Hello Java people!

I'm starting to work more on java this spring (university stuff) and I think I need a proper IDE. So far my java programming has been in little scale so editor and command line compiling has worked just fine.

So I'm looking for a good, free IDE. It does not need to have fancy features, just what you'd expect from an IDE.

My previous experience on IDEs limits pretty much to MS Visual Studio. I've also tried out Borland's builders but I've hated them, granted they all were quite old versions.

So what IDEs you use and what you'd recommend. And links please.


Thanks in advance.

I'm doing some java stuff on the university too and a lot of people around use Eclipse SDK, so you might want to give that one a try

Finally some thing i can talk on for more than few lines
I ahve been looking for the perfect Java IDE as unlike Visual Studio there are many optins..

First you have Borland's Jbuilder. Its quite decent and if you are used to Borland Technologies . then you might give it a try. But its not free and its not open source. But its used alot in Enterprise.

Then there is Eclipse SDK from IBM, its more of an all purpose tool. Its cross pltform and its based on IBMs SWT instead of usiong swing as its GUI kit. Its totally open source , but you may need to fine tune it for your needs.

Then my personal faverioute Netbeans. Its open source and its full of features. Netbeans used to be Sun's product but now they have seprate foundation (like mozilla is to Netscape..i think)

Another good commercial grade IDE Is Sun Java Studio Enterprise. Its based on Netbeans and its souped up with properiety stuff. It used to be 2000$ retail value but after MS released Visual Studio 2005 ...they have released a free version too. It has more goodies than plain Netbeans..but netbeans should be ok for any small university project

finally there is my advisor(who happens to be a java champ)'s fav IDE. Emacs with jds support. But i ahve been luring him towards netbeans for some time now.

you may wana check out netbeans first

Thanks for the replies. Netbeans sounds like something I will get. And of course if I feel like I need more features I can consider the other options -Sun's IDE sounds promising too.

I suppose Netbeans is from Sun... I personally have been using Eclipse for quite a while and there are a number of plugins available for it... It works quite well and has low system requirement.. I mean less RAM and so on.. so works well on a little older systems as well...

But finally the choice is an individuals as different people tend to like different features...

Cheers,
Himanshu

The free IDEs I know off the top of my head are Netbeans, Eclipse, JWriter, and I think Borland still offers a free trial for JBuilder.

But all you really need is notepad and a compiler.

There are many more out there, just do a search on goolge for java ide.

Wow if only I had found this topic earlier... I went through a bunch of different Java IDE's, for a project I did in school. Here's a List of IDE's I used from best to worst

1. Borland JBuilder Foundations (Free) - I thought it was better than all the rest because it could do everything, design, code, compiler the works, very dependable uses JDK 1.4, works well with plugins like JMF and stuff very easily
2.JCreator (Free)
3. NetBeans (Free) -didn't like the module loading time, either than that very solid IDE
4. Dr Java (Free) - Hated it like a whole bunch, constant problem finding classpaths Ack!

I think you should use Borland JBuilder... although I do recommend buying it off there site to get Enterprise Edition... I bought it and it was worth the money

Enjoy I hope I was some help!

I'm using IBM RAD now. But for free software I think you better to try Eclipse because more and more software company will support it. IBM RAD is based on Eclipse and the next version Jbuilder also will change to base on Eclipse ( I heard 2 months beofe).

I just setup Sun Java Studio Creator 2, its free, and I believe its "open source promoted." I'm new to Java, but not to IDEs.

I agree with the gentleman who said "all you need is notepad/compiler," as well. But, I think IDEs are more similar than they are different. It has a lot to do with what your comfortable with.

For instance, I used to do C++ with Borland's IDE. It was lot more "manual" and involved than say, MS Visual C++ IDE But I thought Borland was much more comfortable comfortable environment.

Well, for what is worth, that has been my experience with IDEs in general. Hope you'll find something that suits your needs. peace.

- Demirelli

My favorite IDE is JCreator.

www.jcreator.com

It is a powerful, easy to use IDE for new programmers.

It makes designing and maintaining projects easy to understand.


A portable IDE that i use is GEL, that I keep on my flash drive.

I don't know the website so just google "Gel"