Open-source IDE NetBeans hits v13 – tweaks for Gradle, Maven

The Apache Software Foundation has released version 13 of its NetBeans open-source IDE for Java, PHP, Javascript and other languages. The new version also upgrades support for two of the main build-automation tools out there: Apache's own Maven, and the Gradle tool used for Android development. Additionally, the updated IDE …

[msobkow]

I use both Netbeans and Code, but there is no doubt in my mind that Netbeans is the superior tool. Code is just a skeleton that people have cobbled things together on top of and under; it is sloppy, unreliable, and unpolished for anything except the actual act of editing the code text. They really don't serve the same markets at all, but I can well image some bean counter deciding to "standardize" the company on Code because their nephew likes it. :(

[VoiceOfTruth]

I tried Java a long time ago, thank your deity for Go

Java today is confusing. You have an IDE, fine. You have Maven (which from the name, you have no idea what it does), you have Gradle (which from the name, you have no idea what it does). You have the nb-javac compiler which is a fork of javac. And Java is huge. JDdeveloper is about 2GB to download! Thank your deity for large disks, eh?

I don't doubt the features and usefulness of Java. But it's a blancmange of a programming language + all the tools you want/need.

[msobkow]

Re: I tried Java a long time ago, thank your deity for Go

The same is true of any modern development environment or framework. They're all big, fat, and have the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure.

But that is what is needed for real development work - the power to deal with the edge cases, not just the 70% CRUD of most applications.

Take a look at Javascript development, for example, with its baggage of some form of editor/debugger, Javascript itself, the npm tool chain, the browsers you're testing, web services for your Javascript to talk to...

Modern development is just flat out complex compared to the days of the green screens of my youth. :)

[Gene Cash]

Re: I tried Java a long time ago, thank your deity for Go

Arduino is nowhere near as complex, and of course Python just needs an editor.

Java is a nightmare of complexity, and I say it as one that's done it for 12 years. It doesn't shit the bed as often as it used to, but you can hear all the creaks and groans in Android Studio, Netbeans, and especially Eclipse.

[msobkow]

Re: I tried Java a long time ago, thank your deity for Go

Well, I say it as someone who has been beating on the hardware since POKEing raw machine code into a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I, Level I with Z80 CPU and a whopping 4KB of RAM. :)

So yes, from my perspective, there is no such thing as a "simple" programming environment any more. Some just hide the baggage and complexity from you better than others. But if they're to be useful, ALL languages and environments have to carry the baggage in order to interoperate with other tool chains and environments in the complex dance of modern internet-enabled applications.

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: I tried Java a long time ago, thank your deity for Go

> You have Maven (which from the name, you have no idea what it does)

It's a converter from time into XML as far as I can tell. It might do something with Java but I think that's a side-effect.

[MacroRodent]

Thanks

Thanks for the head-sup, got to see where it is now. I used to use Netbeans happily for JS and later C++, but then the open-sourcing seriously degraded C++ support (probably it included something that could not be relicensed suitably). Netbeans has one feature essential for me that VS Code and many others does not: You can have real multiple windows viewing the same or different file. I just cannot use an editor that lacks this.

[Tom 7]

Gradle is a what?

I've installed a couple of GIT projects and everynow then when I do a "gradle run" it spends 1/2 an hour downloading gradle shit rather than actually running the apps. OK the project manager may have screwed something up but its enough to drive me back to vi.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Gradle is a what?

Every other time I open Netbeans, it downloads the Maven package index and spends an hour and a half unpacking it. I can do work in the meantime, but it gets pissy if I try to close it.

[msobkow]

Re: Gradle is a what?

Both of you DO realize there are configuration options in the tools to control how often those tasks run? *LOL*

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: Gradle is a what?

-> it spends 1/2 an hour downloading gradle shit rather than actually running the apps

Welcome to the world of developing with Java. It's like everything to do with Java development has been outsourced to some other application, the name of which gives you not even the slightest clue what it does.

[Ignazio]

Look at that, two in a row

Gradle *builds* an app. running it is a side effect. Developer needs to do that often, user not so much. And long build times aren't Java specific, are they?

Of course the build system is separate from Java itself, who'd want to have to maintain the whole thing as one behemot? Even ages ago there was a compiler and a linker as separate tools.

One can always do everything themselves with javac. If one has the time to waste.

[Gene Cash]

Yay

Right now, Netbeans 12 is telling me it can't find the network. With both hands. And a flashlight. No error reported or reason why. Just failure.

[Mike 137]

NetBeans hits v13

Is it easier to use? Is the executable it produces any better? Or are we just upgrading to keep the dev team occupied?

[Anonymous Coward]

If here's a problem, we have to find away to fix it!

Doing a great job that what we wanted not something that we bring us down