Setting up your development environment (IntelliJ, Eclipse, VS Code)

A good Integrated Development Environment (IDE) makes Java development productive. Below are three popular choices.

IntelliJ IDEA

• Edition: Community (free) or Ultimate (paid).
• Features: Excellent code completion, refactoring, built‑in version control, and framework support.
• Setup:
  1. Download from jetbrains.com/idea.
  2. Install and launch.
  3. Create a new project – select Java and specify the JDK location.
  4. Write code, run with the green play button.

Eclipse

• Edition: Free and open‑source.
• Features: Highly extensible, great for large projects, strong plugin ecosystem.
• Setup:
  1. Download from eclipse.org.
  2. Unpack and run eclipse.exe.
  3. Choose a workspace folder.
  4. Create a new Java project, configure the JRE if needed.

Visual Studio Code

• Edition: Free, lightweight.
• Features: Fast, with rich extensions.
• Setup:
  1. Download from code.visualstudio.com.
  2. Install the “Extension Pack for Java” (includes Red Hat’s language support, debugger, etc.).
  3. Open a folder, create a .java file, and start coding.
  4. Use the integrated terminal to compile/run or click the “Run” button.

All three IDEs support debugging, code navigation, and integration with build tools (Maven, Gradle).