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Time to wake up and smell the coffee! If you've been active with Microsoft the past two quarters, you've undoubtedly noticed the improvements made to the Visual Studio Express Editions for software application development. The second quarter of 2008, however, seems to be favoring the community over at NetBeans and Java developers worldwide.
The mid-March release of NetBeans 6.1 Beta Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is like a breath of fresh air. Two major enhancements are speed and easier application-database integration on the RAD end. The NetBeans development team has increased performance to such a point the IDE starts 40% or more faster (it more than doubled in speed on this author's system) and boasts more efficient thread use. In the area of application development, connection through the JDBC driver "built-in" to the IDE took all of 8 seconds to connect to a MySQL database. There is also built-in support for PostgreSQL.
NetBeans 6.1 also has better support in Ruby/JRuby and Beans development, and support for JavaScript. And here are some very cool but functional extras:
- Floating and transparent windows
- Sharable project libraries
- WebSphere integration in Beans (v6.0/v6.1)
- Monitoring and testing of SOAP services
- Generation of Java CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete) applications
- Support modules for ClearCase
The list for this release is nearly endless. The other thing you might not want to pass up investigating, particularly if you're a die-hard user of perhaps Eclipse or JCreator, is the videos page. These Web casts are tremendously valuable in demonstrating the ease of usability in Java development using this rather underrated IDE. You can also request a full cut on DVD at no charge (provided you are a member of the Sun Developers Network).
If you've been waiting for an opportunity to really give this IDE a shot, now's the time to get up, greet the morning sun and pour yourself a fresh cup of Java NetBeans. You won't be sorry.
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