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Ask HN: Why so many IntelliJ battle cries when a Java IDE comes up?

6 points by wankle ↗ HN
Any time in any discussion forum that a Java IDE is brought up, if it's IntelliJ, 90% of the comments sound like marketing geniuses wrote them about how no other IDE should ever be used.

When it's any IDE other than IntelliJ, like Eclipse, NetBeans or Visual Code (an IDE after installing plugins)...90% of the comments are negative, like [what are you crazy? use something other than IntelliJ? Nevah!!].

I use Eclipse, if it didn't exist, I'd use NetBeans, those are my preferences, but I don't go into forums and downtrodden IntelliJ or Visual Code.

3 comments

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PaulHoule
I've been badly burned by Eclipse. Like people tell me to download a particular edition out of like 25 on the download page, I spend quite a few hours or days trying to get it to work for building a complex product, and it turns out they meant a different edition.

Eclipse in my opinion frequently suffers from "pluginitis". I say it works OK as a Java IDE if you install a minimum number of plugins but once you start installing plugins all bets are off. Every product I've seen that configures Eclipse for something other than Java development such as Python, Scala, or the commercial product Topbraid Composer that allegedly functions as an ontology editor has failed for me.

IntelliJ IDEA "just works" for me but so does PyCharm and WebStorm, even CLion works OK. I wanted to like DataGrip but it doesn't seem to support arrays in postgresql which we use all the time.

icedchai
Same. I got burned by Eclipse over a decade ago, working on a system that was a mix of Scala and Java code. The Scala plugin, at the time, was terrible. Code completion was slow as molasses. The CPU would be at 100% load and couldn't even keep up with my typing. The Scala plugin for IntelliJ didn't have those problems.
wg0
I don't use any of the Jetbrains products because I find them pretty heavy weight and as if I'm loading up some high end 3d modeling software whereas it's just a text editor with syntax highlight.

Having said that - there's nothing comparable not even close to a finished all rounded feature rich product as JetBrains has no matter what you pick. Refactoring support is almost non existent in alternatives.

Next best thing (subjectively) is VS Code and bunch of official plugins though leave a lot to be desired about refactoring but everything else is pretty decent. You can do Typescript, CSS and then to golang and then to Python. It just works. Development Containers are a great feature too.