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Netbeans 4.1 Released
njcoder writes "Netbeans 4.1 was released a few days ago. Though it is only a short time since 4.0 was released and only a minor version number increase, the new Netbeans 4.1 contains a number of significant enhancements. New features include enhanced support for J2ME (mobile) projects, a new Navigator component, enhancements to the Ant based project system, ability to define multiple source roots, enhanced support for J2EE applications including EJB support for creating Session, Entity and Message Driven Beans, bundled J2EE application server, bundled Tomcat server upgraded to the 5.5 series, Web Services support, Eclipse project import tool, and more. The days of a slow and ugly Netbeans seem to be over. Using the new Metal look and feel in Java 5 brightens things up a bit as well. More information can be found in the release info and go here to download the new version. Java boutique has a review, with screenshots, of the new released titled IDE Wars: Has NetBeans 4.1 Eclipsed Eclipse?."
I don't care what new features it has, is it stable? We used Netbeans for a while (a few months ago) at the company I work for in Austin, but we gave up on it because it crashed constantly. We ended up switching to Eclipse half way through the project at a great loss, but at least it's stable. I have very few good things to say about Netbeans...
The fact that Eclipse is built on SWT and NetBeans is based on AWT itself speaks volumes. From TFA "I have felt that Eclipse is getting slower over the versions, while, at least the word on the street is, NetBeans has evolved in the other direction." Maybe this is the author's perception, but again, I am not sure if NetBeans will perform faster than Eclipse with equal types of plug-ins loaded.
The UI is responsive and the controls are intuitive. Building web apps isn't too difficult either. So where is the love?
For those in the know, how does NetBeans compare to ther Java IDEs especially on Linux?
When I write Java in Eclipse that isn't a web app (believe it or not that exists), it's like there's no compiler at all. I save, things get compiled. This confused the heck out of me at first (it's apparently on by default), but I came to love it. Also, if I make a typo or braino, eclipse instantly shows it to me without having to wait for a compile cycle. Does NetBeans have this feature, or do I have to explicitly invoke the compiler all the time?
I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
Telltale Games: Bone, Sam and Max
Apparently the latest Eclipse milestone is much improved in this regard (so I'm told, I don't use it myself).
My problem with Netbeans is that the built-in editor is severely lacking in functionality when compared to both Eclispe and IntelliJ IDEA. I really want to like Netbeans, because I found it much easier to jump in and get started with it than Eclipse and it's much cheaper (i.e. free) than IDEA. But I gave up on it because it doesn't have things like IDEA's intentions (I believe there is something similar in Eclipse), automatic generation of getters, setters and constructors from fields, that thing where you press control and click on a class name in the source to go to that file, and several other niceties. Its refactoring support is also lacking when compared to that of its rivals.
To be fair most, if not all, of the issues I've mentioned are planned for future releases according to their website, but it's not there yet .
Suck figs.
I too am a fan of IntelliJ, but it's not always easy to convince the boss to stump up for a licence when the other Java guys are happy with Eclipse.
IntelliJ is kind of like Opera to Eclipse's FireFox. It's the commercial innovator with the smaller market share competing against a free alternative that is backed by big players in the IT arena. There's an interesting parallel in the way these applications have been developed. In both cases the open source projects have gone for a flexible platform enhanced by a huge array of plugins whereas the commercial players have opted for a more integrated approach with everything you need bundled and presented nicely out-of-the-box.
Suck figs.
I was a strong supporter of netbeans up through 3.6. When they went to 4.0, and their ant based architecture, they screwed things up.
If you have an ant-based project, the idea is that you can add some xml entries to the config files and your buildfiles to hook the gui commands to your targets. Sounds good, right?
Wrong. Netbeans takes the road that if you want to own the buildfile, you own everything. You have to write targets to run the program in the debugger, you have to manage the classpath, you have to write targets to run/compile/debug a single file, to run/compile/debug your whole project, etc etc and so on.
A few weeks ago I watched a coworker join my development project with eclipse. He took a copy of the source tree, pointed eclipse at the top level directory, and it promptly figured out the classpath. Running and debugging worked exactly as you expect. Adding support for the existing ant buildfile was also easy, and didn't interfere with what eclipse offered.
This impressed me, and my coworker convinced me to take it for a testdrive. I had previously spent about 3 weeks researching and arguing config files with netbeans, and I had eclipse ready to write production code in a few hours. (And that was my first time using the tool, now I can configure it much faster.)
Bottom line: eclipse is a tool which is much better thought out than netbeans. it offers alot more functionality to the debugger, alot less painfully. netbeans 4.1, whoopdeedoo. i'm sticking with eclipse.
Easy there, fanboy. The article was about Netbeans, not Eclipse.
All I have to say is that I percieve SWT to break the core reason for Java in the first place--write once, run anywhere. That will never be the case for SWT, and that is why SWT will always be marginalized. Try running your favorite SWT app (including Eclipse) on a Mac. Java was supposed to alleviate platform differences.
