Java™ Application Development on Linux - Dator

236Chapter 10Integrated <strong>Development</strong> Environments• Version control (e.g., CVS, see also Chapter 8)• One or more Web servers (e.g., Tomcat)• A build control mechanism (e.g., ant, see also Chapter 9)• Other editors besides the built-in editor• A specialized editor for building GUIs• Other languages besides Java10.1WHAT YOU WILL LEARNIn this chapter we will examine two major Open Source IDEs, NetBeans andEclipse. We will show a straightforward installation of each. We will describethe “operating paradigm” of each and show a few major features. It should beenough to get you started using them.There are several major commercial IDEs, including Idea by IntelliJ,JBuilder from Borland, WebSphere Studio from IBM, SunONE Studio (EnterpriseEdition) from Sun, and others. Because they are commercial, and notOpen Source, we will not be covering them; their vendors and other expertscan provide the documentation and training you need. Be advised, however,that the licenses for such commercial products typically cost anywhere fromseveral hundred to a few thousand dollars per seat. That can make Open SourceIDEs look very attractive.10.2NETBEANS:THE OPEN SOURCE IDENetBeans is an Open Source IDE, freely available, with full source code. It isalso the basis for the SunONE Studio (more on that product later).10.2.1 A Brief History of NetBeans 1NetBeans (originally called Xelfi) began in 1996 as a student project in theCzech Republic, with the goal being to write a Delphi-like Java IDE in Java.A company called NetBeans was formed around this project. By May of 1999,after two commercial releases of Developer, the company released a beta of what1. From the netbeans.org Web site.