Wizard API updated!
Tim Boudreau has released a new version of the Swing Wizard library (version 0.997) that fixes the WizardException bug reported in JavaWorld's recent Open Source Java Project profile. The article's examples have been reworked to test out the new, improved WizardException. Thanks, Tim, for this helpful fix!
Open Source Java Projects: The Wizard API

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JavaWorld.com > Java Development Tools >

Which Java visual development environment is best for you?

Read this comparative review of 5 top tools so you can quickly pick the one that best meets your needs -- and avoid wasting your precious time with the others

By Carl Dichter and Chris Tynes, JavaWorld.com, 06/01/97

If you're one of those macho developers who likes nothing more than a command line and a text editor, stop reading this review. This article focuses on the Java development tools that cater to the rest of us: visual integrated development environments.

In this review, we focus on Java development tools available on PCs running Microsoft Windows 95 or NT, because the majority of Java developers use such machines. Collectively, the five tools in this review boast hundreds of thousands of users on Windows. Many of these tools are, or soon will be, available on at least one other platform (the Mac or a Unix flavor such as Solaris). (Non-Windows developers take heart: JavaWorld plans a follow-up to our August 1996 review of Mac IDEs, as well as occasional reviews of new tools for other platforms.)

To qualify for this review, tools needed to be visual IDEs for Java. That is, the tools needed to have a graphical (dialog) editor, a code editor, a compiler, a project management and build controller ("builder"), and a debugger -- all integrated to work well together and produce code in Java.

With any comparative review of multiple development tools, the reviewers and editors face the insurmountable challenge of including the latest release of each of the top tools on the market. This is a rapidly moving target in any case, and especially tough with the hyper-evolving Java tools market. This review was no exception: The lineup of products and version numbers changed several times during the multi-month review, and as we publish this, updates of these products are being released. Furthermore, the first release of new tools, like IBM's Visual Age for Java, Borland's JBuilder and Metrowerks' CodeWarrior, are being shipped. Yet if we waited a few weeks or a few months to conduct the review, the same problem would occur. Tools vendors (thankfully) refuse to sit still, making it all but impossible to schedule a review such as this to satisfy every contender's wishes. Impassioned pleas such as "Just wait for version 2.0 to ship next month!" and "But we're about to release our new development tool!" won't cease next month -- or next year. Therefore, we pushed ahead.

We looked at the leading vendors' products and found that the following five fully released Java tools each provided a visual development environment on Windows 95/NT (as of April 1, 1997):

  • Asymetrix SuperCede Java Edition 1.0
  • SunSoft Java WorkShop 1.0
  • Microsoft Visual J++ Professional 1.1
  • Symantec Visual Café 1.0
  • Visix Vibe DE 1.0


All of the tools reviewed are based on JavaSoft JDK 1.02 (except Visix Vibe, which uses its own libraries); some vendors are now offering JDK 1.1-based updates to their tools. (Check the vendors' Web sites for the latest update information.) Bear in mind that these updates are not tested in this article, and we don't know how strongly the tools support the new functionality. For example, JDK 1.1 includes JavaBeans, but the updates may not yet include a wizard to help you create your own Beans.

We selected and evaluated these tools using the criteria described in the Review criteria section below. To help developers reading this review consider longer-term issues, we've supplemented this comparison with some details about the features expected in forthcoming versions of the products reviewed -- as well as a discussion of the major products that are not included in the review. See our sidebar that details "Java developer products not reviewed."

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