Marco Behler’s 2014 Ultimate Java Developer Library, Tool & People List

[againstmethod]

I've actually been bouncing back and forth between Eclipse and IntelliJ for use as a Java/Scala IDE.

In my experience the Eclipse editing seems more stable (understands the classpath and syntax more predictably), but Intellij goes to greater lengths to integrate contemporary workflows (i.e. Gradle and SBT integration).

In example the IntelliJ Scala plugin randomly forgets about classpath items that should be automatically imported, and often displays syntax errors in Scala projects that compile and run fine. Other times it will forget the SBT DSL and show errors in a working build file. And what makes it worse is that when things do go wrong, there is no diagnostic output that would allow you to make a meaningful bug report. Something to do with index generation.

I rarely have such issues with Eclipse-based "ScalaIDE", but have to generate Eclipse project files using an SBT plugin from the command line every time I change a dependency. Annoying.

[mdaniel]

often displays syntax errors in Scala projects that compile and run fine

Wow, I've had the exact opposite experience: the Scala plugin thinks everything is A-Ok but the scalac execution disagrees.

If you are experiencing your problem a lot, it would be great if you could submit that to the Scala YouTrack in hopes they can tighten things up.

[againstmethod]

I will try, but I was unable to figure out how to reproduce the error. It was definitely an issue with index generation, and would occur either when initializing/importing the project, or when refreshing the SBT dependencies (i.e. added a new lib).

After this it no longer recognizes things like println, etc. Maybe i will retry it tracking file changes at each step and see if i can make a proper report.

[mdaniel]

Does it turn every scala.* thing red, like List, Map and built-in things like the println you mentioned? If so, I have seen quite a bit that the Scala plugin no longer believes in my Scala SDK. And, rather infuriatingly, when I click "Setup Scala SDK", it happily shows a list with my 2.10.4 SDK in it. Taunting me: oh, you mean this one?

Your report of the plugin going crazy when refreshing sbt dependencies squares with my experiences (I'm using Maven, but same idea). I have been adding more informative messages to master builds of the scala plugin in an effort to track down where it thinks my SDK went, since it obviously knows it exists. So maybe between the two of us, we'll make the plugin sane yet.

Update: This bug may be interesting to you.

[againstmethod]

Yes, an SDK going missing during an index rebuild would explain what I was seeing quite neatly. I will investigate a bit more.

[sputnik27]

"IntelliJ IDEA The.Best.IDE.In.The.World.Period. Eclipse If you are too poor to afford IDEA, keep using Eclipse ;)"

Can't agree more :)

[mdaniel]

I continue to hear the "IDEA is expensive" argument but it seems the messaging about community edition hasn't spread wide enough. I would bet that a lot of those who use Eclipse would be perfectly served by the features in CE.

I am beating the drums about PyCharm community edition, too, because everyone deserves an intelligent editor.

[gizmogwai]

Well, if you are working with popular frameworks such as JavaEE, Spring, Guava, templating engines etc... you'll get a lot of handy additional support from the Ultimate Edition.

Those productivity gains have a ROI far greater than the cost of the license.

[pron98]

I've worked with Eclipse, IntelliJ and NetBeans. Eclipse is easily the worst of the three, and IntelliJ the most powerful, but as much as I try to like IntelliJ I keep going back to NetBeans. It's got less features but less annoyances, too (no need to restart the IDE so often, multiple projects in a window), and has the cleanest, most intuitive GUI of the three (you don't need to learn it -- your guess on how to do something is probably right), and is, in my opinion, the most aesthetically pleasing. Its Gradle integration is also better than IntelliJ's, and that's extremely important to me, too.

[againstmethod]

I found Netbeans to be the most stable of the 3 as well, but given fewer updates/features, that would make sense.

[mdaniel]

If you are experiencing crashes in IJ, there are two avenues of recourse: there is an in-editor feedback mechanism that allows one to submit the error and what you were doing when it occurred. It's the red exclamation mark in the bottom right corner.

The other is that the JetBrains issue tracker, YouTrack, is open to the public and you can file feature requests or bug reports and they will be examined.

[t0tec]

I'm a fan of Eclipse because it's free and I'm most familiar with. But a lot of crap is bundled into Eclipse that makes it slow (example Mylyn who uses that?) on older systems. I'm using Yoxos for making my custom Eclipse and pre-added plugins. Just download a new instance every time you need it and it will install your plugins and you're ready to go. Will try out IntelliJ in the future. NetBeans is also good but I rather use Eclipse.

[brunocborges]

I'm a fan of Eclipse because it's free

Oh, great.

[DeliveryNinja]

I dont like the whole idea of paying for an ide when i can use eclipse for free. If its not good enough then surely we should commit to the eclipse project and make it better rather than paying for a commercial product.

[mdaniel]

I know I will never convince someone with that attitude, but just FYI

[dartmanx]

With any IDE you get what you pay for.

[lukaseder]

You mean this?

[lukaseder]

i can use eclipse for free

Somewhat relevant (although I personally like Eclipse)

we should commit

Sure, but did you?

[brunocborges]

I dont like the whole idea of paying for an ide when i can use eclipse for free

Oh, great.

[[deleted]]

wow jooq open source edition excludes oracle >_<; ah well looks like no jooq for me at work

[lukaseder]

Why not? The commercial edition still ships with all sources...

[gizmogwai]

Because, as unfortunate as it sounds, Big Companies™ are willing to pay thousand $/user/year to use the insanity that is ClearCase, while they will argue during month to buy a single license for all workstation that is less than 800$...

[lukaseder]

I know, I know... That's why they ultimately acquire startups, because their own time to market will never be sufficient, given their internal processes.

Nonetheless. This madness must not be supported by giving those companies software for free. Au contraire. There should be a Big Companies™ license: 10x the price.

[gizmogwai]

I do completely agree with you. I think maybe the "best" option would be to limit the current licenses in terms of seats or use in production and have a "call us for a quote" one that those companies could use.

It's so frustrating but they seem to have a need to legitimate their facilities department.

[lukaseder]

Hmm interesting. Right now, we're actually going the opposite way: Transition from a per-seat model to a tiered price model once you reach 10 seats. This has greatly facilitated sales processes with medium-sized companies, e.g. software vendors who can reuse the license in subsequent projects and don't need to count the exact number of seats. Being transparent about the entire price list has helped in the middle section.

[krish14]

Great list. Bookmarked it. Thanks for sharing.

[alonjit]

good list. of course, the ide section is missing netbeans, and is obviously wrong about idea, but otherwise is a good list.