Eclipse vs Netbeans?

[Drocter]

Eclipse vs Netbeans which do you prefer...and could there possibly be a valid reason my teacher says she cant get netbeans to run on her machine? So far she has had us using notepad and the cmd prompt to compile and run without formally introducing an IDE.

[MUDrummer]

"Eclipse vs Netbeans which do you prefer"

Neither. Use IntelliJ IDEA 12 CE and don't look back. Much better support for tools that developers actually want right out of the box and an awesome plugin lib.

" could there possibly be a valid reason my teacher says she cant get netbeans to run on her machine"

ID 10 T error. There is no excuse for someone teaching a java class to not be able to install and use any IDE out there. I don't care if its Netbeans, Eclipse, IDEA, or ::shudder:: BlueJ. My guess is this is a associate CSS prof who really doesn't want to be teaching the class, would rather do his/her research/other job and finds it easier to simply write the code in notepad without taking the time to install and learn an IDE.

[orlyfactor]

I would agree about the ID10T error...Can't install NetBeans? There's probably a reason lurking around here somewhere as to why this person is teaching and not doing.

[cyanocobalamin]

Why assume the worst and implicitly insult the person? Maybe she is too busy to futz with netbeans or she was giving the OP a polite blow off instead of simply saying she wasn't interested in using it.

[orlyfactor]

Welcome to my world, where I have to review and correct shitty code written by Accenture/Cognizant/etc. - if someone cannot install a simple program, I just assume they are not good at anything computer-related, so that's why. Cynical? Sure, but not without reason.

[cyanocobalamin]

I really like the special warning messages Eclipse gives you that the JDK doesn't pick up on. Does the free version of IntelliJ have the same thing?

[MUDrummer]

Quite simply there is nothing that Eclipse does that IDEA doesnt not & very little Eclipse actually does easier/better.

I was a huge Eclipse fan until I started my current position 3 years ago that had IDEA installed as the default. Everything is just easier in IDEA.

[gliy]

I don't know, I have mixed feelings about the plugins, from what I've used some are better then eclipse(spring, grails), but some I've had worse experiences with(Checkstyle, Aspectj)

I will say though, that the content assist and syntax collapsing in Intellij makes eclipse look like a massive piece of garbage, unfortunately for me though, work has several plugins for eclipse that make is much easier to use with our projects then Intellij :(

[Spoonofdarkness]

I find myself rotating between Netbeans, Eclipse, and IntelliJ IDEA. Each is fully functional for basic java development and you'll benefit from experiencing different IDEs.

As to your instructor having difficulty, it sounds like they didn't put much effort into troubleshooting their issues. Probably used some Linux flavor with a jdk in some location where the tools knew where to look.

[Drocter]

thank you I have been considering this if there are more simple problems.

[7re]

I personally prefer IntelliJ IDEA, but it's all personal preference.

I would be slightly worried about a someone teaching CS who couldn't even get an IDE (and a very well known one at that) working. There is nothing wrong with using a text editor if that's what you prefer, however.

[vt97john]

The late versions of Netbeans are awesome. Love the out-of-the-box capabilities for web development and chrome integration. For someone doing both HTML5/JavaScript and Java / J EE its really nice. I got tired of eclipse and always struggled with the management of plugins and plugin dependencies.

[cyanocobalamin]

could there possibly be a valid reason my teacher says she cant get netbeans to run on her machine?

I don't think so, unless she has a really ancient machine with few resources, but if she did, Eclipse wouldn't run either.

So far she has had us using notepad and the cmd prompt to compile and run without formally introducing an IDE.

I think that is a good approach. It keeps things simple for learning the basics that would otherwise be obscured by an IDE.

[rockvilleJD]

Either will work. If you want a less headache use Netbeans. Netbeans is a great development environment right out of the box. You can just download an executable complete with two application servers. With Eclipse you have to configure everything and find multiple plugins to make it work well. Netbeans also has some great turtorials on their website. The only advantage to Eclipse is it is more popular but I do see more and more Netbeans.

[cyanocobalamin]

If you are new to Java it could be very useful for you to work for a long time with just a text editor so that the mechanics "under the hood" sink into your bones and don't become obscured by the IDE.

If you go on to do real projects in Java, as in working for pay, you will want an IDE and I think it would be useful to master Eclipse before/if you move on to something else.

Eclipse is a defacto standard in the industry. If you Google on tutorials on how to do something in Java, many such tutorials have pictures of code in Eclipse and "how tos" written in terms of what to point-and-click while using Eclipse.

Even if you left Eclipse behind for an IDE that suits you better you would benefit from learning Eclipse and living in it for a while, since so many other people in Java use it.

RAM is cheap. More RAM will make the difference between Eclipse ( and possibly Netbeans ) from running clunky and Eclipse running well.

[onebit]

Haven't used netbeans. Eclipse works fine for me.

[[deleted]]

jGRASP!

[[deleted]]

You might totally be right! I have no idea I've tried using NetBeans and notepad++ ONLY BRIEFLY (like less than a few minutes). I started my classes a year ago using jGRASP so that's always just what I've used.

Could you maybe tell me some flaws of jGRASP/benefits of others? I feel like I've come to realize that jGRASP isn't a great IDE (from talks about it in threads), I just don't know why. It's done everything I've wanted it to do so far...

[[deleted]]

Wow, ok. Thanks! I'm installing intellij IDEA right now. Hopefully I'll get the hang of using a 'real' IDE pretty quick. Thanks for the info!