Comments on: Netbeans: Not as crappy as you might expect.

By: Kamal

Kamal — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:58:26 +0000

Yes Nethan, I have tried Netbeans but could not find any good reasons to leave Eclipse. So I would stay with my old friend, Eclipse.

By: Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:28:14 +0000

I love NetBeans for RoR projects. The only complaint I have is that I would like to use it for quick-and-dirty editing of a ruby file every once in a while, but I can’t, because it wants me to set up a project.

By: Bob Igo

Bob Igo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:15:55 +0000

Be warned, emacs keybindings in Netbeans don’t implement the kill ring like emacs does. Multiple CTRL-k presses will only keep the last line killed. This drove me nuts!

By: rhigdon

rhigdon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:14:02 +0000

I have been using eclipse for Java development for over a year now and I have been time after time trying to switch over to netbeans. Going from eclipse to netbeans is frustrating in some aspects since I am so used to eclipse I feel like I should know how to do it in netbeans and I don’t. As for Java development my only other issues is how netbeans wants to generate its own ant tasks from the IDE which really does not integrate well with existing source.

I do however use netbeans for Scala and Ruby stuff (Spare time) and after I started using it for the HTML/CSS I feel silly when I go back to eclipse for doing work. Auto-complete for CSS is so nice since as often as I do it I tend to forget propertys.

Sun seems pretty big on language support so if anything Netbeans is only going to be getting better.

As far as switching from Emacs I have no idea.. only crazy 1990s linux enthusiasts use that! (Actually I was told Ola Bini (Main JRuby contributer) uses Emacs )

By: Nathan Powell

Nathan Powell — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:32:03 +0000

Kamal, if you like Eclipse, I would stick with it. I have used Eclipse in the past, but it has been a few years.

Mike, good call. That’s much better. I did look in there, and noticed I could change things around, but I didn’t really want to take the time to create a theme.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:40:54 +0000

“The syntax highlighting (while having a white background) is nice.”

You can change the editor color scheme in Preferences|Fonts & Colors (see the Profile drop down list). I’m using the Netbeans 6.5 beta, but this feature is in 6.1 as well.
I like the ‘Norway Today’ profile – works well with Ruby code.

By: Kamal

Kamal — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:04:48 +0000

I have been using Eclipse for the past few years and am happy. Have tried Eclipse as well? Does this mean that you would recommend Netbeans over Eclipse.

By: Bob Igo

Bob Igo — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:47:29 +0000

I just started using Netbeans for a Java project I’m on, and I like the instant bitching it does when something isn’t quite right. The messages it provides are directly actionable, unlike interpreter errors. It’s pretty easy to use so far, and I like the syntax wizards that know what you’re trying to do and fill in anything it can figure out for you on its own.

Good to know about the keybindings – I’ll have to do that.