Try Out Gen-Next of Java IDEs

Continued from page: 1

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Usability and Code assistance
As for making the Eclipse IDE environment compatible for any development area, additional plug-ins is required. The same can be downloaded from within the Eclipse through Help > Software Updates menu option. The IDE interface is different from NetBeans or IntelliJ, it uses a perspective-based paradigm for layout. This layout sets the Panels, Palettes and Editors in relation to the selected perspective, for e.g. the Java perspective combines views that you would commonly use while editing Java source files. This helps a developer to have all project related, commonly used items in his interface's layout view. So, rather than traversing between views while shifting between different development projects, a developer can just select desired perspective from the Windows menu. For code assistance this IDE provides code completion and Java documentation of the Java semantic member elements. However, the code completion of Eclipse is a bit slow when compared to that of IntelliJ's or NetBeans'.

App Development Support
Though Eclipse provides support for Java development only; support for GUI, Web or Ruby application development can be incorporated through plug-ins. The Visual Editor in Eclipse for GUI development is not at par with Matisse GUI builder of NetBeans, but it has support for Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) based application, which NetBeans lacks. When WTP has been downloaded for Eclipse, it provides good support for JSP/struts based Web applications as it has a full JSP/HTML Editor and a wizard for creating Struts Actions and FormBeans. For Java Enterprise development, Eclipse has J2EE and EJB development modes, and under which it provides EAR and EJB modules development. However, the code generated automatically by Eclipse is not of the level that is generated by NetBeans. Since, Eclipse is community driven its shortcomings could be dealt with by installing various plug-ins. MyEclipse is a plug-in that incorporates several features such as inbuilt server runtime integration and support options for Hibernate into Eclipse and makes it ideal for developers who work on JEE based applications.

Features
As a base Eclipse distribution the only feature worth mentioning would be the help and step-by-step tutorials.

Minuses
Several plug-in downloads, as without them Eclipse is just as good as a normal Java Editor.

IDEA has an option for downloading Struts libraries within the interface, required for application development

IntelliJ IDEA 7
IntelliJ IDEA 7 has been released by JetBrains and termed as project Selena. With their Milestone 1 release, JetBrains have introduced Groovy and Grails support apart from various improved or enhanced supports for Hibernation, Spring etc.Unlike NetBeans or Eclipse, JetBrains is a commercial product and you can have a commercial license of IntelliJ for USD 499.

Usability and Code assistance
The code completion feature of IDEA editor can be considered as benchmark for IDEs. It is not just fast, but context aware also. The Editor offers color highlighting, hints and suggestions based on the context code.

The interface layout of this IDE on the other hand is not intuitive like that of NetBeans, however, it provides the facility to re-arrange Panels and Editor on the layout window. Its enhanced Refactoring feature allows you to rename a parameter and remove parameters, which are no longer in use.

Application Development Support
The GUI Editor of IDEA scores just next to NetBeans Mattise GUI builder. For Swing application development it has support for JGoodies Forms for designing interfaces and for Hibernate and Struts development for Web applications, the interface provided 'Configuration' wizard. This wizard generates the necessary package setup with all necessary libraries and classpaths. Since, Struts and Hibernate libraries do not come embedded with the main installation package; they have to be downloaded separately, and their paths have to be provided while configuring the wizard. For J2EE Specification applications, IDEA provides full support and has deployment plug-ins available for application servers such as JBoss, WebSphere, and WebLogic.

Features
IntelliJ IDEA incorporates inbuilt Version Control System that is useful for a team based project development. Another feature is of Maven integration, using which projects can directly be created from Maven descriptor files.

Minuses
A Visual Editor for designing JSP/HTML pages would have been an added advantage and also it is not a free product.

Till now, NetBeans used to be underwritten in the Java IDE arena, but now the situation has changed. From being an underdog it has become a popular Java IDE. With its full support for Swing based application development, it is an ideal choice for buliding GUI based applications, where both Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA lacks to compete with Matisse GUI builder of NetBeans. But, while considering a full-fledged J2EE application, then IntelliJ IDEA is tough to beat as it is having splendid support for JSP, Struts and Hibernate. This support is somewhat matched by NetBeans, but Eclipse in its base installation is nowhere in contention.

Therefore, IntelliJ IDEA is an ideal IDE for a Java developer, but that comes with a price. Whereas, NetBeans being an open source gets a winner's place.

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