Gripes
High Memory Usage
One of my biggest gripes about NetBeans is its use of memory. While other Java IDEs like IntelliJ Idea and Eclipse use about 100MB, NetBeans IDE uses close to 200MB (rough values from the Task Manager in Windows XP). This could be due to the numerous tools that NetBeans supports. Yet the memory usage is much higher compared to other products in the same class. To add to this, when testing enterprise applications, the integrated database and the application server also consume more memory. It took three to four minutes to build, deploy, and run my HelloWorld sample when all the add-ons were loaded.
The cost of memory has come down and a gigabyte of memory has become fairly common, but that does not mean applications should be allowed to use all the memory available. A good application should be using as little memory as possible—and still be able to provide flexibility to the user. To this end, un-bundling the special packages like the Mobility pack and the enterprise pack from the base IDE is a great idea. This would allow developers to choose the packages they need and only install them when needed.
(Un)Responsiveness
Though the NetBeans code editor has a lot of features, the time taken for code completion is definitely very slow. In this area, NetBeans does not perform at the same level as IntelliJ Idea or Eclipse. Increasing the RAM to 2GB helped to some extent, but NetBeans could definitely use some improvement in this area.
UnIntuitive Interface
It may be because I am not used to the NetBeans platform, but I didn't find the NetBeans user interfacevery intuitive. Take the example shown in Figure 1. An average user would have no idea what these icons mean unless they wait for the tool tip to come up.
Figure 1. Unintuitive toolbar icons.
Another area where NetBeans' interface is not very intuitive is the location of common commands. The code generation of getters and setters is in the Refactor menu, whereas most editors, logically, have it in the Source menu as it is a source generating command. Similarly, the command to override methods is not found in the right click menu of the editor. Though most of the other commands in the Source menu are available on the editor menu, the override method is left out. NetBeans could use some help in developing and arranging the icons to be more intuitive.
More Editor Woes
There is no keyboard shortcut to block comment a segment of code. This may not be so bad, as there is functionality-to-line-comment and uncomment code. However, there are a few annoying features, like if you try to select multiple lines for commenting, it would comment all lines in the code. Also, the uncomment command does not work well when there are multiple comments on the same block.
Availability of Free Plug-ins
The number of available plug-ins for NetBeans is far lower compared to Eclipse. This could be because Eclipse has been around far longer than NetBeans. As the IDE gets popular, more vendors should be supporting NetBeans. NetBeans supports a good collaborative development environment, and this should foster more support for the platform.
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