IntelliJ community is free & open source. It's missing some of the enterprise features of the commercial version but it's still a fantastic IDE. There is a learning curve if you're used to eclipse, but it's worth it. Give it a week.
A full throated defense of Eclipse is a difficult proposition, because there's so much very wrong with it. The article is right, getting Eclipse set up on Java 8 is a pain, and poorly documented.
But it does work. And for free. With full "enterprise" features. Let's not lose sight of that.
I would use the free community edition of IntelliJ, but I do java web development and need the full version to be on par with what Eclipse offers. The investment of time is as big a deal as the $200, so for now at least I stick with Eclipse.
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It may be well worth it, but shelling out $200 is not really a no-brainer when compared to free.
IntelliJ community is free & open source. It's missing some of the enterprise features of the commercial version but it's still a fantastic IDE. There is a learning curve if you're used to eclipse, but it's worth it. Give it a week.
A full throated defense of Eclipse is a difficult proposition, because there's so much very wrong with it. The article is right, getting Eclipse set up on Java 8 is a pain, and poorly documented.
But it does work. And for free. With full "enterprise" features. Let's not lose sight of that.
I would use the free community edition of IntelliJ, but I do java web development and need the full version to be on par with what Eclipse offers. The investment of time is as big a deal as the $200, so for now at least I stick with Eclipse.
Specifically which "enterprise" features does IntelliJ community _not_ supply for you?
I too am a web developer (at least when wearing one of my hats). IntelliJ community does almost everything I need.
The main thing is running (and debugging code running within) the application server... aka tomcat. Need the ultimate edition for that.
Ah, so some sort of hot deploy? Not something that I've done for a long time (jetty ftw). Remote debugging of course works well.
How much time does that take? If it's more than about half a day spending the money is a no-brainer if you're making anything like a living wage.
If you are a hobbyist, sure. But if you are a programmer for a living, I see it as a no-brainer.
If you are a hobbyist, the community edition of IDEA is more than enough.