Java IDEs are one of the most used app dev tools in corporate development. They are also among the most capable developer products on the market. With that in mind, it’s time to ask yourself: Are you using the Java IDE best suited to your needs, or is it time to re-evaluate?

[ See also: InfoWorld Technology of the Year Awards Application Development winners ]

InfoWorld last did a head-to-head comparison of these products in March 2005, and since then, the IDEs have all undergone important changes. This time, I decided to examine the winner of that review (Borland JBuilder) plus the winners of InfoWorld’s Technology of the Year awards, in the Java IDE product category, for 2006 and 2007 — IBM Rational and Sun NetBeans, respectively.

I was impressed by how much these products have matured during the past two years but surprised that they haven’t advanced further in some respects. Other products in the Java developer’s toolkit — static code analysis, unit testing, and build management, for example — have seen more progress in this time frame.

IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software 7.0
Big Blue’s entry, colloquially referred to as RAD 7, is based on Eclipse, the open source software framework that also powers Borland/CodeGear’s JBuilder product line. Eclipse was initially a Java IDE, but in recent years, it’s been repositioned as a framework into which manifold plug-ins can be added, thereby constructing all sorts of tools (many of which have nothing to do with Java development).

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Eclipse’s new framework orientation has raised some concerns that the original Java IDE concept has been deprioritized. This perception probably has some validity, but it’s offset by the fact that Eclipse currently has the largest community of Java plug-ins currently available.

RAD 7 adds several components to its modified Eclipse base. As befits IBM, many of these are oriented toward enterprise applications. They include portlet and portal development tools, as well as extensive database support. The database support, which predictably favors IBM’s DB2, includes the ability to write user-defined functions (UDFs), stored procedures, and SQLJ code—all unique capabilities among the products reviewed here.

Diagramming and modeling are limited, however: RAD 7 supports only two UML diagrams (versus eight and nine for NetBeans and JBuilder, respectively). For fuller diagram support from IBM, you must buy the more expensive IBM Rational Software Architect.

With RAD 7, you can develop Web services and Web service clients, generate WSDL, and even do unit testing against a private UDDI service. In addition, there is support for IBM’s DADX, a DB2 XML extension for use by Web services. Alas, the IBM-centricity factors into the UDDI testing as well: It supports only private registries that use IBM-based technologies.

At the coding level, RAD 7 provides a static analysis tool that incorporates more than 200 rules developed by IBM regarding possible Java defects and coding errors. While the other IDEs in this review offer more rules, IBM’s solution flagged errors that those products did not catch. The rules were enhanced by good descriptions of the reasons for the rules and sample code for fixing the problems.

This extensive help reflects a long-standing IBM tradition of great documentation. RAD has links to comprehensive tutorials and IBM’s Web site — well known in the developer community for its rich collection of articles — provides additional resources.

If applications require a scripting language to “glue” portions together, RAD 7 has built-in support for Jython (Java-based Python). Unfortunately, the IDE cannot tell automatically what is Jython and what is Java, although syntactically the languages are entirely different. This can lead to actions that make the IDE balk.