Sun Unveils NetBeans IDE 4.0


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Sun Unveils NetBeans IDE 4.0

First Open Source IDE to Support Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 for Next Generation Java Development

Jeff Jackson
VP. Java Developer Platform
Sun Mircosystems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and the NetBeans(tm) open source community have announced that release 4.0 of the NetBeans integrated development environment (IDE) will be available tomorrow, December 15. This release marks a monumental milestone for the project as NetBeans is the first open source IDE to support the new Java (tm) 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE(tm)) 5.0 language features, and is the first IDE to base its project system entirely on Apache Ant. Other key features include a new Java technology performance profiler and refactoring capabilities, as well as additional mobile development support.

?The arrival of the NetBeans 4.0 IDE now puts in the hands of developers the full range of Java technology development with a robust open source IDE, straight out of the box,? said Jeff Jackson, vice president, Java Developer Platform and Strategy. ?Sun and the NetBeans community will continue to provide cutting edge technology for Java developers to create innovative applications.?

The NetBeans IDE offers modular, standards-based Java technology development for Linux, Macintosh, the Solaris(tm) Operating System, and Windows platform. With this release, all key functionality is included with the initial download of the software, rather than via the addition of a series of plug-ins. Plug-ins are available to further extend the functionality of the NetBeans IDE. The NetBeans 4.0 IDE includes the following updates:

Tiger Support - J2SE 5.0 language feature support including constructs, such as enums, generics or metadata annotations to build and edit applications without additional setup.

Project System based entirely on Apache Ant - A proven de-facto open source standard build tool for developing applications using Java technologies.

Refactoring features - Technology from the Sun Labs serves as the basis for this feature, which provides simplified code maintenance for developers.

Web application development improvements - Extended support for both Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, (J2EE (tm)) version 1.3 and 1.4 platform standards.

Mobility - Expanded support for Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME(tm)), including Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0 and Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) 1.1, including tight integration with the J2ME Wireless Toolkit (WTK) 2.2.

The next release, NetBeans 4.1 IDE, will be available next year and will deliver significant new development capabilities for J2EE applications, including, for the first time, support for Enterprise JavaBeans(tm) (EJB(tm)) components and Web services. The Early Access version of release 4.1 is now available and has over 15 new modules for developing J2EE 1.4 technology-based applications. In addition, an updated performance profiler will be included, enabling memory profiling and leak detection, CPU performance profiling, low-overhead profiling, task-based profiling, and tight integration into the IDE workflow.

NetBeans Community

The NetBeans community is made up of individual developers as well as industry leading tools vendors. The NetBeans IDE is the foundation for all of Sun's tools products including the popular Java Studio Creator IDE and Java Studio Enterprise 7 development platform, which is now available (see related release: Sun Microsystems Ships Revolutionary Sun Java Studio Enterprise 7 Development Platform). Corporations and individual developers are extending and enhancing the NetBeans platform to support a wide range of capabilities.

"Because of its solid platform and rich feature set, we decided to build our award-winning voice application IDE on the NetBeans platform," said James Riseman, senior product manager, Nuance. "The NetBeans community continues to provide our developers with cutting edge technologies, and we look forward to leveraging the new features in the NetBeans 4.0 IDE."

"I've been using NetBeans software since it was first introduced because we wanted a feature-rich, low cost solution for our Java technology development and the NetBeans IDE was the obvious choice," said Wade Chandler, Software Engineer, Red-e Set Grow. "The new features such as the project system and its great support for multiple developers, refactoring support, and the new user interface -- which gives us more screen real estate and usability -- will save us significant time and money as we develop new applications."

NetBeans is an open source, cross-platform developer environment comprising a suite of tools to support development in the full range of Java technologies. It is a full-featured, modular, extensible Java technology IDE. There have been more than two million downloads of the NetBeans IDE this year. About Sun Microsystems, Inc. Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision ? ?The Network Is The Computer(tm)? ? has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com. Subscribe to Sun newswire at www.sun.com/news.

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