IDE for Java

[John Lee]

Hi:
I was wondering if someone can give an brief introduction on different IDE for Java? I know WebSphere, WebLogic, Visual Age, JBuilder, ..., but they are not for the same purpose. So it will be great if you can relate different IDE to their application.
Thank in advance!

[William Barnes]

Ok, I'll bite.
I don't think that WebSphere is an IDE. I write code which runs in WebSphere and I use emacs.

[John Lee]

Originally posted by William Barnes:
Ok, I'll bite.
I don't think that WebSphere is an IDE. I write code which runs in WebSphere and I use emacs.

Ok, that is why I asked the question.
So I want to purchase some jave products, can anyone give an introduction on them?
Thanks,
Don Liu
Software Manager

[Tim Lovern]

Sun provides a free IDE, as does NETBEANS.ORG.
I use the SUN IDE on my windows boxes and the NETBEANS IDE on my MAC. (Asthetically, they are identical, which is why I use them.)
They both work great, have syntax highlighting, will generate some code for you. Like if you specifiy that a module implements an interface, the IDE will put in a template for the methods the interface requires.
As you type in method names, the argument lists will be displayed, illegal syntax is highlighted, etc.
Hoep this was helpful.

[Joel McNary]

While you might get a better response in the IDEs forum, Here's my $.02:
Java-aware Text Editors:
vi and emacs are two popular Unix-based editors. I run Windows and use TextPad. I've not used vi myself, but emacs is a wonderful tool (there are, of course, Windows ports), but TextPad seems to be almost as powerful without the arcane command structure
IDEs (Integrated Development Environment);
NetBeans and SUN ONE are essentailly the same (SUN ONE is built on top of NetBeans, which is why they look so similar). NetBeans is further along in development than is SUN ONE (NetBeans gets many smaller releases, SUN ONE waits and releases everything as a chunk). NetBeans is also a little bit faster, because SUN bundles things like Pointbase with SUN ONE that NetBeans does not come with. I myself use NetBeans.
Another popular (free) choice is Eclipse. IBM's Visual Age for Java is buil on Eclipse. I don't particularly care for this one(it provides many features I don't use, and this tends to complicate what I do use), but you might.
Other choices include borland's JBuilder, IDEA (very high reviews in the IDE forum, but its not free), and quite a few others. a Google serach for Jave IDEs should give you quite a handful.

[John Lee]

Thanks a lot!

[kit james]

Hi,
I have a question here regarding the IDEs..
ermm~~ I would just like to here some opinion from all the mentors and coders here
recently I read an article I am not sure whether u guys had read it b4~ its the article written quite some time back~
The tittle is "Smarter Tools, Dumber Developers? "
I wonder wat is the others opinion~~ can u guys post up here ?
The article
regards,

[Michael Morris]

Personally, I've never liked using an IDE. They have a bad habit of making your code overly complex. I tend to agree with the statement "Smarter Tools, Dumber Developers? " but without the question mark. But this is coming from an old fart that wrote thousands of lines of code on vi.

[Matt Cao]

Hi,
If you happens to wear too many hats in an organization, you will appreciate IDE. Any product exist to fill users demand, no organization creates a product just to keep their employees morales up.

Thanks,
MCao

[Stan James]

That article was uniquely offensive and meaningless. People sometimes make dumb mistakes. This is a "train wreck in slow motion"? What did it have to do with the title?

[Chris Stewart]

Eh, I'd just try each of them and pick your favorite. I personally enjoy using JBuilder.

[B Hayes]

I was in the process of using JBuilder Enterprise (evaluation) until I started working at a client-site with an Oracle database. Then I found out JDeveloper was free.
I'm not 100% but I think JDeveloper is a licensed version of JBuilder. As a free product it's pretty darn impressive. Might want to check it out.

[John Lee]

Another excellent idea from my Filipino friend! Thanks a lot!

[John Lee]

Thanks to all of you! I guess I need to rephrase my question, I am looking for java stuff, not just IDE. From my understanding so far:
there are Java IDEs: JBuilder, Visual Age, ...;
there are Java server: WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss;
what else is out there?
Thank you very much!

[John Smith]

there are Java IDEs: JBuilder, Visual Age, ...;
there are Java server: WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss;

You may also need a profiler/optimizer (such as Borland OptimizeIt), complience/error checker (such as JTest), and the tool for regression testing (such as JUnit).
Eugene.

[John Lee]

Thanks for the information!
It seems there isn't a huge variaty available. I hope they are not very expensive either.

[Cindy Glass]

There are zillions of IDEs for Java out there.
WebLogic and WebSphere are Application Servers along with JRun, Resin, Oracle App Server, Orion etc (See the products section of JavaRanch Forums).
Then there are Web Servers such as Netscape (now Sun One). Many app servers can ALSO function as Web servers.
Just run down a list of the types of products that Jakarta sponsors as open source and then do a Google on that type and you will find lots of assorted competing products.
[ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: Cindy Glass ]

[John Lee]

Thanks a lot! I don't want to make you work overtime. That is not my intention.

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Tim Lovern:
Sun provides a free IDE, as does NETBEANS.ORG.
......
Hoep this was helpful.

Thanks a lot!

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Joel McNary:
While you might get a better response in the IDEs forum, Here's my $.02:

Thanks a lot!

[John Lee]

Originally posted by kit james:

The article
regards,

Thanks a lot!

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Michael Morris:
Personally, I've never liked using an IDE. They have a bad habit of making your code overly complex. I tend to agree with the statement "Smarter Tools, Dumber Developers? " but without the question mark. But this is coming from an old fart that wrote thousands of lines of code on vi.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Matt Cao:
Hi,
If you happens to wear too many hats in an organization, you will appreciate IDE. Any product exist to fill users demand, no organization creates a product just to keep their employees morales up.

