Which Compiler?

[smitsky]

Hi. Is there another good free compiler (besides the JDK) that is
recommended? I would like to hear from those who have used it if there
is. Thanks, Steve

 

[Karthik Kumar]

Hi. Is there another good free compiler (besides the JDK) that is
recommended? I would like to hear from those who have used it if there
is. Thanks, Steve

jikes from IBM research labs.

 

[Smitsky]

jikes from IBM research labs.

Thanks Kartik. Have you ever used it? If using the JDK in a Windows
environment, which editor would you recommend? Thanks again, Steve

 

[Andrew Thompson]

If using the JDK in a Windows
environment, which editor would you recommend?

TextPad. Of scourse, that advice might be different depending
on the requirements you have not stated.

Requirements such as..
What system/RAM do you have? Lots?
Do you require autocomplete?
Do you require integrated WAR deployment?
Does this editor need to have an inbuilt debugger?
....

 

[Smitsky]

Hi Andrew.

What system/RAM do you have? Lots?

Windows XP / 512 MB

Do you require autocomplete?

It would be nice.

Do you require integrated WAR deployment?

I'm not familiar with this.

Does this editor need to have an inbuilt debugger?

Would be nice too. Thanx, Steve

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Hi Andrew.

Generally personal greetings are discouraged, since you are
not so much writing to me as writing to the 'eternal scroll'.
Also, they have the tendecny to make people ..pause, before
they reply, as I did when I went to answer your first reply.

Windows XP / 512 MB

I have the same, with an Athlon 1.8GHz CPU, and find some
of the the standard recommended editors too slow. Especially
Netbeans, but also Eclipse to a lesser extent.

I have not had enough experience with JBuilder, Emacs or
IntelliJ (other editors regularly recommended) to comment.

It would be nice.


I'm not familiar with this.

I was really fishing to find out if you had lots of arcane
requirements for the editor. This tells me - no.

Would be nice too.

(shrugs) 'Would be nice' is not something I would consider a
*requirement*, so I'll stick with my earlier advice - 'TextPad'.

It is a lightweight editor with *none* of the above. It merely
colors keywords (which I find preferable to autocomplete) and
allows you to compile and run from within the editor.

Others will almost certainly disagree with me. ;-)

Now.. before I lose you attention, I am curious about one aspect
of your original question. Why did you want a compiler that was
*not* Sun's?

 

[Stefan Schulz]

Hi. Is there another good free compiler (besides the JDK) that is
recommended? I would like to hear from those who have used it if there
is.

The eclipse-compiler also is quite good, with has the advantage that
other plugins can directly hook into it. That said any
java-implementation can work. (Kafee and so on). I usually use eclipse
for my development.

 

[hilz]

It is a lightweight editor with *none* of the above. It merely
colors keywords (which I find preferable to autocomplete) and
allows you to compile and run from within the editor.

Others will almost certainly disagree with me. ;-)

Please allow me to disagree here!
keyword coloring is nice, but autocomplete is essential if you work in a
production environment and want to be productive.
i can't imagine myself coding without autocomplete.
without it, you will have to keep jumping between your editor and the API.
Netbeans can even show the API documentation next to the autocomplete
window, which is also very helpful, and saves a lot of time.

just my 0.5 cent
hilz

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Netbeans can even show the API documentation next to the autocomplete
window,

I can't quite recall, is there space in there for a window
with the Java source code? ;-)

...which is also very helpful, and saves a lot of time.

Alt tab 'll take you to the browser with Javadocs,
saves screen acreage.

Of course, YMMV. I think it ultimately depends on the coding style,
habits (good and bad) and personality of the individual developer.

[ ..ahhh, IDE discussions, I should steer clear of them! ]

 

[bugbear]

Hi. Is there another good free compiler (besides the JDK) that is
recommended? I would like to hear from those who have used it if there
is.

Apart from being a free minded rebel, why wouldn't you use
the JDK compiler, at least until you had a good reason not to?

BugBear

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Andrew Thompson wrote on 22.12.2004 08:43:

I can't quite recall, is there space in there for a window
with the Java source code? ;-)

Full screen editor is a doubleclick (or a keystroke) away, apart from that
with a 1280x1024 I don't feel like having not enough editor space...

Thomas

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Andrew Thompson wrote on 22.12.2004 08:43:

Full screen editor is a doubleclick (or a keystroke) away, apart from that
with a 1280x1024

You lucky thing, though I hear even that is becoming 'old hat'.

My monitor can go to res higher than 800x600, but the display
becomes quite ..odd. So for the moment I stick to 800x600.

 

[Smitsky]

Why did you want a compiler that was *not* Sun's?

Just interested to see if there was one perferred.

Example:

A lot of folks recommend Dev-C++ over MSVC++ 6.0 because it is more
standards compliant

....something along those lines.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Just interested to see if there was one perferred.

Example:

A lot of folks recommend Dev-C++ over MSVC++ 6.0 because it is more
standards compliant

A lot of folks recommend other things over the MS equivalent
for much the same reason, but when it comes to Java, Sun *is*
the standard. Sun write Java.

I'm sure there are other good compilers and RE's out there,
but unless you have a specific and arcane need, I would stick
to the ones that have the largest user/knowledge base.

 

[jeffc]

Just interested to see if there was one perferred.

Example:

A lot of folks recommend Dev-C++ over MSVC++ 6.0 because it is more
standards compliant

...something along those lines.

Well along those lines, you should use the Sun compiler.

 

[Ann]

A lot of folks recommend other things over the MS equivalent
for much the same reason, but when it comes to Java, Sun *is*
the standard. Sun write Java.

Cows drink milk, cows MAKE milk !