[java] Opinions on Java IDEs?
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I've been developing Java applications for a while now with simple editors like emacs, vi, and textpad. I now feel like I have a solid grasp on the Java language and I'm ready for a good IDE. I hear some people like NetBeans, but I've heard some negative things about it. Among other things, I've heard it's really slow, (it was written in Java, after all).
I've also heard about JBuilder, but I'm not sure if a free version is available from Borland. Today, a proffesor introduced me to Bluejay. It seemed pretty nice. It would automatically generate a UML diagram based on your code, had a great debugger, and a nice editor. Anyone out there have any experience with Java IDEs? What would you recommend/what have your experiences been like? Thanks in advance!
There is a free release of JBuilder out now (I didn't like the changes to the auto-indenting in this version though.) I highly recommend Eclipse; for a long time I didn't bother to check it out, but recently I did and I really like it (and its free too). There's also JCreator, a decent IDE that I started out with that also has a free release.
I have used CodeWarrior and plenty of other Java IDEs but I personally think that JCreator by Xinox Software is by far the best.
It's freeware and much, much easier to use than any other Java IDE.
It's freeware and much, much easier to use than any other Java IDE.
After spending a large amount of time with NetBeans 3.6 over the past few months, I can safely say that it is one of the worst IDEs I have ever used. Go for JCreator or Eclipse.
BlueJ is horrible. Absolutely horrible. That whole UML UI system really doesn't scale well beyond a small number of classes.
Another vote for Eclipse.
Another vote for Eclipse.
Another vote for Eclipse 3.0 [wink].
Given it's free, and (from what I hear) you can also stick C/C++ support in, it's great. JCreator sucks with its latest release - it was looking great, but then it got all slow and unstable when trying too hard to mimmick VStudio..
only 2 things I don't like about eclipse:
1. It can be a bit clunky and slow in places, not a problem, just can be a bit annoying when it briefly freezes whilst loading up all 10,000,000,000,000 intellisense tips when you press "." or "System."
2. The concept of workspaces and projects. Suppose it works in a more cross-platform nature (it's quite "unix'y"). I much prefer how VStudio works - open and save a project/solution file, and it then imports/exports the necessary source code and resources...
FTR, I might be a little biased - I work with Eclipse development here at work :-)
Jack
Given it's free, and (from what I hear) you can also stick C/C++ support in, it's great. JCreator sucks with its latest release - it was looking great, but then it got all slow and unstable when trying too hard to mimmick VStudio..
only 2 things I don't like about eclipse:
1. It can be a bit clunky and slow in places, not a problem, just can be a bit annoying when it briefly freezes whilst loading up all 10,000,000,000,000 intellisense tips when you press "." or "System."
2. The concept of workspaces and projects. Suppose it works in a more cross-platform nature (it's quite "unix'y"). I much prefer how VStudio works - open and save a project/solution file, and it then imports/exports the necessary source code and resources...
FTR, I might be a little biased - I work with Eclipse development here at work :-)
Jack
Depends on the Operating System you use. I, being a Mac OS X user, use Xcode for all of my programming. On windows, I have been fairly frustrated working in most Java IDEs with my latest project. I would say eclipse is ok, but it gets way too slow at times on my PC. Netbeans is ok as well, but also is a bit slow, JBuilder is OK, not particulary impressed by it, but it doesn't frustrate me as much as eclipse or netbeans. I tried JCreator briefly, and it seems to be fairly nice. So I guess it depends on what OS you are doing Java development on.
As long as you don't use Mac OS, I say go for NetBeans 4.0! With the expception of mac os, it runs really fine on any os (and even mac os may be possible, if you have administration rights).
Version 4.0 is real easy to use and it's got Ant-based projects which is just great!
Version 4.0 is real easy to use and it's got Ant-based projects which is just great!
eclipse for 3 years now...
started with notepad, joe, jedit etc pp., and for simple editing i still use jedit or notepad2, but for projects it's eclipse...
a big point for eclipse is definitly that its free and has a whole lot of plugins (example: www.eclipse-plugins.info)...
ok, it needs resources, can be pretty annoying on some older machines, but it's worth it, in my oppinion...
started with notepad, joe, jedit etc pp., and for simple editing i still use jedit or notepad2, but for projects it's eclipse...
a big point for eclipse is definitly that its free and has a whole lot of plugins (example: www.eclipse-plugins.info)...
ok, it needs resources, can be pretty annoying on some older machines, but it's worth it, in my oppinion...
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