Articles, notes and random thoughts on Software Development and Technology
Sun announced this week further details on its goal to provide easier to use Java development tools
The new upcoming development tools will be based on a new version of NetBeans (4.0) which will include a ‘radical overhaul’ of its user interface.
Other support will include integrated support for Web Service and Web Application development.
The new tools will also include various code refactoring tools to help with the development of large projects.
Sun has announced that it has abandoned plans to join the Eclipse open source tools group.
Since announcements at JavaOne 2002, Sun has been concentrating efforts on developing a Microsoft Visual Studio equivalent for Java developers, that will be easy for entry level developers but at the same time still offer functionality for experienced developers – the effort has been referred to as ‘Project Rave’.
Sun’s existing SunOne IDE tools have been based on the NetBeans open source code up until now, and it was thought that Sun may have been considering dropping NetBeans in favor of Eclipse, but it seems that is no longer an option. Sun has also commented that it is looking at building a common API, common to both Eclipse and NetBeans so that IDE add-ons are common to both frameworks.
Apparently the current feedback is suggesting that this new tool set, which when released will be called Java Studio Creator, will be rich good enough to entice developers currently using Eclipse based tools back to NetBeans.
This is suggesting that the new development tool may still be based on NetBeans, which may or may not be a good thing.
The Apache website has an interesting build and project management tool/framework called ‘Mavern’ which is fast becoming popular for a number of Open Source projects.
OnJava.com have an introductory article about the framework on their site.
Mavern automates a lot of the project build tasks that are common to most large projects, including: code compilation, creating JavaDoc, running JUnit TestCases, performing code analysis and producing reports (code standard violations etc), and producing reports of version control repository activity and status.