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.
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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.
There are currently 3 Windows XP SP2 stories on the front page, plus another one on Microsoft patches in general.
Is there really so little happening in the world?
Shouldn't that be Star Wars Episode III: Return of the Sith.
Can't wait for the Ewok battle.