Thread: Netbeans vs Eclipse

Anybody know which one works better for them? I've tried both, but I think I prefer netbeans mainly because it is made by oracle so it'll always be updated even when Java 8, 9, 10 or whatever comes out. So, my question is, which IDE is better?

Personally, till recently I preferred NetBeans. Then I've tried Intelligent IDEA of JetBrains and decided to stay with it.
What criteria, specifically, do you use to define "better"? Both NB and Eclipse are tools. Every tool is applicable to certain tasks and inapplicable to other tasks. If you don't specify task, how can we discuss which tool is better?

I think NB is better.

Originally Posted by angstrem

Personally, till recently I preferred NetBeans. Then I've tried Intelligent IDEA of JetBrains and decided to stay with it.
What criteria, specifically, do you use to define "better"? Both NB and Eclipse are tools. Every tool is applicable to certain tasks and inapplicable to other tasks. If you don't specify task, how can we discuss which tool is better?

Are there any immediate advantages for each. For someone just starting out, I would hate to find out that performing a function on one is easier than the other. Is one geared towards different type of programming.

What do you mean by different type of programming?
If you're just starting, I recommend you not to use IDEs at all: use command line and simple text editors. So, you'll remember the syntactic details and details of compilation process, not something you'll be able to do if you're protected from this stuff by convenient IDE.

I can agree with what your saying thanks for the tip. My apologies I used the wrong word I meant different types of applications. For example creating a web based one versus a Database driven application. In the end its all Java and you can do both in either application. Didn't know if they had a selling points.

i like eclipse better because it doesnt lock any of the code like netbeans..i dont have to do anything special to modify any piece of code and i find the eclipse gui to be easier for me...i tried netbeans for a bit but it was too much like visual basic looking to me you know

then again i like hand coding everything instead of using a gui builder...im not really sure why though but then again eclipse has a gui builder also

It really depends a lot on what are you trying to do. Every tool has its own pros and cons.

Doesn't matter what IDE you are using, all you need is knowledge and then a text editor is enough to write excellent programs. My tip for you is: whichever IDE you are using, stick to that one, until you face any problems with your IDE. I am using NetBeans since a year and have never tried Eclipse and I am not even going to try out that until I face any problem with my current IDE. Else things will get messed up and I'll end up confused.

I prefer Eclipse. It looks more easier than NetBeans
I really can't say why Eclipse, i just like it more (:
& I started out with a Batch file compiler & notepad aswell

Eclipse! It's a lot less heavyweight and is just, prettier.

I think eclipse is better than net beans. Java GUI is more easier to understand than net beans

I work with lots of languages so I prefer tools that support several. My favorite all-around editor is GNU Emacs, but of the two you mention, Eclipse fits my way of working better. I haven't used NB much, just enough to get an impression for its workflow and what it demands of a user.

I'm using Zend Studio, a commercial product built on Eclipse, for Web projects. This weekend I've been setting up regular baseline Eclipse to handle Java for Android and Arduino coding in C/C++. I also downloaded the ActiveState community editions of Perl, Python, and Tcl in the hopes that they will integrate well with Eclipse so I can debug code in these scripting languages in a nicer way than the old print "In myFunction() -- \$myVar is $myvar\n"; hack.

Eclipse won't replace Emacs and Cygwin in my toolbox, but for some of the more complicated chores it seems worth the time it's taking to learn it. (BIG system! Huge, even.)

Some great uses of Eclipse there. Arduino in particular looks interesting.

Since this thread has been answered and digressed to 'What do you use' add me as an Eclipse user. It's the best option for Android dev and the plugins are very powerful. I'm too familiar with the IDE to bother giving anything else a shot.

I have once read an article about an in depth analysis of their differences. The author stated that eclipse would be more resource efficient then netbeans. I do not know whether this is true or not but maybe you would like to take that into consideration.

I am personally using eclipse (and never used netbeans much) and must say that it works okay for me. Sometimes it is a little buggy (nothing major, just small annoyances) but I never bothered to update to kepler, so maybe some of those issues have been fixed by now.

I preferred Netbeans when I started out before switching to Eclipse. After Having some pretty big issues with Eclipse I actually walked away from Java for a while. When I came back I tried out IntelliJ IDEA and enjoyed it so much I bought a license to it. The issues I had with Eclipse likely aren't something you'd encounter. It kept killing over on me and I lost a lot of files. Was forced to delete all the files a few times and replace it with a clean download. No idea why it did that but it was frustrating.

You're right about your problem with Eclipse being obscure. I've been using Eclipse almost daily for 3 years and have never lost work or heard of others losing work due to Eclipse crashing. I can't remember Eclipse crashing on my system (it's probably happened, maybe once), but I know that Eclipse doesn't wipe out its Workspaces when it does have glitches. I can't imagine what caused what you saw, but others shouldn't worry about it.