Code Completion, Intellisense…

These are some jargons which I came across, when I started working on C# using Visual Studio 2003 .NET! It was then I got familiarize with Intellisense.

At that time, it looked like the coolest thing which a developer could have ever dreamt of. I was adept at using Turbo C/C++ Borland IDE, before switching over to .NET temporarily.

I would never ever thought in my wildest of dreams, that I would come across such brilliance. During that time, I came across another IDE, NetBeans 5.5, as I was not happy to use J# supported by .NET, it was really disappointing! So, I tried various softwares before finalizing NetBeans for my 1st ever Java-based project.

I tried JCreator and Eclipse before trying out NetBeans. The reason why I not choose Eclipse isn’t relevant to discuss here. If you have interest in reading about it, refer to my NetBeans Testimonial (see Varun Nischal).

dotNet -

Till date, I have never regretted using Intellisense, which is beautifully supported by .NET Framework, its really excellent tool to use, sometimes I make switch to dotNet, just to use this feature, which really helps me code fast and intelligently.

NetBeans -

They named it Code Completion, I used to regret using it and it was so slow too, while Intellisense was quick! Over the past 1 year, with the release of NetBeans 6.0 and 6.1, there has been tremendous improvement, esp. 6.1 which has really improved a lot! Latest performance enhancements have lead to smarter parsing, which enables faster code completion. So, they are moving in the right direction.

Current Status -

I recently used dotNet 2008, I was really surprised that they too have improved speed of the Intellisense, its fast and furious…
Even though, NetBeans have shown improvement in that context, still there’s some distance left to cover, before they can give competition to Intellisense.

Note -
These are my views, as programmer and its upto you to take it seriously or not, but during this series of blogs, I won’t be bias, yet would be fair to both. Its not meant to degrade certain IDE’s image.

eNjoy Technology…

This is being submitted for review to the blogging contest - Student Reviews NetBeans 6.1 and OpenSolaris!
Author - Varun Nischal, University - JIIT University

Hello,

During this blog series, the topics covered uptil now have been; History, Installation and Modularity. Now, its time to get started, i.e. start the IDE for software development.

Observation -

I haven’t seen much difference between both the IDE’s, when we run both of them mutually exclusively. Both have almost identical startup time, I have not judged on any statistics, its just an observation!

Neither do I have any tools to judge their exact timings, nor I am that skilled to find such information precisely.

Current Status -

True, NetBeans 6.1 is really faster than NetBeans 6.0 and its previous versions. Similarly, dotNet 2008 is also faster than dotNet 2005 and its previous versions. Individually, current version of both the IDE’s startup quickly than their respective older builds.

Note -
These are my views, as programmer and its upto you to take it seriously or not, but during this series of blogs, I won’t be bias, yet would be fair to both. Its not meant to degrade certain IDE’s image.

eNjoy Technology…

Hey,

Its been a week, since I did some serious reviews. Anyways, lets take a look on the Modularity of both the IDE’s. (See comments) Well, one would say that how can I make comparisons between a proprietary software and an open-source one. Still, I would insist you to go through this comparison, from my point of view. I hope you would like it.

Brief Overview -

When NetBeans was invented as Xelphi, it also had modularity (as said by Geertjan in the comments). However, when it got acquired by Sun, the whole architecture was redesigned to make it a more efficient modular IDE. Support for plugin development in NetBeans exists since NB 5.0 and its getting better & better with each release.

dotNet -

Is it modular?
Yes & No

Recently, I used VS 2008 Express Editions (obviously), I was looking for game development options. I came across Dark GDK, XNA Game Studio with dotNET!

When I installed these packages as per need, their project templates were added to the existing templates, this shows one kind of modularity, also no separate IDE was installed, instead this was an add-on. So, existing IDE reflected all the options available with these add-on’s.

Now, consider I have installed Visual Basic Express Edition, now I want to install Visual C#, what anyone would want is that it gets add-on to the existing IDE. In reality, it does install a separate IDE, while integrating its MSDN support to the existing one. That’s why, I am saying, “Yes & No”.

NetBeans -

Ofcourse, yes! Nowadays, you would see whether its a Menu Bar, Menu Item, any Window (Projects, Navigator, Output and many more). All these are modules whether small/big, they integrate into NetBeans Platform to provide an IDE for various languages, frameworks, domains, etc.

These days, one can add his/her own language support into the IDE, just(sarcastically) need to develop a module for it, or one can provide some utility in form of a module. Any functionality you want to add, make a plugin and create its NBM file, and install it.

Comparing to dotNet, you can install C/C++, UML or Profiler without installing a separate IDE for it, just download its module from in-built Plugin Manager and install it.

Current Status -

NetBeans 6.1 has various pre-installed modules, as well as, new bundles are available like Early Access For PHP, MySQL-Glassfish bundle, etc. Also, Mercurial has been included in the NetBeans 6.1 FCS, it was available in Beta and Release Candidates too.

