Java IDE for sloooooow laptop

[action8]

When I go on travel, I get stuck with an older laptop (1.4 Ghz, 512MB).
I usually need to use most of that memory for an app server and a
bunch of hungry processes. I like to TDD, so I'm really looking for an
IDE that has the following qualities:

A) Loads quick with < 100MB available.
B) Point it at a folder and give it some dependencies, and your
project is set up. Netbeans3.6 style is about as painful as I'm
willing to tolerate.
C) One button compile, one button run a java file with all the
classpath from the project.


Right now I edit in jedit and then use ant to build. I'm leaning
towards writing ant tasks to run tests, but I was hoping for something
that doesn't require me to flip back and forth between an editor and
the command line, plus I like to link back and forth between test
failures and the code that caused it.

I also don't get to "install" stuff on the computer. I can, but I have
to return the laptop without the installed apps. So something that I
can drag on and run is highly preferred.

Our team uses netbeans 4.0 and 5.0, both are totally unacceptable on
this machine. Eclipse is a smidgen better, but not great enough to
justify maintaining another set of project files (the project (which is
really dozens of subprojects) tends to change just enough between trips
to cause pain). I'm not really an emacs or vi guy, but if they'll get
the job done I'll learn some key bindings.

Any suggestions? Any great little IDE that doesn't do everything but
can compile and run a junit test?

 

[Oliver Wong]

Right now I edit in jedit and then use ant to build. I'm leaning
towards writing ant tasks to run tests, but I was hoping for something
that doesn't require me to flip back and forth between an editor and
the command line, plus I like to link back and forth between test
failures and the code that caused it.

You can install ANT plugins, and even a command-line plugin for JEdit.

- Oliver

 

[Joe Attardi]

Right now I edit in jedit and then use ant to build. I'm leaning

towards writing ant tasks to run tests, but I was hoping for something
that doesn't require me to flip back and forth between an editor and
the command line, plus I like to link back and forth between test
failures and the code that caused it.

jEdit has several plugins that you can install to add this
functionality:

AntFarm lets you run Ant tasks by clicking on a target name. Then
you'll want to also install ErrorList. These three plugins work in
tandem so when your Ant build fails, it shows the errors. If you have
the Project Manager plugin installed (I think), you can click on the
error messages and jump to that place in the source code.

There is also a JUnit plugin for running tests.

Go to the Plugin Manager from within jEdit or head over to
http://plugins.jedit.org/ to find these.

 

[Timo Stamm]

When I go on travel, I get stuck with an older laptop (1.4 Ghz, 512MB).
[...]
Any suggestions? Any great little IDE that doesn't do everything but
can compile and run a junit test?

IntelliJ IDEA is a complete IDE (a very good one, according to the Java
Developer’s Journal Readers [1]). It performs much better than Eclipse
on my laptop (1,33ghz PPC, 768mb), but I don't know if it's fast enough
for you.

However, I would rather put more RAM into the laptop and use the IDE I like.


Timo

___
1: http://jdj.sys-con.com/read/171303_3.htm

 

[Roedy Green]

IntelliJ IDEA is a complete IDE (a very good one, according to the Java
Developer’s Journal Readers [1]). It performs much better than Eclipse
on my laptop (1,33ghz PPC, 768mb), but I don't know if it's fast enough
for you.

However, I would rather put more RAM into the laptop and use the IDE I like.

I have 512 MB ram. IntelliJ itself is faster than Eclipse, though
extremely slow to load. However, Eclipse puts relatively little
burden on background tasks. I can barely run anything else with
IntelliJ going, just some very ram-light things like Agent and
SlickEdit.

After the next month's rent is paid, if there is anything left over I
am going for another 512 MB of RAM. I trust that is the problem.

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

When I go on travel, I get stuck with an older laptop (1.4 Ghz, 512MB).
I usually need to use most of that memory for an app server and a
bunch of hungry processes. I like to TDD, so I'm really looking for an
IDE that has the following qualities:

A) Loads quick with < 100MB available.
B) Point it at a folder and give it some dependencies, and your
project is set up. Netbeans3.6 style is about as painful as I'm
willing to tolerate.
C) One button compile, one button run a java file with all the
classpath from the project.