Thanks,
MCao

Thanks Matt!

[Daniel Heller]

my favorite java editor is jedit, freely available from www.jedit.org
very powerful, written in Java, and open source,
jedit also provides a simple plug-in api and a large set of useful plug-ins that bring it close
to reaching "ide" status, if you choose to configure it that way.
and it shows line numbers even without adding a plug in (though you do have to turn this on through the "view menu", in my mind a minor inconvenience) and runs the same on more than one platform - i've found that it takes a bit more time to learn how to use it
effectively than, say textpad, but that the extra time is worthwhile.. especially as I have found
it to be less buggy than most other ide's out there
..and.. I have personally found that bugginess is a major problem with almost all IDE's,especially as time progresses and you ask them to do more and more , by the way,. in that sense the article posted possibly *was* relevant, certainly testing and testers do often seem to get very little respect/resources/time when potentially they could and often do provide real savings in terms of a better final product and developing using "tools" can make their job tougher- especially if developers use the tool as an excuse to stop following good coding conventions like naming their variables reasonably, effectively and consistently.. anyway my experience with java ide's is that they tend to be *more* buggy than most other software, surprising as that might sound.. but that jedit does a much better job..
one more caveat, however, if you add the console plug-in (which you probably should), make sure to save your work before you compile... jedit does not currently do this for you.. but it does provide a nice red save button to remind you that you haven't yet saved -
Since jedit is open source, I could work on (or search for) a plug-in that would "fix" this, except that for me, its not a "bug" - its actually something that helps me "think more" as I work (because its so easy to forget the little things like saving when they are *usually* automated for you -- then you forget to save in another notepad document on the side and your computer crashes...)
and if a bug in jedit really bothers me I can take the time to try and learn the code
anyway, hope this helps...

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Stan James:
That article was uniquely offensive and meaningless. People sometimes make dumb mistakes. This is a "train wreck in slow motion"? What did it have to do with the title?

Thanks, Stan!

[Stan James]

Hmm, I was a bit harsh. I apologize for extreme condensation of my reaction if any of you is really Linda. Still, that article didn't do much for me.

[John Lee]

I guess my question is: to assemble an all-around java shop, what kinds of software should be equiped?

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Daniel Heller:
my favorite java editor is jedit, freely available from www.jedit.org

Thanks, Daniel !

[Nicholas Turner]

I use net beans, its free and works. my 1/2 a penny

[Nicholas Turner]

What topic is this anyhow?
For the article, She has a good point seeing that I work with vb/asp'ers and java'ers I see it all the time. Its not the testing its the developers.
And really its Microsofts great invention VB where any garage programmer could pick a book and design an app. So we have high scool dropouts selling applications. For instance this guy named Bill ( lets hide his real name Scott ) we changed the print button and yes its now called command1 and he didnt even run it to see if it would print and I got people screaming at me cause the application faulted when you hit print on a POS system and I was doing the java part so I was like leave me alone.
My 2 cents or in the state of the economy -$1.00

[Dave Johnson]

I would highly recommend the non-visual IDE JPadPro available from: JPadPro

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Dave Johnson:
I would highly recommend the non-visual IDE JPadPro available from: JPadPro

thanks for the information!

[boyet silverio]

one poster in another thread recommended Gel.
www.gexperts.com
It is a free IDE but with no visual programmer. Has what is required for good code editing including line numbering, highlighting of paired parenthesis or braces, class members browser window, syntax highlighting (for java, JSP, Servlets and others), code completion, parameter hints and other features you can adjust or disable if you want. It has a project file management feature which other may find useful. But it is optional. I don't use it, just open files straight.
However, Gelhas been made to run natively in windows which might be limiting to some.
Its features are flexible to configure. The good thing I really like about it is that (since it's native) it loads and runs fast

[John Lee]

Originally posted by boyet silverio:
one poster in another thread recommended Gel.

Cool!

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Nicholas Turner:
I use net beans, its free and works. my 1/2 a penny

thanks for the informations!

[Cindy Glass]

Long past due. Moving to the IDE forum.

[Darryl A. J. Staflund]

Hey, don't forget us text-editor-philes!!!
I have worked on a number of large enterprise projects and everyone has their own choice of IDE, text editor, etc. And it's been my experience that as long as the individual knows what they are doing, project time won't suffer if you let the developers use what they want -- with the proviso that they use a third-party versioning repository such as CVS.
I personally use CodeWright, a cadillac of text editors recently bought out by Borland and formally owned by Starbase. Although you may not have worked with it directly, it was partially integrated with Kawa a long time back and (I believe I have read somewhere) is to be integrated with Borland's JBuilder in an upcoming release.
CodeWright has a serious competitor, i.e. Visual Slickedit. Like all great wars (Coke vs. Pepsi, vi vs. emacs, Start Trek vs. TNG, etc.) each are solid with a loyal following. Some of my most highly-regarded Java developers swear by it. Naturally he is confused and should switch to CodeWright but I respect him nonetheless :-)
Cheers,
Darryl
[ May 27, 2003: Message edited by: Darryl A. J. Staflund ]
[ May 27, 2003: Message edited by: Darryl A. J. Staflund ]

[Thomas Paul]

99% of the time I use UltraEdit. It has Java syntax highlighting and you can configure it to compile and run Java programs. It also has built in FTP. It doesn't have most of the features of the fancy IDE's but I rarely use them anyway.

[Dave Johnson]

Just out of curiousity which IDE did you decide was best, after all these suggestions Don Liu?

[John Lee]

Originally posted by Dave Johnson:
Just out of curiousity which IDE did you decide was best, after all these suggestions Don Liu?

thanks a lot for all the help. but i have not decided yet.