Netbeans vs Eclipse

[Jack Ryan]

First, let me point out that I am not biased towards either. I had been using ultra-edit for years as my development tool.

Now that I joined the IDE club awhile back, I am not seeing why Netbeans is getting pooped on so much. It is not a bad IDE and the GUI stuff is way superior, in my experience.

I see that Eclipse has tons of extensions and such, is that maybe why I don't see how it is the clear cut winner (because I haven't found extensions that really enhance things for me)?

Just starting a conversation, not pushing either of them. I am just curious what others feel.

 

[MrChad]

Netbeans was a bloated, slow pile of garbage the last time I used it. Perhaps that's changed.

 

[kamper]

Well, for one, I don't think eclipse really gets that much more love than netbeans. I know or have read of plenty of people who like it better and lots who actively use both.

If there is a stronger overall tendency to eclipse I think it's because ibm has done a better job at making it feel like a community effort. Pretty much every major company involved with java development tools has ditched their proprietary ides and jumped on board with eclipse, except sun. When netbeans came along, it was kind of like "screw ibm, we created java and we'll create the ide that everyone will use." And I think there's still sort of a sense that sun governs the project overly closely.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Originally posted by: kamper
Well, for one, I don't think eclipse really gets that much more love than netbeans. I know or have read of plenty of people who like it better and lots who actively use both.

If there is a stronger overall tendency to eclipse I think it's because ibm has done a better job at making it feel like a community effort. Pretty much every major company involved with java development tools has ditched their proprietary ides and jumped on board with eclipse, except sun. When netbeans came along, it was kind of like "screw ibm, we created java and we'll create the ide that everyone will use." And I think there's still sort of a sense that sun governs the project overly closely.

I think you said exactly what I was feeling. I see eclipse being the "sexy" choice. People look at me like I have 3 heads when I said I don't have a preference.