What are people using to code Java SE these days?

[Noble]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE? I have looked
at NetBeans and I like the fact that it has a GUI builder. I have also
looked at Eclipse and like that it appears to run faster on my pc than
does NetBeans. Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

nb

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE? I have looked
at NetBeans and I like the fact that it has a GUI builder. I have also
looked at Eclipse and like that it appears to run faster on my pc than
does NetBeans. Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

Eclipse, Eclipse derivative, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA are likely
the most widely used IDE's today.

Eclipse has a VE plugin for GUI builder.

Note though that final VE for Eclipse 3.3 has not been released yet.

Arne

 

[Stanimir Stamenkov]

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:56:24 -0800 (PST), /Noble/:

Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

You may give the Visual Editor Project [1] a look. There's also a
SWT Designer [2] I've previously seen. A simple Web search should
reveal even more.

[1] http://www.eclipse.org/vep/
[2] http://www.swt-designer.com/

 

[Steve Sobol]

Eclipse has a VE plugin for GUI builder.

Note though that final VE for Eclipse 3.3 has not been released yet.

No, due to a lack of CVS committers. But there are a few very dedicated
people working on it, and I use VE in Eclipse 3.3 and it works quite well.

And yes, Eclipse is definitely faster than NetBeans.

 

[Lew]

No, due to a lack of CVS committers. But there are a few very dedicated
people working on it, and I use VE in Eclipse 3.3 and it works quite well.

And yes, Eclipse is definitely faster than NetBeans.

For certain values of "faster". I personally am faster as a developer with
NetBeans than with Eclipse and Eclipse-based products like Rational
Application Developer. For one things, the wizards in NetBeans don't keep
rewriting their generated code under the hood no matter how many "options" I
uncheck in accordance with the documentation. On the machines on which I have
used both products, going back seven years or so, I have never been able to
discern any difference in speed for things like GUI display, code compilation,
interaction with source repositories, connection to database systems, or any
other metric I can think of operationally. I have had many occasions where
quirks or assumptions of Eclipse-family IDEs have slowed my work
significantly. Many stem from its lack of integration with the workstation's
file system, for example. YMMV.

 

[Mark Space]

For certain values of "faster". I personally am faster as a developer
with NetBeans than with Eclipse and Eclipse-based products like Rational

For certain values of hardware platform, NetBeans really chugs pretty
hard to get anything done. Since I upgraded my system about a year ago,
everything I've done in NB has had very acceptable levels of
performance. Before that though, yeesh, NB was a dog. So I can see
some folks might have trouble running it.

 

[Noble]

For certain values of hardware platform, NetBeans really chugs pretty
hard to get anything done.  Since I upgraded my system about a year ago,
everything I've done in NB has had very acceptable levels of
performance.  Before that though, yeesh, NB was a dog.  So I can see
some folks might have trouble running it.

NB seems to work fine on my desktop and on my laptop as well as my
iMac. However, the laptop is a little slower than the other two
machines. It is still acceptable though. I don't do anything major
with Java other than some freeware stuff so I guess NB will suit my
needs for the forseable future.

Thanks everyone for your comments.
nb

 

[Steve Sobol]

For certain values of "faster".

OK, I'll agree with that.

It used to be that Eclipse was MUCH faster due to SWT's use of native UI
widgets wherever possible. The difference between SWT and Swing has narrowed
considerably, though.

I personally am faster as a developer

Ah, that's a personal choice. I hated NetBeans when I first tried it. I
strongly prefer Eclipse over NetBeans. But I was referring to actual
performance of the IDE.

 

[Lew]

Ah, that's a personal choice. I hated NetBeans when I first tried it. I
strongly prefer Eclipse over NetBeans. But I was referring to actual
performance of the IDE.

If Eclipse were to be slower than NetBeans in some version, this would matter
much less than Eclipse's better match to how you work. Do not sacrifice hours
of development time to achieve milliseconds of screen refresh.

There are different editors and IDEs precisely because they match different
people's styles. If we were all the same we wouldn't need but one. It is why
I argue for IDE-neutral development - let each practitioner use the tool that
best suits their style, but do not break the build. Script-based
build-and-test cycles are immune to the vagaries of developer tool choice -
the gods of compile and link are ruthless and care not for our egos.

 

[Steve Sobol]

If Eclipse were to be slower than NetBeans in some version, this would matter
much less than Eclipse's better match to how you work. Do not sacrifice hours
of development time to achieve milliseconds of screen refresh.

