Top 10 popular Java IDE: Choose the Best IDE for Java

Last updated on Jun 17,2021 34.3K Views

Top 10 popular Java IDE: Choose the Best IDE for Java

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Java is one of the easiest programming languages. It is widely beneficial for developing robust and secure desktop apps, enterprise applications, mobile apps, and web applications. There is an abundance of IDEs available for working with Java. This article will help you choose the best Java IDE. 

Below are the points that I will be discussing:

Let’s get started!

What is an IDE?

An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is an application which facilitates the application development. In general, an IDE is a graphical user interface (GUI)-based workbench. It is designed to help a developer in building software applications with an environment combined with all the required tools at hand.

Selecting a good IDE is based on factors, like language support, needs of the OS and costs associated with using the particular IDE, etc.

Now, let’s move ahead and take a look at the advantages of using an IDE.

Advantages of using an IDE

Using an IDE will save you a lot of effort while writing Java programs. Some advantages include:

1. Less time and effort: The entire purpose of an IDE is to make the development process much faster and easier. Various tools and features help you organize resources, prevent mistakes, and provide shortcuts.

2. Enforce project or company standards: Simply by working in the same development environment, a group of programmers will bond to a standard way of doing things. Standards can be further enforced if an IDE offers predefined templates, or if the code libraries are shared between different team members/ teams working on the same project.

3. Project management: Many IDEs have documentation tools that either automate the entry of comments by the developer or that may actually make the developers write comments in different areas.

Now, let’s move ahead and understand the top 10 most preferred Java IDEs to use.

Top 10 Java IDEs

First, we’ll understand the most popular IDE, Eclipse. 

Eclipse

Many Java developers out there would have worked on this amazing IDE.

Eclipse is a new age, cross-platform which is open source and a freely distributed IDE available for enterprise Web Development. IBM Software Group in 1998 conceived of an IDE that could penetrate deep into the competitive IDE space and be a leader. And that’s what led to the inception of Eclipse as one of the best Java IDE for web development.

This is a dedicated Java IDE which gets listed as one among the best Java IDEs. The popular integrated development environment is available in both desktop and cloud editions. The cloud edition of the Eclipse is named Eclipse Che and allows the programmers to develop apps via a web browser.

Interestingly, Eclipse is itself an example of best Java applications as it’s mostly written in Java. It is meant to be a robust, full-featured, commercial-quality platform for developing modern web applications.

Major features of Eclipse IDE

IntelliJ

IntelliJ IDEA is also considered as one of the best Java IDEs. It is available in 2 different editions, an Apache 2 Licensed community edition, and a proprietary Ultimate(commercial) edition which is a paid version. In order to allow developers to dive deeper into the Java code, IntelliJ IDEA comes up with features like cross-language refactoring and data flow analysis.

Community edition of IntelliJ

The Community edition is an open source IDE and is intended for JVM(Java Virtual Machine) and Android development. It supports Java, Kotlin, Groovy, and Scala, Maven, Gradle, SBT, Git, SVN, Mercurial, CVS, and TFS.

Ultimate edition

The Ultimate edition is intended for web and enterprise development and also supports Perforce in addition to the other version control system. It supports JavaScript and TypeScript, Java EE, Spring, GWT, Vaadin, Play, Grails, and other frameworks. It also supports database tools and SQL.

NetBeans

NetBeans is another most important Java IDE. NetBeans is the official IDE for Java 8. It allows the applications to be developed from a set of modular software components called modules. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris. Pretty much like the other IDEs.

Features:

JDeveloper

JDeveloper is a freeware Java IDE developed by Oracle.

Features:

MyEclipse

MyEclipse helps to create simple and dynamic frontend along with powerful backend development. It has a combination that is very critical in today’s enterprise.

It was created and maintained by a popular company called Genuitec, a founding member of The Eclipse Foundation.

MyEclipse is available for the various platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Mac, and also offers industry-leading features such as:

BlueJ

It was originally developed for educational purpose. BlueJ has proved handy in software development on a small scale.

Features:

JCreator

JCreator is a Java IDE created by Xinox Software. It flaunts an interface which is similar to that of Microsoft’s Visual Studio. It is a lightweight Java IDE.

Features:

DrJava

DrJava is yet another lightweight Java IDE which was designed primarily for beginners in Java. It is actively developed and maintained by the JavaPLT group at Rice University. It also includes powerful features for more advanced users. DrJava is available for free. Even though it is not as powerful as other big names for Java development, DrJava has a remarkably clutter-free interface.

Features:

jGRASP

jGRASP is one of the best lightweight IDEs for Java. Other than offering an integrated debugger and a workbench for Java developers, it also allows successful generation of complexity profile graphs and UML class diagrams.

Features:

JSource

JSource is again a free Java IDE. This is considered as a good option for Java developers and programmers.

Features:

Which is the best IDE for Java?

If I was given a chance to choose one among the Top 10 best Java IDEs, I would either choose Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate. For developers just starting out, I would recommend NetBeans over Eclipse. Eclipse is more widely used IDE. It provides various options and is user-friendly.

Also do not forget about the lightweight IDEs, including the ones designed for student use. These are worth experimenting with and could be your best option if you are just learning Java.

This brings us to the end of this article where we have discussed the Top 10 best Java IDEs in use. Hope you are clear with all that has been shared with you in this tutorial.

Make sure you practice as much as possible and revert your experience.  

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Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section of this “Best Java IDE article and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

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