IntelliJ IDEA

Why I Love IntelliJ IDEA for Java Development

If you’re a Java developer like me, you like to crank out code and get shit done. I like many things about IntelliJ IDEA, but I thought it’d be fun to write about the ones that make me most productive.

When I first started doing Java development in the late 90s, I used HomeSite as my editor. HomeSite was an HTML editor initially developed by Nick Bradbury. I liked it because it defaulted to a view of your code rather than being WYSIWYG like Dreamweaver and FrontPage. It’s funny to look back now and laugh about how inefficient I was: I used to google for import statements, then copy/pasted them into the editor.

Apple Silicon with Zulu OpenJDK and IntelliJ IDEA

Azul has been leading the OpenJDK community effort (JEP 391) initiated in August 2020 to add support for Apple Silicon, Arm-based Macs, in future versions of OpenJDK.

In addition to targeting future Java versions, such as Java 16 via JEP 391, Azul has made OpenJDK builds of currently popular Java versions, including Zulu builds of OpenJDK 8, 11, and 13, as well as 16-ea, widely available for use on Apple Silicon, Arm-based Macs.

IntelliJ IDEA Made Me Lazy

I haven’t always been lazy; it’s a fairly recent addition to my repertoire of skills. And do you know who I blame? I blame IntelliJ IDEA. I used to check that I’d completed a statement correctly, I used to look at javadoc, I used to check I’d closed my parentheses correctly, but now I don’t give things a second glance.

Being lazy isn’t a bad thing, it’s an efficiency gain that allows me to focus on the things that matter, which isn’t checking my parentheses are correct or remembering to put a semi-colon after my statement. No, it’s taking time for myself and those around me. Sure, it’s IntelliJ IDEA’s fault, but I am happy that we’re here!

Starting a JavaFX Project with Gluon Tools

Here on foojay.io you can already find two posts by Carl Dea to get you started with JavaFX.

In this post, I want to show you yet another approach that uses the tools provided by Gluon, who are the maintainers, and the driving force behind OpenJFX.

The Gluon start website and the plugin allow you to get started with a new JavaFX project in a few clicks.

Thanks to the amazing work done by the Gluon team this also gives you a quick-start for the creation of a mobile application which can be built for both Android and iOS.

Live Templates in IntelliJ IDEA

When I first came across the notion of Live Templates, I couldn’t figure out what was ‘live’ about them. Did they need feeding or something?

It seems to be an industry-standard term, so I’m no longer devoting much energy to this quandary, but if you were wondering the same, you’re not alone.

New to IntelliJ IDEA? Me Too!

Until recently, I last wrote Java in anger in 2002. IntelliJ IDEA had just been released; it wasn’t remotely on my radar. I honestly can’t remember what IDE we were using back then, but it certainly was a very long way to the fully featured IDE that JetBrains produce today.

Here’s my personal experience of using IntelliJ IDEA for the first time.