The final ratings for each of the IDE tools is in the table below. Whilst these are definitely interesting ratings (note, ratings not rankings), we can say that from our tests we found each of them powerful and can definitely do the job in the right development situation.
The selection of IDEs however, should help developers choose between IDEs based on their preferences for things such as plug-ins, or development/coding features, licensing costs and potentially performance.
What's not shown here is the positive impact that the Sun and IBM commercial IDEs can have on a development environment where Sun Java Enterprise application server and IBM WebSphere application servers respectively, are deployed. Choosing WSAD in an IBM WebSphere environment over Eclipse 3.01 is a sound choice given that WSAD will reduce technology risks and speed development time greatly through its tighter integration with the WebSphere application server platform. Whilst not tested, this is also the case for BEA's Weblogic application server with the Weblogic Workshop IDE.
IDEs have a lot to do with personal preference. There are so many levers and variables in this selection process yet, hopefully this round up has given some background and a better understanding of alternative IDEs that are available.
| IDE | Overall Rating |
| Netbeans 4.0 | 25.5 |
| Eclipse 3.01 with MyEclipseIDE | 26.5 |
| IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer 5.1.2 | 24.5 |
| Sun Studio Creator 4.26 | 24.5 |
| Borland JBuilder 2005 | 25.5 |
| Table 2: Final ratings | |
Do you need help with Java, C, or C++? 
1
Stephen Wolff - 20/01/05
I went for Netbeans for cost reasons after trying most of the other IDEs. I found Eclipse not very useful for developing Tomcat/JSP2.0 Web apps. It isn't quite there yet - and nor is IntelliJ, both did not support the JSP2.0 specs - things like JSTL1.1 and EL.
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2
~Gregory - 25/01/05
You say in this section of the review, "Plug-in support for Netbeans exists but it’s hidden fairly deep within the Option menu." But. . . isn't that the point? Developers should only have to spend a little time adding what few extras/plugins they may need, but the majority of the time coding/developing. After a tiny bit of effort adding components, changing gears to develop, why would anyone need/want the ability to manage plugins any higher in visibility than it currently is?
For my money (2 cents, all I have LOL), I think NetBeans IDE looks fine.
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3
Jano - 26/01/05
Check Web Tools Project [www.eclipse.org/webtools] for aditional J2ee support in Eclipse 3.1M4.
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4
Garrick Cobcroft - 02/02/05
As someone who does an extensive amount of Java developement in both client side and J2EE projects, I have to say that none of the IDE's rated provide the UI development features necessary for delivering quality applications in workable timeframes.
Borland has had superior form design technology since the early 90's, but has still failed to add any of it into JBuilder, and the other tools are little more than fancy editors that happen to preempt what you are going to type next.
Having said that, my preference is a little know tool called inteRAD's build-IT. The editor supplied is not as good as Netbeans, but the speed of the IDE and the superior project management interface more than makes up for this.
IMHO, all IDE developers need to learn that its not about the editor, the focus is the application you are developing. Serverly lacking in both Netbeans and Eclipse for instance, is the ability to integrate the projects with other application lifecycle development tools.
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5
Mohamed Hagag - 03/02/05
I Realy belive that eclipse is more than the best , it's realy very good IDE but i have only 256MB RAM so it is very heavy performance IDE on my PC so I'm Using NetBeans 3.6 now
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6
Jim McSlim - 07/02/05
I can't believe you didn't include Intelli J's IDEA?!?!?!?!
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7
Vee Kay - 12/02/05
Never could move beyond vi. But I have been watching the growth of Java Tools including the IDEs like Eclipse. Have used that a bit and I guess it would win the market share race.
Vee Kay
http://javatools.blogspot.com
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8
Tarik Guelzim - 01/03/05
I've been using eclipse for about a year now and I think is one of the best IDE i've used so far.
NetBeans is good too however it's kinda hard to get arround from one menu to another as fast as you would in eclipse.
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9
Giordano Bruno - 01/04/05
SunJavaStudioCreator: JDBC-3 problems with rowsets?
I tried mySQL, postgreSQL and had problems with rowsets
So I tried embeddedPointbase which comes with SJSC
and had problems with the appserver8 which is bundled.
This product may be great in a year or 2.
try it out, you may have better luck.
30days free then $100 is cheap if you get it to work.
[dataTables may work better than Rowsets, since they are said to have a local cache]
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10
Anonymous - 05/07/05
Any survey of commercial Java IDEs that does not include IntelliJ IDEA is imcomplete. It has by the far the best re-factoring tools of any IDE I have ever used. Anyone using Eclipse should consider IntelliJ, as it is probably the most cost-effective of the commercial IDEs and has a thriving community to boot.
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11
Barbara Stewart - 18/08/05
Adam, I ran across your article on five IDEs tested and thought you might appreciate a copy of the MyEclipse 4.0 announcement. Unfortunately I don't have your email address. Please let me know if you are interested in receiving the news release.
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12
Jon - 13/02/07
Eclipse is much more popluar than ItelliJ by far at present.
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13
Duane - 02/03/07
I have been trying to get Eclipse working for me for about a week now, and it is the worst IDE experience I have ever had. Just trying to set it up to do anything beyond a simple J2SE / Swing application is like trying to set up your firstLinux box, circa 1998...a rat's nest of unresolved library dependencies and conflicts. And a modal update tool that prompts for a mirror for every package group? No thanks!
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14
Shariff - 20/12/08
Eclipse is a nightmare. I've been using it for a month or so after using Visual Studio for years. When I set a breakpoint it doesn't break, when I remove a breakpoint it still breaks until I restart. It hangs, constantly needs a restart, just an all out peice of junk. Why people like this I don't know. It's junk!
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