7 ms·

NetBeans is still around? If you don't want to use Eclipse, try IntelliJ.

timclark 15y ago
Netbeans is less compelling now that we have IntelliJ CE but given a choice between Eclipse and Netbeans, I would choose Netbeans every time! Eclipse has always seemed to me to be baroque and over complicated, for example why do I need to change to a specific perspective to perform a specific task?
- morsch 15y ago
  You don't. I do everything from a single perspective.
  - johnyzee 15y ago
    Most new Eclipse users don't understand that you can configure your perspective with whichever windows you want. Which in itself is a kind usability fail on Eclipse's part.
- Roboprog 15y ago
  I hear you. After a few years of Eclipse's goofy tiled interface, I switched over to NetBeans. I much prefer the undockable windows (make the editor use most of the screen, thank you very much), rather than having to pop up an extra Eclipse Window and then strip it down to edit, every time I started Eclipse. http://roboprogs.com/devel/2009.09.html http://roboprogs.com/devel/2009.09.html The vim (key assignment) editor NB plugin is kind of useful as well.
rbanffy 15y ago
Depending on what you are building, NetBeans is a great option. Its support for J2ME is excellent, for instance. I also prefer it for JSP stuff. I have used it to quickly cobble together Swing apps too and the new interface builder seems interesting. Never really tried it with PHP or C, but it doesn't look too bad. For Python an Django work, I like Emacs. Like Tim said, Eclipse is overly and needlessly complicated. As for IntelliJ, never bothered to try. It seems to have a very passionate user base, but, from what I saw, I don't know why.
- kingofspain 15y ago
  I use for it PHP and I really like it, especially with the Mercurial stuff built-in. I've heard Jetbrains PHP IDE is better but of all the others I've tried over the years, Netbeans is by far my favourite.
  - cburgas 15y ago
    I really like PHP Storm (from Jetbrains). It's fast, feature-rich and under constant development. Couldn't recommend it more.
    - kingofspain 15y ago
      Heh, I haven't paid for an IDE since Turbo C but I've yet to hear a bad word said against this one. If it doesn't suffer from the occasional memory gobbling antics of Netbeans then I might treat myself to an early birthday present.
      - wiradikusuma 15y ago
        You should! :) A couple of years ago I was skeptical, "Why would I pay that if I can get something good for free (Eclipse)?" Once I tried it for 2 months (now the trial only 30days), I couldnt help but buying the personal license. just happen that they had discount on easter.
        Roboprog 15y ago
        License? Did that change in v7? I've been running various 6.x versions of NetBeans, and they were free.
        moozeek 15y ago
        They're talking about PHP Storm from Jetbrains, Netbeans is still free.
    - 15y ago

Netbeans is less compelling now that we have IntelliJ CE but given a choice between Eclipse and Netbeans, I would choose Netbeans every time! Eclipse has always seemed to me to be baroque and over complicated, for example why do I need to change to a specific perspective to perform a specific task?

morsch 15y ago
You don't. I do everything from a single perspective.
- johnyzee 15y ago
  Most new Eclipse users don't understand that you can configure your perspective with whichever windows you want. Which in itself is a kind usability fail on Eclipse's part.
Roboprog 15y ago
I hear you. After a few years of Eclipse's goofy tiled interface, I switched over to NetBeans. I much prefer the undockable windows (make the editor use most of the screen, thank you very much), rather than having to pop up an extra Eclipse Window and then strip it down to edit, every time I started Eclipse. http://roboprogs.com/devel/2009.09.html http://roboprogs.com/devel/2009.09.html The vim (key assignment) editor NB plugin is kind of useful as well.

rbanffy 15y ago

Depending on what you are building, NetBeans is a great option. Its support for J2ME is excellent, for instance. I also prefer it for JSP stuff. I have used it to quickly cobble together Swing apps too and the new interface builder seems interesting. Never really tried it with PHP or C, but it doesn't look too bad. For Python an Django work, I like Emacs. Like Tim said, Eclipse is overly and needlessly complicated. As for IntelliJ, never bothered to try. It seems to have a very passionate user base, but, from what I saw, I don't know why.

kingofspain 15y ago
I use for it PHP and I really like it, especially with the Mercurial stuff built-in. I've heard Jetbrains PHP IDE is better but of all the others I've tried over the years, Netbeans is by far my favourite.
- cburgas 15y ago
  I really like PHP Storm (from Jetbrains). It's fast, feature-rich and under constant development. Couldn't recommend it more.
  - kingofspain 15y ago
    Heh, I haven't paid for an IDE since Turbo C but I've yet to hear a bad word said against this one. If it doesn't suffer from the occasional memory gobbling antics of Netbeans then I might treat myself to an early birthday present.
    - wiradikusuma 15y ago
      You should! :) A couple of years ago I was skeptical, "Why would I pay that if I can get something good for free (Eclipse)?" Once I tried it for 2 months (now the trial only 30days), I couldnt help but buying the personal license. just happen that they had discount on easter.
      - Roboprog 15y ago
        License? Did that change in v7? I've been running various 6.x versions of NetBeans, and they were free.
        moozeek 15y ago
        They're talking about PHP Storm from Jetbrains, Netbeans is still free.
  - 15y ago