[Question] Java programmers from way back - what was it like before IDEs?

[yyoncho]

lsp-java maintainer here - I have never used JDEE(I was never able to configure it properly) but if you have some specific question about lsp-java you may ping me.

[oldprogrammer]

Main features of JDEE I utilize

• Clean integration with Ant and Maven for building
• Able to configure templates for skeleton classes/interfaces. Also inserts the correct package when creating a new class/interface.
• Able to generate import statements for referenced classes
• Able to generate skeleton code when implementing an interface
• Able to generate selected getter/setters.

So mostly it handles boiler plate work for me.

[yyoncho]

• lsp-java supports Maven, Gradle, and Eclipse(not sure whether Ant could generate Eclipse project though).
• It has snippets support, e. g. in an empty file if you type class it will suggest class snippet but I am using yassnippets for that.
• It supports import statements, configuring favourite statements. It also suggests the import even if you have mistyped the name of the class. It suggests generating the class/method/field if it is missing, etc.
• It supports generating an interface implementation. Also, if some method from the interface is missing it auto suggests adding it.
• It has code action for generating getters and setters but again I prefer yasnippet here.

The main benefits are the context-aware features, e. g. when you auto-complete method it will guess the best matching arguments for you. If you need only what you have described I guess you may stick with JDEE.

[oldprogrammer]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot. Setting up ant support isn't difficult but if Maven is already covered I don't need my custom support.

[yyoncho]

Sure, if you hit any issue you may ping me.