I think Eclipse IDE is the wayto go. It has alot of built in features that woud make your coding alot easier.

I use JCreator and GEL


They are both really good. I use JCreator on my computer and I keep GEL on my flash drive since it is portable and doesn't need to be installed.

I have been using Netbeans but I got some throble with Access wich I didnt solve. I think one good edit tool like Ultraedit is all you need in most cases.

Hey somebody necromanced my thread

After I've asked I've been using Netbeans. For a few months I've been doing solely C programming but before that I intensily did couple of months of Java coding. For my uses Netbeans has got everything and more importantly the lack of a pricetag made it my choice.

I'll have to see if I do more Java in future: if so Eclipse migth be worth trying.

I prefer NetBeans because it's really friendly and it runs on a lot of major operating systems like Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris and even BSD.

Furthermore, NetBeans has migration options from Eclipse and JBuilder (one that my school uses).

xboxrulz

Hello,
I am a java and jsp programmer. I tried most of the editors especially for the web programming (Eclipse, JCreater, Netbeans,Borland Jbuilder, ....). But when you are using servlets for web programming it is not different then normal java programming. And you will use robust java code to create web pages. So i think
my experiments about trying to find a good editor for web programming can be as useful as for java programming.

Eclipse * * * *: The best free editor for java. You can feel like you are using a professional software. And could do most of the things easily. But learning it is a bit diffucult and have some weird problems.

Borland JBuilder * *: I dont understand why people are using it. Delphi was their best programming editor. And i tried to use JBuilder for java because the success of Delphi. But after a few minutes i decided to not use it again (3 years ago).

Oracle JDeveoper * * * *: I think it is better than Eclipse. But it's last stable version doesn't support latest technologies.It's beta version has a lof of bugs, and you can't use it for a long time comfortable.

Intellij IDEA * * * * *: My favorite IDEA ("develop with pleasure"). When i am using it to write java code i feel like i am using an intelligent editor. It makes most of the thing to use and write easier. Setting panels is very professional and beaituful. Sometimes if i dont write some code with this editor i miss it. It's interface is very wonderful for me because i dont familiar to see nice graphics in java programs or editors.
When you are writing code it is very diffucult to write false code. Because it has lots of sweet warnings and
guides to write the best code.

If you just wanna write some simple code and dont want to use advanced features of editors then i will suggest to use JCreator. Maybe there are better editors then JCreator for small programs. But i haven't
searched editors for small programs.

And an advice for new programmers: Don't use editors auto-complete feature until you become familiar with java language. Because if you have a weak memory like me , you will forget most of the codes if you use auto-complete.

Sincerly,

JBuilder is an OK IDE but it's just not flexible enough like NetBeans or Eclipse.

xboxrulz

Well I am only in high school so none my applications are "big" as you would say.

So JCreator suits my needs, and I recommend JCreator as an IDE to anyone who is starting out in learning Java.

JCreator makes small programs extremely simple to code, compile, and execute.

I took a few classes in high school and we used BlueJ primarily. It has a nice UML display that shows the relationship between your classes, interfaces, enums etc. I really like it and it gets the job done. It does not have code-completion (like intellisense), as Eclipse does, but I really like the UML design feature.

I have been using Eclipse recently at home, but the installation is way too big to take with me. I have been working off a usb-drive, and BlueJ is only about 4.5 mb installed, so if you need to take your work with you and you don't want to install an IDE, this is the way to go. Eclipse is better in some respects because it has code completion and a bunch of other cool tools, but if you want a simple IDE, go with BlueJ.

My first Java IDE was SyncJEdit. Good, simple, what I needed. But there are some features that should be there that aren't (i.e. Ctrl+A should select all), and some bugs (why doesn't Ctrl+C copy the first time?), so I switched to NetBeans. It's good, I just wish you could just have a Java file as opposed to a whole project if you're just doing a small, quick thing.