Compiling, Running, and Testing with an IDE
Problem
Several tools are too many.
Solution
Use an integrated development environment.
Discussion
Many programmers find that using a handful of separate tools -- a text editor, a compiler, and a runner program, not to mention a debugger (see Section 1.13) -- is too many. An integrated development environment (IDE[6]) integrates all of these into a single toolset with a (hopefully consistent) graphical user interface. There are many IDEs to choose from, ranging from text editors that allow you to compile and run a Java program, all the way up to fully integrated tools with their own compilers and virtual machines. Class browsers and other features of IDEs round out the purported ease-of-use feature-sets of these tools. It has been argued many times whether an IDE really makes you more productive or if you just have more fun doing the same thing. However, even the JDK maintainers at Sun admit (perhaps for the benefit of their advertisers) that an IDE is often more productive, although it hides many implementation details and tends to generate code that locks you into a particular IDE. Sun’s Java Jumpstart CD (part of Developer Essentials) said, at one time:
The JDK software comes with a minimal set of tools. Serious developers are advised to use a professional Integrated Development Environment with JDK 1.2 software. Click on one of the images below to visit external sites and learn more.
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