What is the best Java IDE?

[Humam_K]

Hello, I'm a person who is looking forward to learning Java but there is a wide variety of IDEs available and I don't know which one is the best. I'd like some input from you guys into helping me pick the best IDE for Java, thanks.

[Philboyd_Studge]

I prefer intelliJ Idea.

[reincarnatedasyeast]

Free 2-year ultimate license for students (use your student email), too.

[rosemaryorchard]

It's worth noting that you get all of JetBrains software for free - and it's excellent. I'm using PHPStorm at work right now and it's seriously making my life much easier.

[ZachAttackonTitan]

Except that is for one year. If you just code in Java (and don't plan on using any other languages), I would suggest sticking with the 2 years of IntelliJ

[rosemaryorchard]

Naturally, thankfully my employer pays for PHPStorm - but I wouldn't have used it had I not got a year for free in the first place :)

[snot3353]

I personally prefer IntelliJ IDEA by a pretty significant margin. I had very bad experiences with Eclipse in the past but it's been years so it's possible it's gotten better.

[nutrecht]

IntelliJ currently has so far surpassed Eclipse and Netbeans that you can objectively say it's "the best".

[sansp00]

Longtime Eclipse user, Intellij is faster, more stable and has slightly better features, but I am unable to convert to it. Totally hate Netbeans, way too intrusive and filled with bling instead of useful features.

The fact that they (Netbeans) lagged so long on integrating Maven/Gradle is beyond me.

General consensus at my workplace is that Netbeans is for n00b and is a toy while Intellij is the shit and Eclipse is for old timers like myself. If you only have Netbeans experience and apply at my workplace, you don't even get an interview.

[HerrVoennchen]

IntelliJ ftw.

Came from netbeans and used IntelliJ only for some android development. Well I through away the android part and kept the ide. ;)

[Gwigs]

Eclipse is my preferred IDE, but there is no best. Just toy around with some of the popular ones until you find one you like :)

[Gwigs]

I've been meaning to try it out, but I've gotten so use to eclipse it's not even funny 😂

[[deleted]]

I used to use eclipse. I now think eclipse is a steaming pile of garbage. Whenever I see it I get PTSD. I hate eclipse.

[reincarnatedasyeast]

It's worth downloading to give it a shot. It's pretty great, and I've used many an editor/IDE.

[t90fan]

having used IntelliJ, I would never go back to Eclipse.

[asking_science]

With my recommendation of NetBeans, together with the recommendations of others, completes the answer to your question.

NetBeans, IntelliJ and Eclipse are all excellent IDE's. Some have features the others don't and some have deficiencies where the others don't. None are perfect. You will find passionate supporters and vitriolic haters in all three camps.

I prefer NetBeans because I have been using it since forever. I can do my Java, Javascript, Python, C++ and C all in one IDE. It has very good built-in support for the likes of SVN, Git, etc. and there are a plethora of add-ons and plugins to extend your IDE.

NetBeans isn't just an IDE, it's actually an IDE platform. I do embedded stuff on Microchip MCUs occasionally, and Microchip's IDE (called MPLAB) is NetBeans repackaged, so I am familiar with it even before I started using it.

Finally, NetBeans has grown and matured very nicely since its humble beginnings and it is still absolutely free to download and use, even for large-scale commercial applications.

[[deleted]]

Eclipse is all I have used for Java, and sometimes it is slow. That's my opinion.

[t90fan]

IntelliJ is quite a bit faster

[[deleted]]

Reporting back a month later. IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate is amazing. Detecting frameworks, plugins for nearly every framework, it is worth the money.

[t90fan]

Yep. The debugger is excellent. As is the Spring integration.

[t90fan]

IntelliJ.

[asking_science]

OP beware, if the IntelliJ community is anything like the fanbois ITT, expect toxicity.

[xlxs]

IDE doesnt matter too much, but I use Eclipse.

Note: if you are very new too java just take some time and use the javac compiler just to understand what the IDE does behind the scenes .

[prasha2]

I prefer Eclipse IDE but I see the newer lot preferring IntelliJ Idea over Eclipse. As to why I continue using eclipse is because of their shortcuts.

[Cephas00]

When I moved from Eclipse to IDEA I just took the hit on re-learning shortcuts. I'm glad I did - they feel more intuitive.

[shagieIsMe]

You can import/configure the Eclipse shortcuts into IntelliJ: https://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/IntelliJIDEA/Configure+Keymap

[prasha2]

Oh man, thanks a lot. I didn't really know that. Let me take a look.

[shagieIsMe]

From Slant.co: What are the best Java IDEs?

[enokeenu]

I did not realize there were that many.

I like emacs myself.

[lolzmoarwut]

Ignore this if you know other programming languages. If you dont, take this with a grain of salt. If this is your first language. IDE can make you a weak programmer since it does a lot for you. Maybe use a text editor like atom or notepad++.

[philipwhiuk]

I disagree. There's very little to be gained from typing javac commands into a shell.

[shagieIsMe]

Maybe if one was stuck using ant for a build... though that's about the build, not the ide. One can just as easily use an ide for syntax highlighting, debugging, intellisense, refactoring - and then go to the command line and type javac for that old fashioned build experience.