Noobs notes (or another "expert" opinion) - JDeveloper, why is it still alive and why you need to consider it
Yes, I’m the guy who is using JDeveloper. Yes, I struggle a lot (sometimes even more then I think I deserve), but you know what, today I will step aside from emotions, which sometimes cover me with a full force, and will take more rational side.
- “This guy is working with Oracle! He is biased!”
- “What is the point of listening to a noob?”
- “Another paid promoter? No thanks”
- “JWhat?
Yes…yes…I know that you guys are very skeptical as any smart person would be, but just bear with me just a little bit. If you expect some enormous analytical overview and humongous comparisons you can stop reading now as it will bring you only disappointment. What I want to talk about is why JDeveloper, in my humble nooby opinion, still exists and, at least, trying very hard to evolve.
So, let’s start. What is JDeveloper? It is a freeware IDE provided by Oracle. At first it overwhelms you with astonishing amount of functionality provided (and will keep that feeling for quite some time).
Even though first impression of “how in the world this rocket-science-toolbox works?” could be scary, don’t be nervous just yet (keep it, you will need it later when you will start to study very complex features). So point number one:
“Yes, the whole development lifecycle features are present here.”
- “IntelliJ also has all the necessary features!”
- “Yeah and Eclipse too!”
Yes, that is true. Full development lifecycle features is advantage, which strongly contributes to the fact that all of these IDEs are on the top of the “best IDEs” mountain. Have you ever imagined of creating everything in one IDE? I’m sure you did! Which brings me to my second point:
“JDeveloper is one of the few IDEs where you can actually do everything starting from front-end (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JSF, JSP and 100 other scary sounding abbreviations), continuing with middleware (Java, SOAP, REST, Web-Services, BPEL, XQuery, XPath, XSLT, and no, I’m not insulting anyone here) finishing with the back-end (database modeling, PL/SQL etc.).”
Impressive? Sure it is!
- “Nahhh, I’m still not convinced…”
- “Is that all it can?”
Tough public today. Expected nothing less from people who managed to read this post up until that point. Third point is:
“If you develop Java EE application, that is, pretty much, the only IDE which integrates everything you need without any extra efforts of downloading 1000 additional plugins (even though you can download some extensions if you wish).”
Fourth point:
“It is actually user-friendly. Comparing with many other IDEs I actually find it quite user-friendly. It is quite intuitive and visual, which converts standard “blank list programming” to a “visual programming” which helps to understand some development aspects and technologies a bit better (I hear that a lot of angry die-hard, old-school programmers already gathering very close to my chair and they want my blood for these words).”
So if you want to join the squad of big, bearded men with glasses (joking, sometimes without glasses), who create full blown Java applications including mobile and cloud versions, then I think it will be a good idea to give JDeveloper a try.
- “Sounds too good to be true.”
- “He is hiding something from us.”
And, finally, key differentiators:
“JDeveloper is available on all the main platforms; full software application development lifecycle; second to none set of visual editors, components and extra guiding dialogue windows (of course in addition to non-visual ones); integrated Weblogic Server; support for many other Oracle products; and full Java EE support from front to back.”
Eventually all these makes JDeveloper a top IDE for Java development (and irreplaceable for many Oracle Developers).
Finally! I’m done!
Yes, as with everything else, nothing is perfect (except maybe cold beer on Friday after work). Yes, there are some disadvantages, you can find them on other analytical sites and blog posts (but thanks to Shay Shmeltzer we have a list of blogs that will always help you find a great solution connected to any JDeveloper problem - Check here). But what you cannot take from JDeveloper is the fact that even though there are several alternatives on the market, JDeveloper is still one the leading IDEs for particular job. It actually progressed quite a lot in the recent years, adding some timely features (working with maven, integrated Service Bus, version control features). Does it malfunctioning sometimes? Sure! Is it the fastest IDE? No! Should it evolve in order to help developers to develop faster and more effective? Not even a question! But the main question: Does it delivers on a very good level and includes even more than many IDEs can provide? Yes it is! No doubts about that. I think, that is the reason why it still exists and not changed by some externally acquired IDE (and believe Oracle can do that). Let’s see how it will evolve in the future, but that is how it is right now.
JDeveloper is quite a massive tool for a beginner level developer, but it does not require you to master all the functions in order to start working with it. In addition it has quite big library of different videos and manuals, where you can find all the necessary instructions, in order to master some particular JDeveloper skills (you can start right here). So usage threshold is not that high.
What I tried here is to just barely touch the topic, which came to the minds of many developers, who sometimes experience some JDeveloper issues. So let us just hold our breath in the minutes of emotional irritation and be glad that JDeveloper actually exists. Now I’d better get back to work, I think JDeveloper finally started :)
