Eclipse IDE vs Netbeans IDE, which one is better for Java EE 6 development?

Question

Hi,

I would like to know which IDE is better for Java EE 6 development. Can anyone give me the comparison of these 2 IDE in terms of features?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I know you asked about which one is better of Eclipse and NetBeans, so I guess you're after a free IDE. If you don't mind paying a few bucks, my IDE of choice is IntelliJ IDEA, which have good JEE 6 support

There's also a free version, but I think you need the paid version for JEE 6 features.

I have no clue about support for JEE 6 in NetBeans and Eclipse, but they're both good IDEs, and I guess you will get many responses.

Answer 2

I don't know if my suggestion is going to help much. But I would suggest you download both IDEs and try them out yourself. See which one works for you and you're comfortable using with problems. No one can recommend a particular IDE as we all have features that we either like or don't like in each one.

I've always used Vim on Linux and don't plan to use any IDE anytime soon. Good luck

Answer 3

To strictly answer your question, at that time:

• NetBeans 6.8 offers complete support for the entire Java EE 6 spec with improved support for JSF 2.0/Facelets, Java Persistence 2.0, EJB 3.1 including using EJBs in web applications, RESTful web services, and GlassFish v3 (and also CDI via patch 1).

• Eclipse 3.5 doesn't really support Java EE 6. Sure, you can install the GlassFish v3 plugin and do Java EE 6 developments but this won't give you full support: no Java EE 6 facets (Servlet 3.0, EJB 3.1, etc), no support of CDI, etc.

• Eclipse 3.6 will provide Java EE 6 support but the stable version has yet to be released (I was not fully satisfied by the stability of version 3.6 M6, didn't try 3.6 M7).

That was for Eclipse and NetBeans. And indeed, IntelliJ is another player and seems to have decent support according to the link provided in the other answer. I've not played enough with it to comment though.