Note -
These are my views, as programmer and its upto you to take it seriously or not, but during this series of blogs, I won’t be bias, yet would be fair to both. Its not meant to degrade certain IDE’s image.

eNjoy Technology…

This is being submitted for review to the blogging contest - Student Reviews NetBeans 6.1 and OpenSolaris!
Author - Varun Nischal, University - JIIT University

Hey,

I am back with yet another edition of Quest For Better IDE, this time I would discuss about everything related to installing Visual Studio and NetBeans.

History -

I have started using Visual Studio .NET since 2003 and have felt that its installation is still time-consuming (takes up a lot space too) and even if I want to install individual Express Editions which are available for free, they also have a problem which I have discussed below.

Whereas, I started using NetBeans since its 5.5 version and I was happy compared to dotNet, even though I don’t have so much bandwidth, still I am able to download a fully working IDE (only Java SE, Base IDE) within 30 mins!

Installing dotNet -

Firstly, as you all know you need license to use the full-fledged Visual Studio .NET, else you have other option as well.

Start using Express Editions (they are free ), however they have a problem of getting installed via internet connection and that too, I think is a greatest drawback, because firstly we have to download the installer which is approx. 2.7 MB and then run it to get connected to their servers for further downloads (to complete installation), unless you have a bandwidth of atleast 1 Mbps! Its not worth giving a try…

OS Compatability - Windows XP, Vista (Not sure about earlier versions)

Current Status -
Recently, I installed Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions, and I had faced similar problem, though when I would blog about its features, i.e. from developer’s point of view. It would be a sigh of relief for some!

NetBeans Setup -

How compact can you get, man! There’s a limit, one would say, however there isn’t when it comes to NetBeans Engineering Team which makes sure that you don’t miss out on every possible feature supported by IDE and that too, on your favorite OS!

OS Compatability - Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Solaris, Linux

The biggest advantage of making up the IDE in Java, has enabled it to be portable. Though, one has to create the installer system-dependent, still the core part that you use is OS Independent!

Installing NetBeans was never a problem for me, as it doesn’t install via internet connection, just download it, run the installer relative to your OS and start working…

I had once installed NetBeans 6.1 Beta, tried its new features and then uninstalled, however the user-directory (.netbeans/6.1beta) was still in place and I had installed some plugins previously, so their information was stored in that folder. Now, when NetBeans boots, it detects whether there exists any user-directory for the current version getting installed. For more info, refer Troubleshooting NetBeans Startup!

Current Status -
I installed NetBeans 6.1 FCS, the latest shipment of NetBeans! Its fast and furious, puzzled? Well, you would get to know soon, in my upcoming blogs.

Note -
These are my views, as programmer and its upto you to take it seriously or not, but during this series of blogs, I won’t be bias, yet would be fair to both. Its not meant to degrade certain IDE’s image.

eNjoy Technology…

This is being submitted for review to the blogging contest - Student Reviews NetBeans 6.1 and OpenSolaris!
Author - Varun Nischal, University - JIIT University

Hello,

Before we start, answer me 1 question! When did you for the 1st time came across Visual Studio .NET and NetBeans!

In my locality/campus, people would say they came to know about the IDE’s between 2006-2007 and still there would be many, who don’t know what are these freaks, I mean geeks talking about!

If I say that these IDE’s are just 10 years old, i.e. they came into being in 1996-97! Probably no one would believe it, mainly sports lovers (who became passionate programmers/developers) like me! B’coz, they were busy watching either Euro 1996 OR Cricket World Cup 1996!

Actually, I was giving my 5th grade exams too Totally unaware of this fact, 10 years later, I would be working on them! I don’t know, why its sounding so filmy, but its the reality and I have accepted it, some might not have realized it yet!

So, lets go back to 1996-97, get a bit nostalgic and see what we missed!

dotNet -

Visual Studio was released in 1997, and it was Microsoft’s first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages, released in two editions. Languages supported - Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C++ 5.0, primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java and Windows programming; and Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database, specifically xBase programming.

Then, came into being Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio .NET (2002, 2003, 2005 and finally, 2008). Gradually, the support for Java went from bad to worse, finally it was removed.

NetBeans -

A project started by a group of students, made in C++ meant to be used in UNIX environment, became “The Only IDE You Need!”, built completely in Java, thus portable too!

It was earlier named Xelphi, i.e. Delphi-like IDE made for UNIX, that’s the reason for the name. This became a business for Roman Stanek, who is a successful entrepreneur in Czech Republic. In 1999, Sun Microsystems took over this project and it was their first sponsored open source project, they decided to maintain the infrastructure, thus the community came into being!

So, the roots lead to C++, so guys brush up your concepts, especially the basics of programming in C/C++ and then, move to Java!

That’s what the historians say, now lets see the current status of these IDE’s!

Current Status -

Currently, dotNET Framework just focuses on Visual Basic, Visual C# (Sharp), Active Server Pages, Game Development (XNA Game Studio, Dark GDK) and SQL Server 2005!

As support for Java got lesser and lesser with every release, finally getting removed from dotNet Framework, on the other hand, NetBeans support for Java went from good to better, and now, its the best!

References -
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio
[2] http://www.netbeans.org/about/history.html

Note -
These are my views, as programmer and its upto you to take it seriously or not, but during this series of blogs, I won’t be bias, yet would be fair to both. Its not meant to degrade certain IDE’s image.