organize my files obsessively)
And the other part of it is the tools that help you. I'm not talking about the auto-finish thing, I hate that. Mostly I love the play button, that runs the code without me having to close the editor, open cmd, run Javac, then run the file in java to see how it turns out. Eclipse does this for me in one click.
I also love that if I misspell something, or misplace a parentheses, I don't have to spend five hours looking for the error. I know some people say that's part of the experience of programming, well I don't like it.
Besides all that, there are settings in eclipse to turn off most auto correct features, or change them at least. Which is what I do. I don't turn off the notifications for error though.
Sorry for any spelling errors, my phone keyboard sucks. And by that I mean I suck at typing :P