However, Eclipse's simplicity is also it's downfall. It has incredible plugin support, very self-explanatory functions, and is great for new programmers to Java. (gets popcorn for the madness that is about to happen)Įclipse is an amazing program. The only real downside to IDEA is that you absolutely must know what you're doing, because the IDE does not provide crutches like Eclipse does (and the learning curve for the program itself is pretty 100% agreed. In addition, it's primary language is Java, so the Java support is top-notch. If you want a truly cross-platform, polyglot IDE, then IntelliJ IDEA is the way to go, it supports a huge family of languages and is one of the most streamlined IDEs you'll find today. It also only really supports the Microsoft ecosystem of languages (.NET family), and doesn't play well with other systems (like Java).

Actually, come to think of it, there is a feature it has: Microsoft specificness (that's not a good thing). Also, I can't think of a single feature that Visual Studio has that Eclipse doesn't (other than a more streamlined design). it doesn't even support build pipelines for Java). They tried to go for the one IDE fits all approach and failed miserably, as nobody wrote in support for other languages, and those that did didn't do so very well.Īs far as I know, Visual Studio's support for Java is lacklustre at best (i.e.

Eclipse is first and foremost a Java IDE, with first party extensions to C/C++, CUDA, and a few others.

Good java ide