Brian brought up a point that has me just a tad concerned. IDEA is starting to go down hill. As a company, JetBrains must continue to improve their product. But how do you improve a product that is already nearly perfect? Hani and Ara have touched on the subject as well. I think the generics support will be cool. It is just like supporting JSP's and XML. No other IDE supports those other file types as well as IDEA, so it is no surprise that they are going to be first in this new format for .java files. I think the same goes for AOP. Even though I will probably never use it, it is nifty to know that it is there in case of a need in the future. So, what do I want from IDEA?
I want IDEA to stay easy.
I can set up a project in a matter of seconds in IDEA. It has always "made sense" in this department. I can't figure out how to start a project in JBuilder that will connect to CVS. At least not without having to read the docs. Together ControlCenter wasn't much better. This was one of the main reasons why I purchased IDEA with my own hard earned cash. Brian was right. Bring back the Classpath, Project Path and Source Path. If these new forms are for some future multi-component ability, then just ensure it all makes sense.
I want a GUI editor.
I think if IDEA makes a GUI editor that rivals VB (which if anyone can, JetBrains will be the group to do it) Java will start becoming a consideration on the desktop again.
I want better CVS support.
IDEA already has it, but it could be better. Right now I use WinCVS and IDEA to handle all of my CVS needs.
I want IDEA to stay cheap.
I truely believe this is one of the reasons why it caught on so well. Bang for the buck was HUGE. If JetBrains needs more cash, then charge for maintence and support. That is where you get the companies usually. I don't usually need support for IDEA, but you know companies purchasing large quantities are going to need it and want it. They will pay for it. I have a sneaking suspicsion that this is one of the primary reasons JetBrains is raising the price, to be more attractive to larger companies.
Overall, there is not a better Java IDE. I just hope that JetBrains starts innovating again and brings new life to the IDE world.
Posted by carl at August 3, 2003 10:44 PM
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