Java IDEs

[Pangloss]

As I may have mentioned in the past, I'm a graduate student in computer science, working towards a PhD. Recently I've had a number of classes in which the professors required me to use different Java IDEs for various assignments. One prof loves NetBeans. Another prefers Forte. Another (oddly enough) likes Visual Studio.

 

I'm curious what you guys like. I'm also curious what you guys think of the whole Java IDE situation. What's good and what's bad about it?

[jcarlson]

I like notepad + javac.exe

 

On a serious note,I have only ever used Borlands JBuilder. I have heard that the new version of JBuilder by Borland supports J2SE 1.5, and I have also heard good things about NetBeans, although I've never used it.

[Pangloss]

In looking around and talking to other students and professors over the last few days, the general consensus seems to be that the leaders are JBuilder and Eclipse. NetBeans seems to be falling on the wayside, and Forte (even in its new incarnation, which I forget the name of) is more or less dead.

 

JBuilder and Eclipse still have their work cut out for them, though. A growing number of Java devs seem to feel that Microsoft's Visual Studio (especially the new version currently in beta) is the best development platform for Java.

[Cadmus]

IJBuilder and Eclipse still have their work cut out for them, though. A growing number of Java devs seem to feel that Microsoft's Visual Studio (especially the new version currently in beta) is the best development platform for Java.

I work with many IDEs, depending on the circumstances. My most common ones are Oracle JDeveloper and WebSphere Visual Studio. Different ones have different advantages. I have never heard anything about Microsoft Visual Studio supplying a development platform for Java. Is this correct?

[Pangloss]

Microsoft includes Visual J# .NET with every copy of Visual Studio .NET. It's J#, so it's not exactly Java, and more to the point it uses the .NET namespace rather than the Java namespace, so your import and extention commands don't always work (but they often do, since they use the same naming convention, it's just the location in the namespace that varies).

 

You can see the insidious nature of this approach if you look at it from the point of view of a student trying to learn Java, and an instructor trying to teach it to new students. It's Java for all intents and purposes. Grab a book about Java off the shelf and start typing in code and it works just fine. But of course you have no need for the Java plug-in.

 

It's also worth noting that GUI construction is vastly simplified in Visual Studio. If you want to build a screen for your standalone application, Microsoft makes it very easy to do, and in fact it works the same way as it does in C++, C# and Visual Basic, so long as you stay within the VS environment. This makes the construction of standalone Java apps ridiculously easy compared with any pure-Java IDE. But of course you lose all cross-platform compatibility. (So why did you use Java in the first place?)

 

My instructor just took an impromptu poll amongst my fellow students in an OOP concepts class (Master's degree program), and 8 of 10 students had done programming work in Visual Studio prior to the class. Not surprisingly, almost to the person, they expressed that if given a choice they would rather the class had stuck with Visual Studio and even focused on something like C# instead of Java.

 

It's a crazy situation.

[Cadmus]

This makes the construction of standalone Java apps ridiculously easy compared with any pure-Java IDE. But of course you lose all cross-platform compatibility. (So why did you use Java in the first place?)

This I am familar with. I have no interest in Microsoft "Java".

 

My instructor just took an impromptu poll amongst my fellow students in an OOP concepts class (Master's degree program), and 8 of 10 students had done programming work in Visual Studio prior to the class. Not surprisingly, almost to the person, they expressed that if given a choice they would rather the class had stuck with Visual Studio and even focused on something like C# instead of Java.

I have used Visual Studio in the past. C++ is a reasonable alternative for OO concepts. Their choice of C# over Java is interesting. I have friends who are completely in the Microsoft camp. I would not be surprised at such comments from them. I have other friends who are not Microsofties. Such comments would seem ridiculous to them.

 

Can I ask you if you are in the Java camp or the Microsoft camp? Does this have any meaning to you yet?

[Pangloss]

As with politics, I'm a bit of a centrist when it comes to this subject. I'm a long-time MCSE/admin/help-desk type who's gone back to school in order to pursue a Masters/PhD and perhaps a 2nd career in academics. My only serious programming experience has been in pursuing this, but I've done minor programming projects off-and-on over many years going all the way back to GBasic and beyond, so I'm reasonably familiar with the current and historical basics in both PL and OOP.

 

My main interest is in seeing what other people fine useful and what they prefer to use. I'm interested in HCI approaches and techniques, and how they affect both programmers and end-users.

[Cadmus]

My main interest is in seeing what other people fine useful and what they prefer to use.

Once I discovered OOP, I never looked back. Java is my favorite language, as it is so useful.

[onemind]

Hi,

I a have used just about every Java IDE there is.

I suppose it is totally a personal choice on what you like.

My favourite is IntelliJ.

Its small, fast, doesn't intrude on your code or modify anything with its designer.

[Cadmus]

My favourite is IntelliJ.

Its small' date=' fast, doesn't intrude on your code or modify anything with its designer.[/quote']An IDE that doesn't insert its own advertising is quite a nice touch.