While I live in Emacs, Eclipse won me over for Java development a long time ago. I’ve been keeping my eye on Netbeans for a while. Each major release I’ve given a try by checking out a current project from SVN and attempting some basic development tasks. Usually I’d hit a snag that would discourage me just enough to not get over the hump. Netbeans 6.5 has been different so far, so I’m going to give it an honest try now.
Some notes:
1. Choosing View | Show Versioning Labels makes it easier to cope with having multiple versions (branches) of the same project open.
2. In OSX, Netbeans, like many non-CLI applications, does not respect terminal set environment variables (.bash_profile, etc). This handly Python script updates your “~/.MacOSX/environment.plist” file from your environment variables. Set up a cron job and you’re done.
3. This handy guide to Mac keyboard shortcuts is a keeper.
The Visual GC Module looks like something to try out.
Have you tried Pydev with Eclipse, or Pydev and Aptana Studio in Eclipse 3.4? I’d love your thoughts even if you choose to stay with Netbeans.
I’ve tried Pydev with Eclipse. I’m only dipping my toes in the Python world – so Emacs has been enough for me there. So Nebeans is in real competition for one thing for me – Java dev.
Java, ack!