Related link: http://www.intellij.net/eap/

Project management in IDEA 3.0 is simple and easy. I can typically setup a project and start coding in less than five minutes. When I decided to play with Java generics I downloaded IDEA’s lastest beta (through the free early access program). Immediately I was stuck trying to create a project. That bad experience led to me write a weblog discussing my frustration. Well it has been a few months and a lot of beta releases later and I have to say that IDEA 4.0 is going to rock. The current beta release is build 1120, which is the first release candidate.

For starters, project management is a lot better. I was able to setup a project and start coding in less than five minutes again. WHOOHOOO!

Here are a few reasons why you should upgrade or become an IDEA user:

• Generics support

  The syntax highlighting and code completion work great.
  There is also a cool refactoring feature called ‘Cook Raw Types’. This refactoring analyzes existing code and attempts to provide a parameterized type. Here is an example:

  Before ‘Cook Raw Types’ refactoring

  private Map stuff = new HashMap();
  
  public void addValue(String name, Integer value) {
      stuff.put(name, value);
  }

  After ‘Cook Raw Types’ refactoring

  private Map<String,Integer> stuff = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
  
  public void addValue(String name, Integer value) {
      stuff.put(name, value);
  }

  There is one problem I found, though. The refactoring did not work if the Integer was changed to an int.

• Enhanced Debugger

  You can change code and reload the class without restarting the debugger.

• It runs great on Mac OS X

  I really wish that they would add “-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true” to IDEA’s VM parameters. I am getting tired of having to change this with each beta release.

• Split Editors

  This totally rocks! I can now view multiple files at the same time. Running at a high resolution really helps to cram all the data you can on the screen, too.

• GUI Designer

  I personally do not like GUI designers. I actually dispise any attempt for an IDE to provide code generation (except for simple skeleton code).

• Better CVS integration

There are a lot of new features and subtle changes that you just have to experience. I know that I plan on purchasing the upgrade (hopefully for $149 as previously advertised at jetbrains.com).

What are your favorite IDEA features? How about things you would like to see changed?