Netbeans 4.0 beta (original) (raw)

I noticed the release of the first beta of Netbeans 4.0 at the weekend, so I downloaded it to give it a quick spin through. (On my home PC, since it is the first IDE to be aware of JDK1.5 changes, and I've been trying those too).

The first thing I noticed is that they've switched to a new project-based style of working, rather than just mounting whatever source directories or libraries you want. In fact this is such a big change that I haven't really got much further with trying out anything, I've just been trying to get used to the idea of the project.

Interestingly, underlying the project is an Ant build script - they provide ready-made Ant scripts for each of their standard project types, so you don't have to work with Ant if you don't want to, but you can also make a 'freeform' project, which is one where you provide the Ant script. All of the build related functions in the IDE are now performed by calling a certain named target in the underlying script. This seems like a neat idea to me - so many projects use Ant scripts now, so using it within the IDE improves consistency and reduces duplication of effort.

So, this beta shows an interesting future for Netbeans, but just a small warning - you shouldn't expect to install it and carry on with development on an existing project straight away.