Last updated 2004-06-28 by Roedy
Green ©1996-2004 Canadian Mind Products
Last updated 2004-06-28 by Roedy
Green ©1996-2004 Canadian Mind Products
Java definitions: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here : home : Java Glossary : I words : IDE.
Dave Dyer has written an essay comparing the various vendor IDE offerings. Also see the JavaWorld reviews.
Java Developer's Journal did a survey of popularity. Don't confuse popularity with quality. Most IDEs are not well known.
Jshoppe has a number of reviews.
IBM's Visual Age is the most impressive, but it does not integrate well with other tools such as code beautifiers, editors and source code version control.
I mostly work without an IDE, but when I use one I use Visual Café Database edition. Jikes and Slickedit is a powerful combo that is much lighter on its feet than any IDE. I only use the IDE for source code debugging.
Most IDEs don't include a source code debugger. Ones I know that do include one are: Café, JBuilder, VAJ, Forté.
Bruce Ingalls bingalls@panix.com did much of the work preparing this table. If you can help fill in the blanks in the table, please send me an email. Don't forget URLs. It would also be nice to note which of these IDEs can do which sorts of refactoring.
| Codes Used in IDE Table | |
|---|---|
| Code | Explanation |
| $ | Commercial |
| F | Free |
| J | Java : any OS that supports pure Java |
| L | Linux |
| M | MacOS |
| O | Open source |
| S | Solaris |
| W | Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 |
| IDEs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IDE Name | Alive? | Type | Comments |
| aCupOfCoffee | ? | ||
| AFC | ? | ||
| AnyJ | Y | L | |
| Aptivity | ? | ||
| Arriba | Y | L | |
| AvaJava | ? | ||
| Biss | ? | ||
| BlueJ | Y | FJ | Notes. Often recommended for people just getting started. |
| Bluette | N | F | by Hyung G. Kim of South Korea. |
| Bongo | ? | ||
| CafeBabe | ? | ||
| Café Carouser | ? | ||
| Chicory | Y | FJ | class diagrams and other software engineering tools too. |
| Code Crusader | Y | OL W? | |
| Code Fusion | N | L | not to be confused with Allaire's Cold Fusion, a web server. |
| CodeGuide | Y | $L | notes. Does syntax checking, completion and refactoring. This is Marshall Spight's favourite ide. |
| CodeWarrior | Y | LMW | Notes. |
| Cosmo Code | ? | ||
| Diva | ? | ||
| Drag`enCode | N | $W | |
| Dr.Java | Y | F | For people just getting started. |
| Eclipse | Y | F | Does refactoring. Originally developed by IBM. Popular. It is an enormous
project encompassing more than just an IDE. SWT is a crack at tackling the same
problem Swing does. This is Jon Skeet's favourite IDE. It is larger and more
complex than JCreator. IBM is planning to replace it with an even more elaborate
IDE.
