Review: The big 4 Java IDEs compared

How Eclipse, NetBeans, JDeveloper, and IntelliJ IDEA stack up in capabilities and ease of use

When you think of a Java IDE, you undoubtedly imagine a graphical application in which you write Java source code, then compile, debug, and run it. Of course that's a small part of the picture -- if you're building a Java application, odds are good you're working with more than Java.

There might be a relational database involved. Or if you're building a Web-based application, you might have to deal with AJAX, and that means JavaScript. And HTML. And that application will be running from an application server like Tomcat, so you'll need management tools for the application server. You're not alone; you're working with a team of developers, so it would be helpful if that IDE worked with Git or Subversion.