I've written quite some negative comments in the past about NetBeans 6,
even shared my disdain about the product in the official netbeans bug
re****ts as well as a reaction on the official Java tutorial blog.
However, its one thing to be a critic, its a whole different thing to
(try) and keep an open mind and also make sure to open yourself up for
new developments. "Failures in the past are not guaranteed failures for
the future".
So, as I did with NB5 several years ago, I'm now going for a NetBeans 6
revisited. At the moment of writing the rc2 version of 6.1 has recently
been released and I have to say that it looks quite promising. A lot of
the im****tant features (at least im****tant to some people) like auto
comment (easily administrating javadoc), bean patterns (quickly
add/remove bean components) and others are finally slowly finding their
way back into NetBeans. Not always in the same way as NB5.5.x users are
used to, but in all honosty; change doesn't have to be bad per facto.
When looking at the way they've changed the autocomment feature I truly
think that its going to be better than the original.
My personal biggest gripe with NB6 was the drop of autocomment. Right
until this moment I still find it a highly questionable move. When it
comes to things a programmer (generalizing) dislikes most you can be
sure that documentation will score high on the list. Even though
documentation can be a very im****tant factor for your projects.
Allthough Java itself makes commenting your code awfully easy through
the use of javadoc, NetBeans used to make it even easier through the
likes of the autocomment option; after clicking it you got to see a
window which would clearly display what methods/fields were commented
and which not. Better yet; it also gave you a good overview of any
mistakes you might have made.
No longer in NB6.0. Sure, when going over the offending line with the
cursor but that is not a really nice way to work with. It doesn't give
any overview. Fortunately the upcoming 6.1 version will show you what
the real power of company driven open source is; its one thing to do
things "differently". Its another to keep potential customers satisfied.
I have no insight knowledge of the inner workings on the NB development,
but I still stand by my earlier comments about release cycles which
overlap certain holiday seasons.
However, 6.1 finally brings back a lot of missing features. Once again
its possible to quickly see which Java classes contain a (special)
main() method and which don't. The auto comment features is fully back,
even though you may need to adjust it manually to get the full look and
feel back (goto the options, select javacode and pick the hints tab.
collapse "javadoc" and click "create javadoc". Here you'll probably see
that it will only warn you on the current line (show as: current line).
When changing that to a warning you're home free).
I liked the old feature but I admit that this is the better way to go.
You can keep your focus on your code as you used to, and this time
simply take notice of the bar at the right hand of the screen. When
something yellow turns up its a warning. Enter the javadoc warnings,
which now get treated the same as (for example) uncaught exceptions.
NB6.1 isn't perfect, there are still some things to clean up. For
example; whereas the main page promises you bean pattern sup****t, the
readme will tell you that its only a read-only feature. You get to see
stuff, but can't change it.
Still.. Despite that I think that 6.1 will be a really good release. In
my personal opinion the first useable 6.x NetBeans release. You got
autocomment, you have pattern sup****t (while bean patterns may be
lacking you still have editor features to setup getters and setters) and
when you finally realize that all basic needs are met you can finally
concentrate more clearly on the enhancements. And as I've said in the
past; those too are impressive. Quickly setup a desk application
skeleton which you only need to revamp a little. Thats usefull.
I am really glad to see that now that they've setup the big picture they
first start poli****ng up where they've left (like autocomment, bean
patterns, etc.) and go up from there. If this keeps up I'll finally make
the switch from 5 to 6.
Oh, and another very good pro (IMO): the whole platform sup****t hasn't
changed with regards to functionality. So; on NB6 you can still add and
sustain the NB5 platform and work on enhancements and the likes (nb
modules). That too is a good thing IMO.
So rounding up... If you haven't looked into NB recently I'd suggest
grabbing and checking out NB6.1. It might change or soften your opinion
as well.
With kind regards,
Peter
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