People who don't like it find the interface non-intuitive. It is certainly not like anything else you have used. It also insists you lay your projects on disk its way which can be irksome unless you are starting an entirely new project. A class cannot belong to more than one project. |
| ED | ? | ||
| ElixirIDE | Y | FL | |
| EMACS JDE | Y | OJ | handles JDK 1.2. It also includes an obfuscator. Most passionately loved and hated editor on the planet. This is David Pollack's favourite ide. |
| Freebuilder | Y | FL | |
| FreeJava | N | now called RealJ | |
| FrIJDE Free Java IDE | ? | ||
| Gel | Y | WF | Gel is written in Delphi, natively compiled for Windows. It is billed as working quickly on less than top-of-the-line hardware. Supports both Java and JSP. |
| Grasp | Y | J | JGrasp is written in Java. |
| Grinder | ? | ||
| GWT | ? | ||
| HahtSite | ? | ||
| Hope | ? | ||
| HotTEA | ? | ||
| IBM Websphere Studio Application Developer | Y | $ | Very expensive. Comes in Application, Site or Enterprize editions. Great CVS support with syncronizing, diffing and such out of the box, based on Eclipse, WSED has JSP highlighting and code completion. Takes forever to start up on a P4 1.7 but has all the bells and whistles. |
| Instant Basic | ? | ||
| Idea | Y | $ | , advanced code editing and refactoring support. For server side development. Has no GUI wizards though they are in beta. Chris Lamb's favourite IDE. The company that makes it is called JetBrains. |
| J++ | N | Microsoft's variant of Java. They now have a language called C#. | |
| Jakarta | ? | ||
| JPadPro | ? | ||
| JaSupremo | ? | ||
| Jato | ? | ||
| Java WorkShop | N | F | Sun, aka JDE |
| JavaMaker | ? | ||
| Javelin | Y | graphical IDE. | |
| Javide | ? | ||
| JaWiz | N | ||
| JBuilder | Y | F$LW | Inprise/Borland. Notes. Requires 256 MB RAM to run reasonably. |
| JCreator | Y | W | |
| JDE | ? | based around EMACS editor | |
| JDesignerPro | Y | L | |
| jEdit | y | It has plugins to add different functionality such as JBrowse and JavaStyle. | |
| JEditor | ? | ||
| Jet | ? | ||
| JFactory | ? | ||
| JIG | Y | L | |
| JForge | ? | ||
| Jirvana | Y | F | |
| JJct | ? | ||
| JMake | N | $ | |
| Jpad Pro | Y | ||
| Jurtle | Y | F | Logo-like turtle graphics and a beginner's IDE for learning Java. |
| Kawa | N | $W | Simple to use. Now owned by Allaire. No longer being developed or distributed. Does not support Java 1.4. |
| Koala | ? | ||
| Latte | N | Borland's code name for beta JBuilder. | |
| Lava | ? | ||
| Lemur | ? | ||
| Metamata | ? | Notes. Metamata is owned by Webgain that just went belly up. | |
| Metrowerks | ? | ||
| Mini Java Editor | ? | ||
| Mojo | ? | ||
| Mozart | Y | concept programming | |
| Netbeans | Y | F | Evolved into Sun Forté then to One Studio. Download is 15 MB vs 85 MB for One Studio. Has an absolute layout manager that they automatically convert to GridBagLayout. So you do your tweaking in the absolute layout manager and then do the conversion. I found the GUI builder quite buggy, though nicely designed. It would let you add any kind of component. It built event handling code. You could cut and paste components. It handled many kinds of layout. The lastest version is reputed to be remarkably quick. |
| Netcode | ? | ||
| One Studio | Y | $J | née Forte, from Sun, requires fast machine with 512 MB RAM to work well. |
| Optima++ | ? | ||
| OptimalJ | Y | $ | J2EE IDE by Compuware, built on NetBeans. Includes a package strucutura analysis tool. OptimalJ Community. |
| Oracle Developer | Y | JLMSW$ | supports J2EE J2SE and J2ME as well as web services and pl/sql development includes UML, code generation and editing, debugging, profiling, monitoring testing, deploying... |
| Parts For Java | ? | A Java IDE environment similar to Smalltalk. | |
| PowerJ | ? | ||
| RealJ | Y | formerly known as FreeJava, lightweight. good for students. | |
| Roaster | Y | M | |
| SAWT | ? | ||
| Seymour | ? | ||
| Simplicity | Y | ||
| Slickedit | Y | $LW | Notes. |
| SNiff+J | ? | ||
| Solstice WorkShop | ? | ||
| Source Navigator | Y | L | |
| SubArctic | ? | ||
| Super Mojo | N | L | |
| SuperCede | N | bought by Instantiations and buried. | |
| VIBE | N | by Visix | |
| Vide | ? | ||
| Visaj | Y | FLM | |
| Visual Age | N | FA | IBM. Notes. Smalltalk-like project management. Been largely replaced by Eclipse and IBM Websphere Studio Developer, Does not support Java 1.4. |
| Visual Café | N | $WM | now known as WebGAIN Studio. |
| webGAIN Studio | N | formerly Symantec Visual Café | |
| WinGEN | ? | ||
| WipeOut | Y | L | in German |
| Xelfi | N | ||
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