NetBeans 5.5 Released

With this release, on Oct. 30, Sun finally has an official Java EE 5 development tool.

Although Java EE 5 has been available for months, the version of NetBeans 5.5 that supported both it and the application server that Sun released with it, was still in beta. Sun put together an impressive package of Java EE development tools that included NetBeans 5.5 beta, Sun Java Application Server v9 with deployment and debugging, a UML editor, BPEL tools, web service support, and a bunch of XML editors. This package is called the NetBeans Enterprise Pack (http://www.netbeans.org/products/enterprise/). The only issue I had with it was the beta version of NetBeans.

Over the past few months, I’ve worked on a Java EE 5 project using this version of NetBeans, and found it to be buggy. I discovered ways to work around the problems, although sometimes the only remedy was to restart the IDE. Alas, with the official release of the IDE, I look forward to trouble-free Java EE 5 development. Every indication from my early work with the released version of NetBeans 5.5 is that it’s stable and quite usable. You can download the NetBeans Enterprise Pack, with the released version of NetBeans 5.5, here.

NetBeans, Eclipse, and the Mac

Readers may recall that I recently blogged about my thoughts on purchasing a Mac. I’m happy to say that I’m now a proud owner of a new MacBook. I’m also happy to say that the Mac makes a very friendly environment for the Java developer. I’ve downloaded the latest versions of both NetBeans and Eclipse, and find that they work just as well on the Mac as with any other OS. Although I would recommend at least 1G or RAM for any serious Java developer.

To be thorough, both NetBeans and Eclipse support Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X. Eclipse also supports AIX, HP-UX, and a wider range of 64-bit Windows and Linux versions.

Happy coding.

-EJB

Posted by Eric Bruno at 09:46 AM  Permalink