Java IDE

[Neo Pantain]

What is the best IDE to use when developing Java applications?

hi jojo
Its up to you.. as per my perspective Ecllipse is best

Thanks
Alok

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Sabine Dinis Blochberger, 15.05.2008 11:11:

I use it for Java, and my boss uses it for PHP. I have always like dit,
and he was pleasantly surprised.

What I don't like is that PHP development is now (version 6.1) separate
from Java, meaning you can't have both? (OT question)

No you can.

Either download the full distrubution (which will include C/C++, Ruby, UML and JavaEE) or simply download the Java version and then install the PHP module through the plugin manager (Tools -> Plugins).

I think due to an issue in the plugin manager, you cannot "upgrade" a PHP only distribution to include PHP, but I might be mistaken. Just check which plugins the plugin manager offers you in the PHP distribution.


Thomas

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Sabine Dinis Blochberger, 15.05.2008 12:20:

Exactly, that was how I had it before 6.1. No PHP plugin shows (in the
available plugins catalog). Is it mushed into any of the Web/EE plugins?

Not that I am aware of

When I go to Tools -> Plugins with my JavaEE distribution I can select the plugins:

PHP Debugger
PHP Samples
PHP

Thanks. For now it's not an important issue luckily.

That should have been "a PHP only distribution to include Java" though

Thomas

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Sabine Dinis Blochberger, 15.05.2008 13:46:

Yeah, those aren't there. I found however this nugget:
<http://wiki.netbeans.org/WhereDoIDownloadThePHPSupport>

Basically I can't have it both, for now.

In my experience missing entries in the plugin manager are often caused by incorrect settings in the userdir (e.g. when upgrading from a beta to a release).

Try to delete the following files from your userdir (after closing down the IDE of course) and try the plugin manager again afterwards:

$USER_DIR\config\Preferences\org\netbeans\modules\autoupdate (whole directory)
$USER_DIR\config\Preferences\org\netbeans\modules\autoupdate.properties (single file)

For more information on the userdir:
http://wiki.netbeans.org/FaqWhatIsUserdir

Regards
Thomas

 

[Arved Sandstrom]

What is the best IDE to use when developing Java applications?

For no reason that I can explain I tend to use Eclipse (Europa) for non-J2EE
apps, and NetBeans (6.0) for J2EE apps. Well, there probably is a reason - I
found Netbeans very easy to set up for J2EE and RoR, and didn't put the
effort into doing the same for Eclipse. Both of them, however, are nice
IDEs, so I won't recommend one over the other. I've used IntelliJ in the
past (through company license seats) and found it very good also.

Answer being, any of the major IDEs are probably perfectly OK. You'd have to
look at what your specialized needs are. There are a lot of online tutorials
out there for doing X in IDE Y, so they are a decent guide to what IDE might
be best for you.

AHS

 

[Travis James]

I was looking for constructive comments, not smart-ass answers.

First, welcome to Usenet. You're gonna get those. Second, his "smart
ass" response is a typical joke to interject in IDE/editor discussions.

Your question is so thinly worded that it just asked to be abused. How
about a little background to your question so a more informed answer can
be provided. Are you familiar with Java? What about other languages?
Have you programmed in other IDEs like Visual Studio? Are you doing
simple Java projects or are you going into a job with dozens or hundreds
of developers and thousands of classes? Is the backing source control
important to you? Will you be using frameworks? Do you have a favored
keystroke set like vi or EMACS or Microsoft applications?

If you're a pure novice just getting started, any one will do but the
comment about text editors is also appropriate.

- TJ

 

[Lionel van den Berg]

I agree.

All developers should be able to develop using a text editor and command
line build, because then they understand what their IDE is doing.

And besides one can risk someday to be on a platform with no IDE.

But if I have the choice I like to use an IDE, because I am a lazy
bastard.

I don't think it is lazy. IDE's speed up your development massively.
Especially when refactoring.

And of course I agree all projects should be able to work anywhere. I am
sold on writing ant scripts and making ant the only requirement.

Lionel.

 

[Lionel van den Berg]

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/ide.html

Most stuff on your site is very helpful but I found the discussions in
the table at the above link very inconsistent and not all that useful.
They are also out of date, at least for Netbeans.

I think each IDE needs to be examined against a set of features/behaviour
whatever. Just a suggestion, it would be a lot of work.

Lionel.

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Sabine Dinis Blochberger, 16.05.2008 11:24:

Did that, still no plugins about PHP in the list. I can install NetBeans
for PHP simultaneously, should I really need it. Thanks.

Very strange.

If this really bugs you, you might want to post this problem to the NetBeans mailing list.

Thomas

 

[Roedy Green]

Most stuff on your site is very helpful but I found the discussions in
the table at the above link very inconsistent and not all that useful.
They are also out of date, at least for Netbeans.

I think each IDE needs to be examined against a set of features/behaviour
whatever. Just a suggestion, it would be a lot of work.

If you are up for updating even some of the information, please email
it.

What is probably needed is something to compare the big three,
Netbeans, Eclipse, Intellij to help someone decide which is the most
likely candidate. Rate it for various tasks e.g. navigating, editing,
visual gui design.

Secondly, decide if BlueJ is actually the best for beginners or those
with old machines.

I added a new one the other da, FieldBird.. Why do people spend so
much time reinventing the wheel (IDEs, SQL engines, frameworks) when
there are so many tools unwritten entirely?
see http://mindprod.com/project/projects.html

 

[Roedy Green]

Actually, a text editor and command prompt CAN be good.

I still use a text editor for experiments, mainly because it comes up
quickly and does not make a production of creating a new class or
insisting it remain compilable for all time.

The big attractions of the IntelliJ IDE for me are:

1. global safe rename. I am quite compulsive about naming things, and
renaming to resolve ambiguities. I also sometimes develop with one set
of short names then rename to a more formal set. It is the smartest
rename I have yet used.

2. navigation. Find a definition. Find usages. Look up parms needed
for a method invocation. The alpha list summary list of methods and
vars

3. refactor, especially Extract method to keep making the code ever
more encapsulated.

4. cookie cutter for get/set/constructor etc. It is not quite what I
want. It does not generate the JavaDoc skeleton.

5. constant feedback, but not overwhelming feedback of syntax errors
(unbalanced, undefined, unused). You don't have to compile to get
clean syntax.

6. the code reformatter and rearranger. I have never seen anything
with that degree of control to make my listing look exactly as I want
them. I like it that I don't waste keystrokes formatting and that I
can change my entire body of work's formatting in a keystroke.

 

[Roedy Green]

Its up to you.. as per my perspective Ecllipse is best

All of us have tried several IDEs, and settled on one, then learned
its quirks. Using any other is like eating with your left hand.

In the meantime, all IDEs improved. You tend to compare your IDE NOW,
with the other IDE, you only partly learned THEN.

So there is a great tendency to overvalue your current IDE.

We need an objective experiment. We need a crop of newbies. Each
newbie is given a project and an IDE, at the end of 2 weeks they drop
that project, start another with a different IDE.

We measure how far each newbie got with each IDE, and do some stats.

This at least would give you a measure of the learning curve.

I wonder if some CS department at a University could arrange such a
test.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

My observation is that IDEs vary little in feature set.

I think they vary quite a bit in features, but that they do
not vary much in the features that are sufficient for most people.

Arne

 

[Lionel van den Berg]

If you are up for updating even some of the information, please email
it.

In that case I may well do, at least for Netbeans and Eclipse.

I have seen a very good comparison between Eclipse and Netbeans at one
stage, but I have no idea where it was or who did it.

Lionel.