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Eclipse vs NetBeans IDE vs Visual Studio Code: What are the differences?
Comparison: Eclipse vs NetBeans IDE vs Visual Studio Code
Eclipse, NetBeans IDE, and Visual Studio Code are popular Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) used by software developers for coding purposes. While all three IDEs offer similar features, there are some key differences that set them apart.
User Interface: Eclipse features a highly customizable user interface, with the ability to rearrange and group different panels according to the developer's preference. NetBeans IDE, on the other hand, provides a more user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it easier for beginners to get started. Visual Studio Code offers a clean and lightweight interface with integrated terminal support, providing a seamless coding experience.
Language Support: Eclipse is primarily used for Java development, but it also supports multiple languages through plugins. NetBeans IDE offers built-in support for Java, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making it a versatile option for web development. Visual Studio Code provides excellent support for a wide range of programming languages, including Java, Python, JavaScript, C++, and many more, making it suitable for developers working with diverse tech stacks.
Extensions and Plugins: Eclipse boasts a vast collection of plugins and extensions contributed by a large community of developers. This makes it highly customizable and adaptable to various project requirements. NetBeans IDE also provides a good selection of plugins, but its ecosystem is relatively smaller compared to Eclipse. Visual Studio Code offers a rich marketplace of extensions, with thousands of community-built plugins, enabling developers to enhance their coding experience with additional features and functionalities.
Debugging Capabilities: Eclipse provides a powerful debugging framework with comprehensive debugging tools, allowing developers to step through the code, set breakpoints, and inspect variables efficiently. NetBeans IDE offers similar debugging capabilities, including breakpoints and variable inspection, making it easier to identify and fix issues in the code. Visual Studio Code provides a robust debugging experience with support for various languages, allowing developers to debug their code effectively by setting breakpoints and inspecting variables.
IntelliSense and Code Navigation: Eclipse offers a sophisticated code suggestion feature, providing developers with context-aware recommendations while typing code. It also provides efficient code navigation features like Go to Definition and Find References, making it easier to explore and understand codebases. NetBeans IDE offers similar Intellisense capabilities, providing autocomplete suggestions and code navigation tools. Visual Studio Code is renowned for its excellent IntelliSense support, offering intelligent code completion, tooltips, and code navigation features, enhancing the developer's productivity.
Community and Documentation: Eclipse benefits from a large and active developer community, providing extensive documentation and support resources. It has been around for a long time and is widely adopted, ensuring a wealth of online resources and tutorials. NetBeans IDE also has an active community, although it may not be as large as Eclipse's. Visual Studio Code has gained significant popularity in recent years and has a thriving community, backed by extensive documentation and helpful online resources.
In summary, Eclipse excels in its customization options and extensive plugin ecosystem, while NetBeans IDE provides a user-friendly interface and built-in support for web development. Visual Studio Code stands out with its lightweight interface, excellent language support, and comprehensive debugging capabilities. Ultimately, the choice between these IDEs depends on the specific needs and preferences of developers and the nature of the project they are working on.
UPDATE: Thanks for the great response. I am going to start with VSCode based on the open source and free version that will allow me to grow into other languages, but not cost me a license ..yet.
I have been working with software development for 12 years, but I am just beginning my journey to learn to code. I am starting with Python following the suggestion of some of my coworkers. They are split between Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA for IDEs that they use and PyCharm is new to me. Which IDE would you suggest for a beginner that will allow expansion to Java, JavaScript, and eventually AngularJS and possibly mobile applications?
Pycharm is great for python development, but can feel sometimes slow and community version has Somme very annoying restrictions (like they disabled jupyter notebooks plugin and made it premium feature). I personally started looking into VS Code as an alternative, and it has some very good potential. I suggest you take it into account.
The Community version of PyCharm is free and should give you what you need to get started with Python. Both PyCharm and IntelliJ are made by JetBrains. IntelliJ is initially focused on Java but you can get plugins for lots of other things. I subscribe to JetBrains' Toolbox: https://www.jetbrains.com/toolbox-app/ and have access to all of their great tools.
