Hi All,
I have been studying Java for about a year now, and am still trying to find my preferred IDE. Java is my first language, and I would say I'm probably at a higher-intermediate level in terms of programming skill.
When I started to learn programming, I used a program called BlueJ, which is basically just a text editor that uses color-coding to highlight the class/method/statement relationships within your code. It doesn't have any sort of auto-completion or any other such frills, so it forces you to learn the language rather than relying on an IDE. In truth, that's the way I like it, so I kept using BlueJ even after I probably should have moved on to something else.
I tried Eclipse briefly, but in truth didn't like it at all. Maybe someday I will see its merits, but at the moment it just gets on my nerves. I don't like all the bells and whistles, I don't like having my code completed for me, and I REALLY don't like it when it tries to write class and method stubs and insert my brackets for me. I know you can get rid of most of that stuff in the preferences, but if I do that, it seems like I'm running a huge and complicated program with a style that doesn't appeal to me in order to use approximately none of its functionality. I just don't like it.
So, I am left wondering what to do now. I've been getting along using JCreator, but lately I've been wondering about Emacs. I have very little experience with it beyond opening .txt files in it and wondering what crazy alien language this program was written in and how a mere earthling such as myself was supposed to do anything with it, but I know it's supposed to be able to do lots of things. Since I'm in the process of completing a CS degree and plan on learning quite a few languages in the near future, it would be nice to have a universal, cross-platform tool I could put to use doing whatever I need to do. Furthermore, if Emacs would be valuable to me down the road (and whether it would be or not is one of the things I'm curious about), I'd just as soon learn it early before I settle into a comfort zone with something else.
Besides, even though I have no idea how to navigate it now, I must admit that the arcaneness of Emacs appeals to my geeky side.
I did a little research online on using Emacs for Java, and the consensus seems to be that it can be done and some people do it but that Eclipse is better. Given my feeling for Eclipse, this of course is useless to me. I also read that James Gosling himself advises against using it, but from the article I read (
http://www.computerworld.com.au/arti...s_java_father/), this seems to be a personal bias against Emacs itself for being "outdated" rather than for any real lack in function.
So does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this subject? Would Emacs be a valuable tool to learn? Would using it for Java be a good idea? How easy would it be, and what would I have to do to get set up? If it is advisable, are there any resources or tutorials I should look at to get me started?
I guess I should also say that I plan on doing the majority of my work from home, so having to learn Eclipse because it is the industry standard on the chance I will need it in the work place is not a concern.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.