New NetBeans slicker, simpler

The beta release of NetBeans 4.0 shows where cross-platform development is heading.

A beta of NetBeans IDE 4.0, the open-source Java development tool, is now available, giving Java developers a chance to preview the next version of the open-source IDE. The main improvements coming in version 4 include a project system based on Apache Ant, class refactoring, J2SE 1.5 support and interface improvements.

The NetBeans IDE was made open source by Sun Microsystems in June 2000, and the company remains a major contributor to the project. Since then, the code base has been used to create the NetBeans platform, which is a toolkit for creating GUI applications in Java. Since it's a pure Java toolkit, it should run on any platform -- NetBeans IDE is available for Solaris, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

NetBeans IDE is being updated to support the latest version of the JDK, J2SE 5.0 (previously known as J2SE 1.5), which is itself still in beta. This brings support for constructs like generics, enumeration and metadata markup. For server-side development J2EE 1.4 is supported, as with latest stable version of the IDE, v3.6.

Apache's Ant build tool for Java has been available as a separate product for some time, but is now integrated into the IDE, saving time when building finished applications. Ant takes care of package dependencies when building final code, but you have to create XML configuration files to do it. You still can if you're an experienced Ant user, but NetBeans will do it all for you if you're not.

The refactoring feature means you can change class and method names across entire projects easily, move classes within the package hierarchy. The alternative of search-and-replace across multiple files can be dangerous if it doesn’t replace every instance of a label. NetBeans claims that the refactoring feature can change names without affecting a project's functionality.

Other improvements include better integration with the platform's look and feel on Mac OS X and GNOME on Unix/Linux. You can also now have multiple views of a single object, so you can edit source code and use the visual GUI builder at the same time.

NetBeans IDE 4.0 is scheduled for release in December 2004.