Oh, absolutely. But in my case, one of the decisions to use Eclipse was made
because NetBeans 3.x was *painfully* slow. (To me, on my 2.0GHz Celeron with
256MB of RAM. I've since upgraded the computer.)

There are different editors and IDEs precisely because they match different
people's styles. If we were all the same we wouldn't need but one.

Yes, you are correct.

 

[Joshua Cranmer]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE?

Eclipse and NetBeans are the new vim/emacs client. I would say pick one
and don't try to evangelize to other users who have firmly decided.

Outside of those two, I would say that jEdit works pretty well as a
generic IDE (mostly for Windows, which lacks strong, highly-customizable
editors like vim or emacs). Vim and emacs are still used today as well,
and given their customizablity, if you use them already, they're still
work quite well for developing Java code.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Eclipse and NetBeans are the new vim/emacs client. I would say pick one
and don't try to evangelize to other users who have firmly decided.

Outside of those two, I would say that jEdit works pretty well as a
generic IDE (mostly for Windows, which lacks strong, highly-customizable
editors like vim or emacs). Vim and emacs are still used today as well,
and given their customizablity, if you use them already, they're still
work quite well for developing Java code.

I don't like JEdit for writing Java code or C# code. The real
IDE's fits me better for that.

But I use JEdit for editing almost anything else. It is a great
allround editor.

Arne

 

[Mark Space]

Eclipse and NetBeans are the new vim/emacs client. I would say pick one
and don't try to evangelize to other users who have firmly decided.

I'd say that knowing both enhances one's jobs prospects.



But vim's better.

 

[David Segall]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE? I have looked
at NetBeans and I like the fact that it has a GUI builder. I have also
looked at Eclipse and like that it appears to run faster on my pc than
does NetBeans. Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

nb

I have a list of candidates at <http://ide.profectus.com.au>.

 

[Ramon F Herrera]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE? I have looked
at NetBeans and I like the fact that it has a GUI builder. I have also
looked at Eclipse and like that it appears to run faster on my pc than
does NetBeans. Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

nb

Noble Sir:

Whatever you do, DO NOT use any GUI builder that is not bidirectional.
The only bidirectional GUI builder for Java (worth every single penny)
is the one from Instantiations.

http://www.windowbuilderpro.com/

NetBeans' Matisse is not up to the task for any serious development.

Why? Read above bi-directionality above.

The Eclipse VE plugin seems to have been abandoned.

-Ramon

 

[k-e-n]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE? I have looked
at NetBeans and I like the fact that it has a GUI builder. I have also
looked at Eclipse and like that it appears to run faster on my pc than
does NetBeans. Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

nb

My personal preference by far is IntelliJ IDEA.

It does cost money, but it terms of productivity it is well worth it.

I have a fondness for NetBeans and regularly check it when a new
release comes along.

NetBeans 6.0.1 is very good, it even has some features that IDEA6
lacks (e.g. built-in profiler).

But, over all I have to keep using IDEA as NB lacks the 'refactoring'
features I use on a regular basis.

I cannot say which IDE is 'faster' in execution, I am not sure that it
really matters, most of the time I am typing code or reading it, none
of which stresses any software. I do find that IDEA seems to start
faster than NetBeans but this could simply be a matter of which
optional features are supported & which plug-ins are being loaded.

I have no comment on Eclipse as I have not used it in many years,
though I will be using it soon as I will be starting a project on some
unusual hardware where Eclipse is the only choice.

For professional development I prefer a machine with 2G of RAM and at
least a dual-core processor.

If you have the budget you can buy an 'off the shelf' DELL machine
with a quad-core processor, 3G of RAM + two 24" flat screens for $2K,
the flat screens should be a separate purchase, if you add them to the
base DELL machine in the same order they actually cost more than
buying them separately. Of course pricing and packaging policies seem
to change at DELL almost daily

 

[Roedy Green]

What are most people using nowadays for coding Java SE? I have looked
at NetBeans and I like the fact that it has a GUI builder. I have also
looked at Eclipse and like that it appears to run faster on my pc than
does NetBeans. Is there some type of GUI designer plug in for eclipse
that uses SWT?

the big three are Eclipse, NetBeans and IntelliJ Idea (the one I use).

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

There is strong convergent evolution going on.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

The Eclipse VE plugin seems to have been abandoned.

Not quite. Just behind.

Arne

 

[Lew]

the big three are Eclipse, NetBeans and IntelliJ Idea (the one I use).

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

There is strong convergent evolution going on.

That's the result of intelligent design.