you may give a try to eclipse, it is very popular

For the compiler, just use the one that comes with Sun's Java SDK. Unless you're doing something specialised, there isn't much reason to use another one. I've used IBM's Jikes in a project before because the compiler runs slightly faster, but Sun's 1.5 compiler is quicker now.



As for editing Java code, I just use my favourite text editor (TextPad in Windows and Kate in Linux) with Sun's command-line tools and Makefiles. As long as your editor has good syntax highlighting, grouping files up into projects etc. it means you can use the same interface for whatever programming language you're using. For example, I'd hate to have to download, try and learn several different IDEs when I switch between C, Java, C++, PHP, Perl etc. It stops you becoming dependant on a certain GUI interface and it's also easier when you are using different languages together in one project. You might want to take a look at Eclipse and JEdit though if you really want a IDE.

I'm using IBM's Jikes. Very small compiler, works just great, i downloaded it when i had insanely high pricing of internet access... and i use SciTE for Java, HTML, and PHP editing.

Wow. How could anyone possibly think Scite is similar to eclipse?


Eclipse is ... almost MSVC++, but converted to java's way of working (packages are supported in clever ways etc), with extra bits added.

Netbeans is ... an attempt to build all the same features, but using a modular plugins system like JEdit

JEdit is ... an attempt to make a modern, GUI, pluggable modular text editor that can be converted to doing anything. Basically: Emacs, but easier to use, using scripted java instead of scripted LISP.

IDEA is ... just like eclipse, but commercial, and better in some ways, worse in others.

More java developers use Eclipse than anything else. I have a suspicion that more use Eclipse than all the others mentioned above combined. Eclipse is the *youngest* of the above IDEs; it's popularity is immense.

Unfortunately, it's got lots of bugs, and has lots of pissing little problems that can easily put you off. However, it is undeniable that Eclipse has the best future of all the currently available free IDE's, and probably better than all the commercial ones simply because being free it's going to dominate the market.

i.e. get Eclipse now, get used to it now, and as you upgrade through later versions you'll soon have an IDE that is better than all the others.

PS: why is it called Eclipse? Because netbeans was invented by Sun, and netbeans was until very recently utter crap, and "an eclipse" == "over-shadowing of the sun".

This actually says a lot about what eclipse aims to be (it thinks Big) and where people expect it to go. The latest NB fights back, but is it too little, too late? Even with the official Sun support?

PS: eclipse annoys me. I hate it. But ... it's the best free IDE I've ever used, and it's as good - or better - as a lot of very expensive (think thousands of dollars) commercial ones I've had licensed for me by previous employers.

THe main problem is that it's bugs are all annoying little thigns, like a bug in how it pasts comments, which deletes the indentation in the first line of the comment. You get pissed on by this bug 5 times a day, but in the grand scheme of things it is utterly unimportant.

So. Using eclipse is irritating, but it has incredible time-saving features, and at the same time it lacks the major or dangerous bugs and problems of other "big" IDE's (in particular it's so much faster than all previous netbeans it's enough to make NB users cry...)

Get the latest sdk/jdk (java 5.0) http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp but not with netbeans if you are as you said on a slow connection. Maybe crimson editor might be a solution? Its a "source editor" its free and rather small (1224KB)to download. http://www.crimsoneditor.com/