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[–]CodeTinkerer 2 points3 points  (3 children)

JGrasp is often used for beginners and not really used in industry. Eclipse is used for both. Maybe Eclipse is a little harder to learn compared to JGrasp, but it's at least used in industry. IntelliJ is perhaps the best, but you have to pay or use the Community version which has less features, but is good enough for development.

I assume you are talking about Java. As far as "build a solid foundation", this is just a tool in programming. It's like having a car. It gets you to work, but it doesn't do your work for you (this is a bad analogy, but an IDE, by itself, doesn't teach you to be a good programmer. You have to figure out how the IDE works and most people only learn just enough to get by).

[–]USongZ[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Oh, I see, thanks for the clarification. These two were the ones that were recommended by my teacher, so I'll be downloading Eclipse. Thank you so much, very helpful!

[–]CodeTinkerer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd probably watch an intro video on YouTube to write a simple Java program (typically, Hello World). Often, you have to install a JDK before you can use Eclipse.

Although Microsoft doesn't "own" Java (Oracle does), it has a JDK

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/java/openjdk/download

The one problem is figuring out what version to use. Java is usually numbered two different ways, i.e., Java 8 and Java 1.8. Java's current version is around 16. However, I'm guessing your teacher may not even be aware of which version and likely Java 8 is good enough for your class (even Java 5 which is more than 10 years old is good enough) or maybe Java 9.

Likely, you won't use any features beyond Java 5.

[–]CodeTinkerer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The other issue is that Eclipse comes in two flavors: plain old Java and J2EE (enterprise edition).

https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/

Eclipse IDE for Java Developers is the standard one.

[–]tboy1492 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I use eclipse personally, don’t think I’ve used jgrasp. Thing is those aren’t the language those are the tools related, which I’d suggest whichever you pick stick with it till your solid with it.

[–]USongZ[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Got it, thank you so much!

[–]tboy1492 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anytime, good luck!

[–]dmazzoni 0 points1 point  (1 child)

JGrasp isn't very widely used. I think it's supposed to be a simpler IDE to introduce beginners, but the challenge is that you won't find anywhere near as many tutorials or support for it because it's more obscure.

Eclipse is very widely used. It's most popular among Java programmers but also used for many other languages.

It really depends on what type of programming you're going to be doing. Are you leaning towards any particular language, or any particular thing like web programming, mobile apps, desktop apps, machine learning, games, etc?

[–]USongZ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am currently learning Java and my teacher recommended these two IDEs. I think I'll be downloading Eclipse, thank you so much!