I couldn't imagine using a development tool other than the IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate All Products Pack. A single license allows me to work directly on my server running Ubuntu and/or my workstation running Windows 10 Pro simultaneously. My current project uses HTML, W3CSS, JavaScript, Java, Groovy, Grails, C, GO, Python, Flask, and Rust. For me it's worth every penny of the $150 license fee. And you can try it for free.
Hi, I will give my opinion based on my experience. I have used PyCharm, both community and Professional version. The community has limited functions, like you can't use a Jupyter notebook whereas it's available in the Professional version. PyCharm is slower compared to Visual Studio Code. Also Visual Studio Code is an editor which supports various languages. I myself have used both Visual Studio Code and PyCharm. I feel Visual Studio Code would be better choice. You may as well decide based upon your requirements.
Visual Studio code is easy to use, has a good UI, and a large community. Python works great with it, but unlike some other editors, it works with most languages either by default or by downloading a plugin. VS Code has built in linting, syntax coloring, autocompletes (IntelliSense), and an api for plugins to do there own tooling.
I'd personally recommend Visual Studio Code as it gives you the flexibility of working in any language, so long as there are extensions to support it. It gives you the flexibility to learn Python, venture into Java, Javascript, and eventually AngularJS, and potentially mobile applications. It's also free and you can install it on your personal computer. I think Visual Studio Code would serve your intended use case best.
IntelliJ really is the best for Java, I switched from eclipse years ago and never looked back. As for javascript, python and angular either using the standalone products from jetbrains (pycharm for python, webstorm for js) or installing the relevant plugins for InteliJ will be your best bet. Pycharm etc. are really just InteliJ with some additional plugins installed.
If you starting with Python then PyCharm is better. For Java I would suggest to go with IntelliJ IDEA but people also prefer eclipse so I would say try both and then decide. For JS/Angular/React I would suggest go with VSCode. I personally use it and prefer as its light weight and have good integration with chrome for frontend development.
PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA are both products of JetBrains. They have a free (limited feature) and paid edition. Eclipse is free. VSCode is also free.
Easy to learn and everything you need
All three are great, however, I believe that IntelliJ IDEA's multiple IDE's are slightly more straight-forward and more up-to date than Eclipse. If I had to choose one specifically for Python projects I would go with PyCharm.
Pycharm is all you need to get start coding in python or any of its framework. Its an awesome tool you should give it a try :)
This is a very easy to use tool and gives you the opportunity to start coding right after the installation with almost everything setup automatically by the tool.
Visual Studio Code became famous over the past 3+ years I believe. The clean UI, easy to use UX and the plethora of integrations made it a very easy decision for us. Our gripe with Sublime was probably only the UX side. VSCode has not failed us till now, and still is able to support our development env without any significant effort.
Goland being paid, as well as built only for Go seemed like a significant limitation to not consider it.
I originally chose IntelliJ over Eclipse, as it was close enough to the look and feel of Visual Studio and we do go back and forth between the two. We really begin to love IntelliJ and their suite of IDEs so we are now using AppCode for the IOS development because the workflow is identical with the IntelliJ. IntelliJ is super complex and intimidating at first but it does afford a lot of nice utilities to get us produce clean code.
I decided to choose VSCode over Sublime text for my Systems Programming class in C. What I love about VSCode is its awesome ability to add extensions. Intellisense is a beautiful debugger, and Remote SSH allows me to login and make real-time changes in VSCode to files on my university server. This is an awesome alternative to going back and forth on pushing/pulling code and logging into servers in the terminal. Great choice for anyone interested in C programming!
