TW Blog :: Archives for September 2003

Java Editors

Relates to Java and IDEs

I seem to have been through a multitude of IDEs the last couple of years, with each one bringing benefits that the one before may have lacked. For quite a while my preferred environment was HTML-Kit with my emphasis on HTML, CSS and Javascript development.

When I started working professionally with PHP, I went for PHPEd which wasn't without its quirks, the worst being a repetitive run time error when debugging, which I (and NuSphere tech support) still haven't resolved now.

I found Style Master a beneficial tool when I was advancing my CSS knowledge, although it had a bad habit of draining my GDI resources considerably allowing me enough room to run only one browser concurrently - actually the latest release of Top Style looks pretty exciting, with added support for accessibility testing.

XML Spy was an absolute godsend, especially for learning XSD. However, once the trial expired I was reluctant to invest in a peculiar support system that expired on the same date regardless of when the product was purchased. Fortunately this has been changed with the latest release, XMLSpy 2004, and this IDE is high on my wishlist.

The last six months or so I have actually found myself doing most coding in UltraEdit, which I have found to be an efficient lightweight IDE with enough features to support my requirements and not overburdened (as my copy of HTML-Kit rapidly became) with superfluous extensions. I generally find myself using this for all XML, HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP development. Some of the other languages, which I have really only trodden the surface with, Python, TCL/TK, Curl come with very useful IDEs as part of the development kit, or Vim/Emacs (a totally new world!) with regard to shell scripting within Cygwin..

However the one language I had never really quite found the right tool for at a low budget and lightweight was Java. Lack of quality autocomplete and class management in the IDEs I used elsewhere always let them down for Java development. Since I have being doing a few projects on the side recently with Apache Xerces and generally developing my Swing knowledge, I decided a few months ago a good Java IDE was essential. Well, I have tried a few. For a while I thought that JCreator was a good enough solution, however SitePad has edged past it with better class/package management and a more customisable interface through its inbuilt adoption of Javascript scripting tools. SitePad has a slightly steeper learning curve but I havent found this to be too much of a disadvantage. Also, the creator, Chet Murphy, was very prompt to reply and helpful when I contacted him with a few queries.

So, have I found my environment of choice? It appears not yet, since the other day I stumbled across the Eclipse Open Source project. Why I never found this earlier, I don't know, but this looks like it could be a different solution all together. Being a strong advocate of Open Source Software, and appreciating the advantage of not having to fork out the same expense everytime an upgrade occurs (or lose out), I therefore have an excuse to put the feet up tonight, catch up on fourty winks and wait for the colossal 66 megabytes of the SDK to ween their way down my phone line. Will report back with a verdict…

Posted on Friday, Sep 12, 2003 at 22:35:44.