Java It was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995 and was later acquired by Oracle Corporation. It is one of the most widely used programming languages. There are many Java IDEs that provide intelligent code completion and real-time error checking. Choosing the best Java IDE from a plethora of options can be challenging.
Below you will find a list of the main Java IDEs, with their most popular features and links to their websites.
This list includes open-source (free) software and commercial (paid) software.
1. IntelliJ IDEA (Free / Paid)
IntelliJ IDEA is one of the three major Java IDEs. Available in two different editions, the tool is offered in a Community edition (under the Apache 2 license) and a proprietary commercial edition. IntelliJ IDEA features cross-language refactoring and data flow analysis.
Features offered by IntelliJ IDEA to make a Java developer's life easier include auto-completion and language injection.
In addition to supporting Java and a multitude of frameworks, IntelliJ IDEA also supports other JVM-based programming languages, such as Kotlin. For other languages like JavaScript, you will need to upgrade to the commercial version (€499 then €399 and €299 in subsequent years)
2. BlueJ (Free)
BlueJ is a Java IDE and, although it was designed for educational purposes, BlueJ is suitable for small-scale software development. While developed as an IDE for beginners, experienced Java developers also appreciate this tool.
The main screen of BlueJ displays the class structure of the application currently under development. It allows creating and testing objects interactively.
Developers can call methods on objects and inspect their values.
Other features offered by BlueJ include creating dynamic objects and visually scanning the code.
3. DrJava (Free)
Maintained by the JavaPLT group, DrJava is a lightweight development environment specifically designed for beginners and students. Although it is not as powerful as some of the major Java development tools, DrJava has a very pleasant, stripped-down interface.
In addition to providing a JUnit test setup, DrJava lets you evaluate code from a console interactively and display the results in that same console. Like its competitors, DrJava helps programmers with functions such as "go to line" and "find/replace".
For advanced programmers, DrJava provides auto-completion, automatic indentation, brace matching, commenting and syntax highlighting. Additionally, a plugin allows integrating DrJava into Eclipse.
Unlike other Java IDEs, this tool has a similar appearance across different platforms.
4. MyEclipse (Free)
MyEclipse is a simple Java IDE published by CodeMix. This software offers real-time error validation as you write the program. It allows you to customize themes and supports syntax highlighting.
It allows you to set breakpoints and provides a robust debugger.
You can quickly open a file and run your code. Finally, MyEclipse provides many libraries and support.
5. JDeveloper (Free)
JDeveloper is a free Java IDE published by Oracle. Offering an integrated development framework with a plethora of features and multiple visual development tools, JDeveloper covers the entire development cycle: coding, design, debugging, optimization, profiling and deployment.
JDeveloper can integrate with Oracle's application development framework (Oracle ADF) to further simplify application development.
In addition to Java, JDeveloper can also be used to develop applications in JavaScript, PHP, SQL and XML.
6. CodeEnvy (Free / Paid)
Codenvy is a commercial Java IDE built on Eclipse Che. There are three IDE variants in total that Java programmers can choose from: developer, enterprise and team. While free plans are available, they are limited (in number of users for the team solution, in RAM for the developer solution). The enterprise solution is custom.
Codenvy presents itself as a cloud-based, on-demand workspace for developers. In addition to writing Java code using the browser-based editor, programmers can benefit from powerful features such as code completion, refactoring and syntax highlighting.
The Codenvy editor also makes life easier for these users by offering an efficient way to build, debug, edit and run various projects.
7. Kite (Free)
Kite is an IDE for Java that automatically completes multi-line code. This editor, which supports more than 16 languages, helps you code faster and without issues.
Kite uses machine learning models for the Java language and provides email support.
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