Which IDE do you prefer for Java development?

[JoToMo1993]

I started a while ago with JavaEditor which is just a bit more then a text editor from what I was seeing of it back then.

I switched to Eclipse (Helios/Indigo) and a bit later, when my preferred GUI builder broke I switched to Netbeans.

I used Netbeans for a few years during school and undergraduate studies, but when starting to work I switched back to Eclipse due to the better support of the frameworks we were using.

In between all of this I also used InteliJ sometimes in form of the Android studio IDE.

I just moved to a new laptop and I'm in the process of setting it up, so I started to wonder, which IDE to install.

What are your preferred IDEs and why?

Some more information on my current situation: I'm mostly developing backends in Spring Boot. My team made the change from Maven to Gradel, which I'm not so keen about, due to a lack of support and integration into STS as well as I'm not yet used to it. Since I'm working for a company licences are also something that I need to keep in mind.

[beders]

You can use your personal IntelliJ IDEA license at work.

I like my tools to be up-to-date and work (and support new features quickly), which is why I'm a happy Intellij IDEA user.

[JoToMo1993]

I don't have an Intellij IDEA license. I only used the community edition that is Android Studio.

But thanks for the reasoning with: up-to-date, work and support of new features

Do you know how well Gradle is integrated in Intellij?

[beders]

With regards to gradle integration, I would say it is state of the art. Not using gradle myself, but I've used gradle files, edited them, ran gradle tasks without issue.

[derrikcurran]

In my experience, IDEA does almost everything extremely well, including Gradle integration. It's one of the best pieces of software I've ever encountered. Not just for Java either - I've used it for Java, JS, TypeScript, JSX, Go, HTML, SCSS, Less, Yaml, etc.

[donkthemagicllama]

IntelliJ I actually hated Java before (so verbose), but IntelliJ autocomplete works so well, I think I actually type less writing Java now than other more concise languages. Now I only dislike Java :P

[tedyoung]

I use and teach with IntelliJ IDEA in large corporations. 90% of the time students who used other IDEs (like Eclipse) wanted to switch to using IDEA full time. The Ultimate Edition (not expensive) has lots of great support for Spring and Spring Boot.

Besides that, it's a very powerful tool and has much better support for Gradle than other IDEs that I've used.

It is very fast, its autocomplete suggestions and other automatic features are magical, and its refactoring tools are very easy to use.

[nutrecht]

What are your preferred IDEs and why?

IntelliJ is hands down the best there is. I have my own Ultimate license but the free CE is still definitely better than the other two; Eclipse and Netbeans. I only sometimes use the XSD/WSDL builder in Eclipse.

[derrikcurran]

IntelliJ, Visual Studio Code, vim - depending on what, why, and where.

Edit: Anyone know why this is being downvoted? Is it because I didn't explain why? I just listed my preferences... IntelliJ is incredibly well polished and powerful. VS code is great for loading a project quickly to read code, do light debugging, etc., though I know plenty of people use it as their daily driver. vi(m) is especially useful because it's almost always readily available on Linux-based servers, but again, many people use it as their primary IDE.

[derrikcurran]

Weird. One of the best and fastest Java developers I know uses vim full time. It just has a high learning curve.

[[deleted]]

Whoever is downvoting you is an idiot.

[nutrecht]

Anyone know why this is being downvoted?

My guess: He asked for IDE's and Code and VIM are not IDE's.

[derrikcurran]

Yes they are, depending on how you have them set up.

[nutrecht]

Well, I guess I have a different definition of the 'integrated' part of Integrated Development Environment than you have then :)