27 replies to this topic

[Hercco]

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.

[jipman]

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

[hatim]

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

[Hercco]

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.

[Himanshu]

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

[snutz411]

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.

[pUcKeR]

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!

[johnsun99]

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).

[uapconsole]

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

[BitShift]

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"

[Ola Daniel]

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

[BitShift]

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.

[Fixxxer]

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.

[Hercco]

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.

[xboxrulz]

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

[cumanji]

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,

[xboxrulz]

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

xboxrulz

[BitShift]

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.

[beatgammit]

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.

[bluefish]

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.