IO Control and Configuration I am using Eclipse to program a ATMega2560 and would like to stay away from the Arduino library, While looking through AVR Examples I have seen the syntax 

#include &lt;avr/io.h&gt;

PORTD.0 = 1

or 

PORTD.DIR = 1;


instead of

PORTD = 0b11111111;


To define and control the Inputs/Outputs when I try to use this syntax I get compiler errors: 

error: request for member 'DIR' in '*34u', which is of non-class type 'volatile uint8_t {aka volatile unsigned char}'


I am sure that I am simply missing a include file or something but I can't figure out what I am doing wrong.
What you're doing wrong is that you're using the wrong compiler. That syntax is for CodeVision or mikroC, but the Arduino IDE uses GCC. Which follows global standards rather than making syntax up.