Eclipse has a proper incremental compiler, which will tell you what's wrong with your code as you type and refactor. IntelliJ has historically not had one, and

Eclipse has a proper incremental compiler, which will tell you what's wrong with your code as you type and refactor. IntelliJ has historically not had one, and the introduction of the 'compile as you go' feature in IntelliJ 12 just doesn't hold a candle to the Eclipse one in complex workspaces. Source: 5 years with Eclipse, and 6 months using IntelliJ 11/12 now.