Developers are the people who are building the online application by using tools. There are different tools that are used for building the web application entirely. If you are a web application developer then you must be well aware of these java development tools .
These development tools are basically the programming language tools ,tools for editing code,tools for designing interface,tools to build database management systems and so much more this is where Java developers show their skills.
NetBeans
Just like Java itself, NetBeans is part of the Oracle family. First released in 1996, NetBeans is an IDE specifically designed for Java. It’s popular particularly among academics and researchers, and used by organizations such as Boeing, NASA, NATO, and EU research agencies.
NetBeans can be installed on all the operating systems that Java runs on and can be used for other programming languages as well. By default, it uses an Ant build for projects, but you can also set it up to use Maven. A popular open-source alternative to NetBeans is Eclipse.
Android Studio
While you can use NetBeans for building desktop and web apps, you have to use Android Studio if you want to code Android apps. Based on IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio comes with Android-specific refactoring, Lint tools to catch performance and compatibility problems, and more.
Although Google has now replaced Java with Kotlin as their preferred language for Android apps, Java is still used for many of the mobile apps you use every day. Once you’ve compiled your app with Android Studio, and if the app is in line with Google’s developer policies, you can publish it directly on the Google Play Store.
Pinpoint
Pinpoint is an Application Performance Management tool for large-scale distributed systems that have been written in Java or PHP. It monitors your application in real-time and can be installed without changing a single line of code.
In particular, Pinpoint tracks the transaction flows between different types of components in services. The software provides an overview of what areas could cause problems and where your bottlenecks are. An open-source APM alternative to Pinpoint is stagemonitor.
JUnit
JUnit is an open-source testing framework for Java that integrates with all the popular Java IDEs, as well as Maven, Ant, Gradle, and Jenkins. JUnit helps you write and run repeatable, automated tests. It’s an essential tool for test-driven development.
JUnit is linked as a JAR at compile time and requires Java 8 or higher during runtime, although you can test code that’s been compiled with previous versions of the JDK. JUnit version 5 consists of three sub-projects:
- JUnit Platform: the foundation for launching testing frameworks on the JVM.
- JUnit Jupiter: a programming model for writing tests.
- JUnit Vintage: a
TestEnginefor running test written with JUnit 3 and 4.
Maven
Maven is a project management tool for Java projects. You use Maven to have your project’s build, reporting, and docs in one central place. Maven favors convention over configuration, i.e. it’s opinionated and requires you to follow a standard way of building projects using clear definitions.
An alternative to Maven is Ant. Ant isn’t opinionated and, as a result, is more flexible in its configuration. However, this means that developers need to write all commands by themselves. Unless your project has an unusual build structure, Maven is the easier way to go.
Gradle
Gradle is a dependency management and build automation tool that builds on the concepts of Ant and Maven. It doesn’t use XML files but instead opts for a domain-specific language. This usually means smaller configuration files and less clutter.
Most of its Gradle’s functionality comes through its plugins. For example, you need a Java plugin to compile Java. Gradle is particularly useful for complex databases, because it tends to be faster and because it offers advanced analysis and debugging services. But its learning curve is higher if you’re not familiar with Groovy or Kotlin.
SpotBugs
SpotBugs is the spiritual successor of FindBugs, which is no longer maintained. SpotBugs uses static analysis to check for more than four hundred bug patterns in Java code. It can be used either standalone or integrated with Ant, Maven, Gradle, and Eclipse.
SpotBugs is extensible, which means you can add new detectors through plugins. The SpotBugs homepage mentions fb-contrib and find-sec-bugs as two popular plugins to write software that has fewer bugs.
Bonus
I know what you are going to say, “of course you need a JDK to get started with Java”; but the fact is there is nothing obvious in programming. If you plan on developing Java-based applets and applications, your first need to get yourself a tool like JDK, which includes the necessary Java Compiler, the Java Runtime Environment, and the Java APIs. It will help you get started with Java.
Ask experienced Java developers about their favorite Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and quite a number of them will point to Eclipse. Eclipse provides much-needed assistance for code completion, refactoring and syntax checking. It also offers something called the Java Development Tools project (JDT) that provides a range of tool plugin-ins to help develop all kinds of Java applications.
The real advantage of this IDE, however, is that it allows developers to combine language support, for e.g. it also offers a C/C++ and PHP IDE. This makes it a one-stop resource for Java development.
This one calls itself the ‘most intelligent Java IDE’ going around. You can only know if this actually is the case if you use it, but there is no doubt that it does help developers come up with innovative Java solutions. It has features that help boost productivity such as ‘Smart Code Completion’ and ‘On-the-fly Code Analysis’; it also offers advanced support for web and mobile development and a whole lot more. So, try it out.
If you are looking for a free IDE that helps you build a reliable Service Oriented Architecture with Java, or Java Enterprise Edition applications, there is nothing better than JDeveloper. It supports the full development life cycle, which means you are assured of a Java solution you can justifiably be proud of.
With the ANT™, you get the benefit of working with a tool by the Apache Software Foundation. This one is an open source tool whose greatest advantage is its simplicity. One key aspect of programming that gets the developer’s goat is handling complex repetitive tasks. With ANT™, you can automate such tasks. This is just one of the many features this tool simplifies.
JRat (Java Runtime Analysis Toolkit)
If you want to measure the application’s performance, JRat is the analysis toolkit you must use. With this tool, you can identify potential problem areas that can impact application performance.
This is another tool from the Apache stable. It is a testing tool that will measure functional behavior and also the performance of your websites, databases, web services etc. The fact that it has an easy to understand GUI means you can easily build a test plan and debug the application quickly.
We have mentioned Apache’s ANT™ earlier in the list, and Maven helps you do the same thing; but developers think it is a big step up the ladder compared to ANT™. As far as dependency management, build actions, debugging and collaboration is concerned, it is a few notches higher than ANT™. To put it simply, if you are using ANT™ you need to tell it exactly what to do; you need to mention the exact location of your source, assign the storage location of the resultant bytecode and how you want everything to be packaged in the JAR file.
Maven, on the other hand, simplifies these things for you.
This tool provides Java and Groovy code coverage. With Clover, you can zero in on the code that might turn out to be the most problematic and make sure your testing focuses on that particular code. Result – a problem-free application.
This one is a Java profiler that allows on-demand profiling during development or production; this means you can ensure your product meets the highest standards of quality. On-demand profiling means the profiled application can be run without incurring any overheads.
If you want to write tests with a clean and simple API, which deliver clean verification errors, Mockito should be your drink of choice. Mockito is essentially a mock library that helps you create, verify and stub mocks – an essential aspect of Java development.
Java code has bugs? Who’re you going to deploy to find them? A good answer will be FindBugs™. It free, easy to run and really very good!
These 15 tools will definitely make life easy for you as a Java developer, but the whole idea behind using such tools is making an informed decision regarding their use. Choose a tool that suits your needs and requirements at a given point in time and it will deliver the returns you are looking for.
Conclusion
Tools for Java is a comprehensive collection of tools, with detailed reviews and comparisons, which can benefit your web development. We all know, there are a lot of tools available, either free or paid which help us develop an Java app. But it’s quite difficult to pick up a tool from a list of thousands. In this article, you can find a complete list for essential software for java programming.