Java Development: Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA?

Java_Good_COBOL_Bad asks: "For Java development, would most people recommend using Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA? I am currently using Eclipse and it took a long time to get the environment set up. I understand that Eclipse is a framework that can be used for many things, not just Java development, but all I really need is an IDE for Java. So, I wonder if Eclipse is more complex than I need. I have never used IDEA before. Is it more straight-forward? Has anybody here migrated from Eclipse to IDEA? How steep was the learning curve?"

Comments

Java IDEs

[Khanar]

You should also at least look at NetBeans.

Anyway, I have used all three of the big Java IDEs.

While they all share the same basic functionality, like great refactoring, ANT, and JUnit support, each has some areas it excels in. I would say IntelliJ is slightly better than eclipse (the free version, I have never used IBM's eclipse based environment), and both of these I prefer over NetBeans.

The main reason I prefer IntelliJ (if you can afford it) is that it has more useful shortcuts, more intelligent formatting capabilities (if you press enter while in a quoted string it will automatically insert the needed quotes and plus sign and place the rest of the string on the next line, and back again).

One feature I really like, that from what I remember is only in Eclipse, is incremental building. The other two require you to hit a build button before hitting the run/debug button. Not that I'm lazy, but you really get used to it building automagically when you hit save. One thing I find kind of annoying about Eclipse is that it doesn't include support for say, xml editing, which the other two support out-of-the-box, instead requiring you to go to their site and finding web-tools plugin. Also the internal parser used for error marking often requires saving the file before it will refresh the markings on the page.

The reason I put NetBeans last, is that it doesn't include quick fix suggestions. Its nice to be able to hit a couple of keys and have the IDE suggest and fix simple problems without having to look at a reference, or moving a bunch of code around.

From my experience all three of these IDEs take about the same amount of setup when you get passed simple applications, so if you had trouble with Eclipse, I don't think IntelliJ or NetBeans will be much simpler.

There is always javac I guess.

Future "Ask Slashdot" Q: Catholic or Protestant

[egriebel]

Dear Ask Slashdot: I am currently an Agnostic, but I've read a lot about this "Jesus" thing on the internet and it sounds really cool!! Although I don't plan to now, I would like the option to sin, and I would prefer something that keeps my weekends free because I really like to sleep in. I've read a little bit about Catholicism and it seems interesting, and I've looked at Judiasm, but I think I would have a problem fasting for a whole day even though eight days of gifs would be neat. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction!
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Will we actually see this on Ask Slashdot? Well, why not have a real religious argument, that would probably be less controversial than what IDE to choose!!