IntelliJ IDEA vs Eclipse

I can’t remember for how long I have been an Eclipse user, but at least since the Callisto release some time in 2006. Back then I was deciding between NetBeans and Eclipse, with Eclipse winning, because it used less memory. Despite having used JBuilder in the past, I didn’t want to go back to using this platform.
Anyhow, in terms of IDE I felt a bit like a Windows user: being stuck with a piece of software that kind of does the trick but has these weird and unexplainable behaviors sometimes like:

  • simplies dies and vanishes while typing in code
  • complains that there are errors in files that haven’t changed for years

And guess what, just like with Windows, rebooting usually fixes some of these problems. Worst bit, you simply accept it, because you are stuck with it.
Years ago, I tried IntelliJ IDEA, but it failed handling my multi-module Maven projects. Nothing left but to keep using Eclipse.

But then, two weeks ago, I made the switch to IntelliJ IDEA after all, after one of my students was able to work with the ADAMS code base without any problems. Took me a while getting things sorted out and configured, but after using it now for two weeks straight, it’s nice having not only a great editor that supports you writing code very efficiently, but also a solid and fast IDE! There are a few quirks, but none of them are dealbreakers!

So, to sum it up: I’m a happy IntelliJ IDEA user now! 🙂