Pros of Eclipse
- Does it all131
- Integrates with most of tools76
- Easy to use64
- Java IDE63
- Best Java IDE32
- Open source9
- Hard for newbews3
- Great gdb integration2
- Professional2
- Good Git client allowing direct stage area edit2
- True open source with huge contribution2
- Great code suggestions2
- Extensible2
- Lightweight2
- Works with php0
Pros of NetBeans IDE
- Rich features76
- Crossplatform69
- Plugins(Git, SVN)49
- Easy to use38
- Extensible38
- PHP Support35
- Java support34
- File History28
- Code analysis21
- MySQL support18
- Free14
- Open source14
- Code completion10
- Strong Maven Support9
- NodeJs support8
- Webdev king6
- Easy maven project start6
- Best6
- Jira Plugin4
- Foss4
- Out of the box integration with maven, git, svn3
- History of changes, friendly tabs3
- Mandatory3
- Intuitive ui2
- Chrome plugin to live update javascript from browser2
- Groovy support2
- Native Nette support2
- I don't like NetBeans2
- Smarty support2
- Visual GUI Builder for Swing / AWT2
- Custom html tags support2
- Powerful refactoring1
- Composer commands inside IDE1
Pros of Visual Studio Code
- Powerful multilanguage IDE340
- Fast309
- Front-end develop out of the box193
- Support TypeScript IntelliSense158
- Very basic but free142
- Git integration126
- Intellisense106
- Faster than Atom78
- Better ui, easy plugins, and nice git integration53
- Great Refactoring Tools45
- Good Plugins44
- Terminal42
- Superb markdown support38
- Open Source36
- Extensions35
- Awesome UI26
- Large & up-to-date extension community26
- Powerful and fast24
- Portable22
- Best code editor18
- Best editor18
- Easy to get started with17
- Lots of extensions15
- Good for begginers15
- Crossplatform15
- Built on Electron15
- Extensions for everything14
- Open, cross-platform, fast, monthly updates14
- All Languages Support14
- Easy to use and learn13
- "fast, stable & easy to use"12
- Extensible12
- Ui design is great11
- Totally customizable11
- Git out of the box11
- Useful for begginer11
- Faster edit for slow computer11
- SSH support10
- Great community10
- Fast Startup10
- Works With Almost EveryThing You Need9
- Great language support9
- Powerful Debugger9
- It has terminal and there are lots of shortcuts in it9
- Can compile and run .py files8
- Python extension is fast8
- Features rich7
- Great document formater7
- He is not Michael6
- Extension Echosystem6
- She is not Rachel6
- Awesome multi cursor support6
- VSCode.pro Course makes it easy to learn5
- Language server client5
- SFTP Workspace5
- Very proffesional5
- Easy azure5
- Has better support and more extentions for debugging4
- Supports lots of operating systems4
- Excellent as git difftool and mergetool4
- Virtualenv integration4
- Better autocompletes than Atom3
- Has more than enough languages for any developer3
- 'batteries included'3
- More tools to integrate with vs3
- Emmet preinstalled3
- VS Code Server: Browser version of VS Code2
- CMake support with autocomplete2
- Microsoft2
- Customizable2
- Light2
- Big extension marketplace2
- Fast and ruby is built right in2
- File:///C:/Users/ydemi/Downloads/yuksel_demirkaya_webpa1
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Cons of Eclipse
- 2000 Design14
- Bad performance9
- Hard to use4
Cons of NetBeans IDE
- PHP debug doesn't support conditional breakpoints2
Cons of Visual Studio Code
- Slow startup46
- Resource hog at times29
- Poor refactoring20
- Poor UI Designer13
- Weak Ui design tools11
- Poor autocomplete10
- Super Slow8
- Huge cpu usage with few installed extension8
- Microsoft sends telemetry data8
- Poor in PHP7
- It's MicroSoft6
- Poor in Python3
- No Built in Browser Preview3
- No color Intergrator3
- Very basic for java development and buggy at times3
- No built in live Preview3
- Electron3
- Bad Plugin Architecture2
- Powered by Electron2
- Terminal does not identify path vars sometimes1
- Slow C++ Language Server1