Also I run NetBeans 5.0 happily with a 1Ghz Athlon with 512MB I can
understand that you might want to look for something faster.

Give GEL a try. It is freeware but no longer maintained and written in
Delphi and thus starts and loads very quick.

You can download it here:

http://memescape.co.uk/gexperts/download.html

I don't think it offers any support for running JUnit though, but it can
deal with Ant files which you could use to integrate your JUnit tests.

Thomas

 

[IchBin]

Also I run NetBeans 5.0 happily with a 1Ghz Athlon with 512MB I can
understand that you might want to look for something faster.

Give GEL a try. It is freeware but no longer maintained and written in
Delphi and thus starts and loads very quick.

You can download it here:

http://memescape.co.uk/gexperts/download.html

I don't think it offers any support for running JUnit though, but it can
deal with Ant files which you could use to integrate your JUnit tests.

Thomas

You could try JGRASP>>

http://www.jgrasp.org

Thanks in Advance...
IchBin, Pocono Lake, Pa, USA
http://weconsultants.servebeer.com/JHackerAppManager
__________________________________________________________________________

'If there is one, Knowledge is the "Fountain of Youth"'
-William E. Taylor, Regular Guy (1952-)

 

[TechBookReport]

When I go on travel, I get stuck with an older laptop (1.4 Ghz, 512MB).
I usually need to use most of that memory for an app server and a
bunch of hungry processes. I like to TDD, so I'm really looking for an
IDE that has the following qualities:

A) Loads quick with < 100MB available.
B) Point it at a folder and give it some dependencies, and your
project is set up. Netbeans3.6 style is about as painful as I'm
willing to tolerate.
C) One button compile, one button run a java file with all the
classpath from the project.


Right now I edit in jedit and then use ant to build. I'm leaning
towards writing ant tasks to run tests, but I was hoping for something
that doesn't require me to flip back and forth between an editor and
the command line, plus I like to link back and forth between test
failures and the code that caused it.

I also don't get to "install" stuff on the computer. I can, but I have
to return the laptop without the installed apps. So something that I
can drag on and run is highly preferred.

Our team uses netbeans 4.0 and 5.0, both are totally unacceptable on
this machine. Eclipse is a smidgen better, but not great enough to
justify maintaining another set of project files (the project (which is
really dozens of subprojects) tends to change just enough between trips
to cause pain). I'm not really an emacs or vi guy, but if they'll get
the job done I'll learn some key bindings.

Any suggestions? Any great little IDE that doesn't do everything but
can compile and run a junit test?

I would take a look at jCreator (http://www.jcreator.com), read this
review to see why: http://www.techbookreport.com/tbr0173.html.

HTH

 

[opalpa]

Personally I use vi most regardless of machine power. Always inside
the IDE that is unix (cygwin provides unix tools under windows). This
environment works on weak machines.

I do understand that the environment is very different from most IDE
tools like Eclipse, NetBeans and JBuilder. The difference increases
learning distance for those with experience in those environments.


Opalinski
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.geocities.com/opalpaweb/

 

[Chris Riesbeck]

Give GEL a try. It is freeware but no longer maintained and written in
Delphi and thus starts and loads very quick.

You can download it here:

http://memescape.co.uk/gexperts/download.html

I don't think it offers any support for running JUnit though, but it can
deal with Ant files which you could use to integrate your JUnit tests.

Actually Gel does have integrated support for JUnit.

Another feature I like quite a bit is "Smart Folders." You can say that
everything in a folder is in the project (based on a modifiable list of
extensions) and it will automatically update the project when files are
moved in and out. A feature I sorely missed in JCreator when I used it a
few years back.

 

[action8]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll check out the jedit plugins, gel,
jgrasp and jcreator. The less than 100MB is a pretty hard requirement,
and I have a better chance of a new laptop magically appearing (with a
case of beer on the side) than getting a memory upgrade.

I had a free license for intellij and never could find the time to play
with it before it expired. I used vi years ago, but I never used it to
compile or run tests, I didn't think it could. The editor's not all
the important (syntax highlighting is nice), it's the integration that
I really want, without paying the memory price of an eclipse or
netbeans.