If you like these things, you should try Eclipse. I saw this post hoping to see what new things NetBeans did that were new and better and found 3 things that I've been using in Eclipse for years!
The NetBeans code completion seems smarter than the Eclipse one. For example invoking code completion for: java.util.List<Integer> l = new ^ does not offer all the implementors of the List in Eclipse but in NetBeans 6 does.
The code completion features seem interesting. Unfortunately, these times I'm doing not enough coding to know if they are present in similar programs.
But as far as the imports managing and the identifier highlighting are concerned... Well, instead of showcasing features that other IDEs already had *years* ago, I would find much more interesting to read a rationale for your choice of NetBeans over other competitors (in particular, open source competitors such as Eclipse).
Norm, what's your baseline for this comparison? Is it Netbeans 5.5? I'm a confirmed Eclipse user, and I keep seeing other people raving about Netbeans, but each time I try it, there's nothing compelling for me there. It may be that I've been using Eclipse for so long that I can't easily migrate to another IDE, but I managed to use IDEA quite happily in a previous job, so I think it's possible for me to move to something else. Netbeans just hasn't provided a good enough reason for me to move yet and the impedance mismatch in terms of the different ways of thinking about development in that environment has meant that I've not been able to really immerse myself in Netbeans for any length of time.
I sometimes wonder when I see yourself and Tim singing the praises of Netbeans whether you would do the same if you didn't work at Sun? It might be a good idea to have a disclaimer either way?
Tom, are you sure? What version of Eclipse are you using?
My baseline was Netbeans 5.5. I chose Netbeans because that's what the rest of my development team uses. I've never tried to do any sort of objective comparison between Netbeans and its competitors.
That said, I don't feel like I need any more explicit a disclaimer here than I make on the homepage. I'm a fan of Netbeans because I use it and like it.
I usually recommend to users to each side (Eclipse and NetBeans) to evaluate the other software from time to time. Mostly, I think the differences come down to what you use java for.
NetBeans wins GUI development hands down for its inclusion of Matisse.
Eclipse is usually the favorite for J2EE, and up until I evaluated NetBeans last, it also has better project and task management. This is especially true with the recent Mylyn addition. Also, Eclipse tends to have more 3rd party plugins.
It looks like NetBeans is catching up with some of the nicer features of Eclipse, and I'll have to schedule a re-evaluation of NetBeans. A free (i.e. not MyEclipse) and stable Eclipse+Matisse would be hard to beat, however.
@Chris
>>A free [..] Eclipse+Matisse would be hard to beat, however.
You mean something like this? (Well, it's not free, but Eclipse+Matisse nonetheless...)
http://www.myeclipseide.com/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=5