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What are the steps necessary to configure jEdit to be an IDE? I basically want to compile and debug Java programs. There are so many Java plug-ins. I'm not sure which ones are best.

User1
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  • Why do you want to use jEdit as an IDE? I can understand if you don't like Eclipse but there are still other Java-IDE like NetBeans, IntelliJ or BlueJ. – Anonymous Coward Jan 11 '11 at 15:10
  • Good question. I use a ton of languages every day for several projects. IMHO Eclipse does Java fairly well but gets a bit squirrelly with other languages. I really like jEdit's SQL interface and was thinking it could grow to be a one-stop-shop for all source files (bash, SQL, Java). I had several issues with NetBeans a while back and I haven't tried IntelliJ or BlueJ, but they sound very Java-centric..I don't use Java that often. – User1 Jan 11 '11 at 18:09
  • See here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4672875/is-jedit-usable-as-an-ide – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Jan 12 '11 at 19:08

1 Answers1

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You'll need the ProjectViewer and Sidekick plug-ins at a minimum. You'll probably also want one of the various support plug-ins like:

  • AntFarm for dealing with Apache Ant.
  • Any of the beautifier plug-ins (which one depends on your tastes and which languages you want to support).
  • BufferTabs if you want to see all your opened files listed at once.
  • Console for running apps, builds, etc.
  • CTagsSidekick (make sure you get Exuberant Tags too!) to make the sidekicks more useful.
  • JavaSidekick for obvious reasons.
  • Maven if that's your cup of poison.
  • XML because you can't do Java programming without a steaming brown heap of XML. :)

You'll need to explore other possible plug-ins later, of course, but this should get you started.

Edited to add:

As requested, debugging options. I don't use debuggers often, so I can't vouch for any of these.

  • The JSwat plug-in integrates, surprisingly, JSwat into jEdit.
  • JavaDebugger (creative naming that!) integrates another debugger.
JUST MY correct OPINION
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  • This is perfect..thank you! So is it Maven that does compiling? What about debugging (breakpoints, watches, etc)? Is there an intellisense plugin? Also, in your "correct" opinion, is jEdit competitive with Eclipse or am I wasting my time? – User1 Jan 11 '11 at 14:25
  • I really, really, really hate Eclipse, so I'm probably not the one you want to ask about comparing the two. Maven and Ant are both build systems (and Maven is a whole lot more than that). Ant and Maven are the two most common tools for building Java stuff. Debugging and such is done by ... using a debugger. jEdit is just an editor with plugins that allow you to do project management, etc. – JUST MY correct OPINION Jan 11 '11 at 14:34
  • Oops. Scratch that. I've added the debugging option to my answer. – JUST MY correct OPINION Jan 11 '11 at 14:35
  • So do you use jEdit as an IDE? Is it usable that way? – User1 Jan 11 '11 at 18:14
  • I use jEdit as a text editor with IDE-like project management facilities (and templating and stuff). I don't use debuggers often enough to try any of the integrated ones -- especially since the integrated debuggers are all for Java/JVM anyway. – JUST MY correct OPINION Jan 12 '11 at 04:26