IntelliJ IDEA is a Java IDE packed with leading-edge development features which include: industry setting refactoring support, intelligent code editing assistance, a wide range of J2EE development features for rapid web-application and other enterprise development, a powerful Code Inspection tool, integrated CVS, VSS and StarTeam support, an Open API for third-party plug-in support, and a mountain of other productivity features that make Java development a pleasure. Version 3.0.4 was released recently for Mac OS X, Windows, Solaris/Unix and Linux.
IntelliJ IDEA 3.0.4 for Java Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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IntelliJ is without doubt the best IDE on the market for any language.
No other tool has the same userfriendliness, functionality, easyness of use, and so on.
After buying this tool, i hate being forced on work to use other old age IDE’s.
Eclipse IntelliJ IDEA, Kdevelop etc. IMO Java and C++ are definetely languages which will be around here in the next 10-20 years at least.
For those interested in the cutting edge, IDEA has a very fast moving EAP program that allows you to experience the 4.x version of IDEA as it is being built. Also, IDEA community has a very active plugin community at intellij.org. Just today a person contributed a CamelHumps word selection plugin that allows you to select pieces of a word based on capitalization so if you have a method like getFirstElement with the cursor in it, you can opt to use Ctrl-W-like functionality to select word pieces of the method name.
How do they compare?
Eclipse is free and supported by 30+ coorporations led by IBM. its the future really. and its free.
IDEA is a great IDE, filled with excellent feature set for Java development. not free.
both are excellent.
I find that Eclipse cannot hold a candle to IntelliJ’s product. For the give-me-open-source-or-give-me-death crowd, a pay-for ide even an order of magnitude better than a open-source is a no-brainer: go for the open-source Eclipse. For the professional developer, the connoisseur who wants to get the job done most effectively, quickly and with pleasure, the choice is IDEA.
Cheers,
Jon
Definetely great IDE. I use it all the time. Suited for educational use as well as full fledged development.
http://www.netbeans.org
I must agree with Jon. If you don’t want to pay for an IDE, go with Eclipse, it’s ok. But, if you can afford it, and IntelliJ is not overly expensive, compared to some other IDEs, it is well worth the cost. All I had to do to get my company to purchase it, was have others in the company try it for a while, and soon they were hooked too 🙂
IntelliJ’s UI is very clean, and non-intrusive, allowing me to get my work done.
Eclipse’s UI is very kludgy, with different options “hidden” in different “perspectives”. Eclipse’s UI gets even worse, if you use it through IBM’s Websphere Studio, which adds about a 100 plugins, and seems to just make my life harder than easier. (Sorry for the excess bashing of Eclipse, but, I just worked on a project where I needed to use WS Studio, and I can’t remember saying so many curse words to my computer ever 😉
I can not agree.
If you don’t have the money to buy Intellij, don’t get Eclipse, tools like SunOne, Netbeans are better tools IMHO.
I have tried Eclipse, and the tool is really strange, confusing and not very user friendly.
Eclipse has its roots in Smalltalk, so it shares some conventions from that language. Like Smalltalk has many ‘browsers’ that allow you to have different views of your codebase, so Eclipse has Perspectives an Views.
I haven’t used IDEA 3.0.x, but as far as I can remember, it had a more traditional (file oriented) approach.
I dropped JBuilder for Eclipse and I like it. Why do you say it is user unfriendly?
I use IDEA at work. I use Eclipse at home – but only because I don’t have the money to buy my own copy.
Eclipse is ok. There are about 500 reasons why I prefer IDEA, but Eclipse does get the job done. It isn’t just missing features, but also things like keyboard shortcuts, the layout of the panels and the general feel of the program. Eclipse solutions to standard Java/IDE problems/issues seems to have an odd aftertaste that I just don’t care for.
Eclipse (free) is worth about what IDEA costs. IDEA is worth much more than the $2000 that you’d pay for many of the other commercial IDE products.