As an example, you mention ClearType. ClearType is a platform-specific technology, and although it looks pretty on SWT apps in Windows, running that same app on other platforms produces no benefit. Granted, sub-pixel rendering is a nice feature, but why not implement it at the LaF level, and not at the native peer-esque SWT level, so that it requires no extra platform-specific manipulation. The Mac OS Aqua LaF already does this quite well, and I'm sure the other Swing LaFs will have it soon. (Interesting to note, Java 5 now supports AA type, so sub-pixel hinting is sure to follow.)
Just because Swing started out slow doesn't mean it's not fully functional now. There are a bevy of good Swing apps (including NetBeans and JEdit) that are a testament to this fact. Also, you completely forget to mention the NetBeans platform as a viable alternative to Eclipse platform apps. So before you extoll Eclipse as the saviour of Java you may want to compare NetBeans on its merits, and not on your zeal for Windows-only Java apps.
You may want to debate C#/.NET, since it seems to be better positioned for what you appear to want to do.
I've evaluated JBuilder, Netbeans, and Eclipse. I prefer to use Eclipse, which seemed by far the best for vanilla code crunching. I had to download the in-development web tools to do J2EE, it was kind of messy to set up. It currently doesn't support the Java 5 language enhancements either, IIRC. Netbeans looks to be the best for J2EE currently (of the IDEs I looked at). The Eclipse Web Tools in their current (pre-release) state are clumsy and unstable, but generally effective. I was just doing a small servlet/bean application, so the real pros might be aware of deeper quirks or deficiencies.
The article may have been about Netbeans, but it was very much a comparison of Netbeans against Eclipse; Eclipse is mentioned twice in the Slashdot story.
You actually completely missed the intent of my comment, and in the same turn managed to embody the exact same defensive attitude I was describing. As Eclipse has grown in popularity, so has the poison spewed by Netbeaners; the Eclipse community, in fact, has been rather surprised and annoyed by the aggression. Calling somebody a "fanboy" is not exactly a step on the road to civilized discussion. Please do realize that I myself have not attacked Netbeans in any way: I merely explained Eclipse's position in relation to Sun's stuff.
As I was saying, Eclipse filled a demand that Sun/Swing/Netbeans could not satisfy: you may not accept it, but one of the major reasons Eclipse is so popular is precisely for the reasons I emphasized.
I'm not interested in converting anyone, and I'm quite happy letting you use your GUI emulation software and your IDE. But for me, and for countless other users and developers, Eclipse represents a different philosophy that makes more sense.
Anyone who has done any serious amount of work with Java knows that the "write once, run anywhere" mantra is an illusion.
Personally, I prefer the route taken by Ruby, Python etc.: provide solid standard libraries and abstractions of OS mechanisms, but generally let the user do whatever he likes. It's wonderfully easy to write cross-platform tools in Ruby, and you're not locked into a cage where you can't access OS primitives that the VM authors didn't think about including. (Unix domain sockets, real file locking and process control are some examples.)
It's also curious what this "anywhere" really means. Last I checked, FreeBSD still did not have a stable version of Java 1.4, let alone Java 5.0; compared to a platform such as Ruby or Python, Java's platform-portability is rather pitiful, and Sun's restrictive licensing does not help one bit.
I have no problems admitting that the current SWT implementation is flawed on OS X; but that's a problem with the implementation, not the concept. There's every reason why SWT can succeed on the Mac.
Sub-pixel rendering is related to monitor hardware, not platforms. I used the term ClearType in the general sense, not as in the Microsoft-trademarked stuff.
This is patently wrong. Other platforms that implement sub-pixel rendering will benefit because Eclipse uses their font rendering systems. On the Mac, Eclipse uses Carbon and thus gets sub-pixel rendering for free, just as on Windows. On Linux, Eclipse uses GTK+, which I believe also implements sub-pixel rendering at the toolkit level. Similarly, if GTK+ itself is upgraded with new features or optimizations, Eclipse apps immediately benefit; Swing apps do not.
Precisely because it's in the province of the GUI subsystem. An application should not need to implement a whole GUI subsystem.
For example, Eclipse apps can use TrueType and (if you have Adobe Type Manager installed) Type 1 fonts. Eclipse apps can use the native printing subsy
I use eclipse myself, but netbeans does have generator for getters/setters. You just need to expand the class in the navigation tree, and go to manage properties. If you add a property, you get a field, a getter and a setter. Sorry for being vague, but it's been a while since I used netbeans.
--Coder
11300.0/37000 * 100 = 30.5 %
155000.0/1400000 * 100 = 11.07 %
ergo 30 % of NetBeans users think NetBeans Suck
11.07 % of Eclipse users think Eclipse Suck
Gues that's why I'm gonna try Eclipse before NetBeans - but I will try both.
Problem is one can rarely decide without doing more than just poke arround - that's why I need to test the waters based on other's opinions.