[G-Money]

Any recommendations for good Java IDE's? I've done C# before and I really like Visual Studio so I guess I was wondering was there some sort of Java equivalent? Preferably free but I may be willing to pay a certain amount for one also.

thanks!

[Odaise Gaelach]

I'd recommend Eclipse.

[conor.hogan.2]

I would also recommend Eclipse over Netbeans. No need to pay for one for personal use.

[moycullen14]

Originally Posted by Odaise Gaelach

I'd recommend Eclipse.

and a LOT of RAM

[Clanket]

Out of interest, is there a high end Java IDE aimed at professional programmers/developers rather than the home user?

[moycullen14]

Originally Posted by Clanket

Out of interest, is there a high end Java IDE aimed at professional programmers/developers rather than the home user?

Yes, eclipse!

Hard to beat the plug-ins (Spring/Hibernate/Struts, Swing, GWT, Android, Blackberry, JEE, svn, etc, etc). The code refactoring is very good as is the syntax checker, project organisation, etc. For serious development, integration with ant, maven, multiple build targets and so on is very good.

It's unusable with 2G RAM, tolerable with 4G and works quite well on a dedicated mac/PC with 8G. Oh, and a very big screen (23" +).

As a matter of interest, what requirements would a professional have over a home user (increasingly they're one and the same)?

[28064212]

Originally Posted by Clanket

Out of interest, is there a high end Java IDE aimed at professional programmers/developers rather than the home user?

IBM's Rational Application Developer. Based on Eclipse, targeted at Enterprise Applications (JEE). Eclipse will cover the majority of projects though

[croo]

Spring also have a version of Eclipse - what they call STS (Springsource Tool Suite).

[moycullen14]

Originally Posted by croo

Spring also have a version of Eclipse - what they call STS (Springsource Tool Suite).

That's a fair point. A number of tools (IBM, Springsource, Aptana) are based on the Eclipse core. Extended plug-ins, really. All the more reason to use it, really.

[Axe Rake]

Originally Posted by moycullen14

Yes, eclipse!

It's unusable with 2G RAM, tolerable with 4G and works quite well on a dedicated mac/PC with 8G. Oh, and a very big screen (23" +).

I have dev'd on eclipse with the Android SDK on 2GB of RAM and I had no real issues.

[moycullen14]

Originally Posted by Axe Rake

I have dev'd on eclipse with the Android SDK on 2GB of RAM and I had no real issues.

Ah well, If you were doing any serious development - like me - you'd have the machine squeeling for mercy on 2GB. That porn won't download itself, you know!

Seriously, I find that it degrades with usage - the longer it's up, the more memory tends to increase/leak. Also, I'm on a Mac so that may be a bit worse.

[Clanket]

Originally Posted by conor.hogan.2

I would also recommend Eclipse over Netbeans. No need to pay for one for personal use.

Originally Posted by moycullen14

As a matter of interest, what requirements would a professional have over a home user (increasingly they're one and the same)?

I only said professional because of conor.hogan's comment above which implies you will have to pay for an IDE used for anything other than personal use.

[conor.hogan.2]

Originally Posted by Clanket

I only said professional because of conor.hogan's comment above which implies you will have to pay for an IDE used for anything other than personal use.

This was mainly in relation to the OP mentioned not minding to pay for them and coming from .NET land that is much more common.

Perhaps I worded that badly, you don't have to pay for either when using for professional use.

There are a few Enterprise "versions" of Eclipse that you have to pay for. But for personal and even professional use Eclipse is plenty good. myEclipse is the one I have heard most about but have not seen yet.

Originally Posted by moycullen14

Also, I'm on a Mac so that may be a bit worse.

I find Eclipse better than all the browsers in this regard on the Mac.

[georgiecasey]

Originally Posted by Axe Rake

I have dev'd on eclipse with the Android SDK on 2GB of RAM and I had no real issues.

I had to code an app on a 2gb laptop and it was a disaster. I had no Android phone at the time and had to use the emulator, took about 5 minutes to load up.

To the OP question, I use Eclipse for Java/Android but PHP Storm for PHP which is based off IntelliJ which is very good as well. Way better search than Eclipse anyway. Just not worth paying money for.

[CrazyFish]

Originally Posted by georgiecasey

I had to code an app on a 2gb laptop and it was a disaster. I had no Android phone at the time and had to use the emulator, took about 5 minutes to load up.

To the OP question, I use Eclipse for Java/Android but PHP Storm for PHP which is based off IntelliJ which is very good as well. Way better search than Eclipse anyway. Just not worth paying money for.

The emulator is dirt slow in general. Not really eclipses fault as such. Also pretty sure I read something recently about it being sped up in the latest update to the Android sdk.