News

JetBrains Releases IntelliJ IDEA 4.0

Technology-Leading 100% Java IDE Features Powerful GUI Builder, Enhanced Code Editing and J2EE Support, Full CVS Integration, Much More

February 17, 2004

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, February 17, 2004 – JetBrains™, Inc., creator of intelligent application development tools for the Java™ platform, today released version 4.0 of its award-winning IntelliJ™ IDEA Java IDE (Integrated Development Environment). IntelliJ IDEA, itself a 100 percent Java application, is widely recognized as the most powerful, best-designed Java IDE. Version 4.0 adds powerful new features that widen its lead as the IDE of choice for enterprise-class Java developers. Highlights include new productivity features, a new GUI Designer with intelligent runtime layout positioning and automated internal UI code, integrated CVS source code management, BEA WebLogic Server™ integration, open API for Program Structure Interface, enhanced code editing, full support for Java Generics and more.

“Our user community continues to grow as IntelliJ IDEA attracts the world’s best Java developers,» said Eugene Belyaev, President and Chief Technology Officer of JetBrains, Inc. «Their feedback and participation have made IntelliJ IDEA the most community-driven commercial IDE on the market. More than ever, IntelliJ IDEA 4.0 ‘thinks’ the way developers think, leading to rapid acceptance in the very discerning Java development market we serve.”

Many IntelliJ IDEA 4.0 features were first suggested by the user community. The responsiveness of the development team, especially in opening the program API, has fueled even more valuable community contributions. More than 120 plug-ins (both free and commercial) have already been developed by the community members. A lightweight plug-in wizard allows plug-in users to quickly browse, install/uninstall and update plug-ins directly from IntelliJ IDEA, without switching to the online repository.

The full-featured IntelliJ IDEA program code editor now smartly performs on-the-fly local code inspection during error analysis, and provides new enhanced code completions and intention actions as well. The editor’s gutter area icons call powerful features including quick navigation to overriding/implementing or base methods and easy reviewing of local changes, with one-click rollback and diff capabilities. An enhanced debugging functionality provides features like HotSwap support as well as code completion and highlighting in the evaluation window.

IntelliJ IDEA 4.0 is far advanced in its support of refactoring, and the company has published a series of free, animated e-learning tutorials to help bring Java developers quickly up to speed. The tutorials show clearly how IntelliJ IDEA transforms refactoring from elegant theory into a powerful, efficient, real-world development tool. Available at https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/training for either streaming or download, the tutorials include an introduction to refactoring as well as specifics on how to apply sophisticated refactorings such as Extract Method, Extract Interface and Introduce Field to improve Java code in enterprise applications. Another series of animated tutorials will speed a user’s acquaintance with the GUI Designer and its main principles.

Key features and benefits of IntelliJ IDEA 4.0 – An overview of features is available at www.jetbrains.com/idea and a complete list can be seen at www.jetbrains.com/idea/features. The long list of new IntelliJ IDEA 4.0 enhancements includes:

  • New Productivity Features
    Additional navigation capabilities, new code completions and intention actions, recording and playing macros in the editor, diff view for arbitrary files and selections, etc., make coding faster than ever;
  • GUI Designer
    Graphical User Interface Designer removes the “pain points” of interface design, such as writing loads of code for even simple things, while easy runtime layout positioning and internal GUI code allow IntelliJ IDEA to separate sources from the GUI layout;
  • Full CVS Integration
    Everything needed for code management, storage and reuse from a central repository is built-in, with no need for a separate CVS client;
  • Generics Support
    This useful new Java SDK 1.5 language feature is available right now through innovations like “Generify” refactoring to convert existing code in seconds to support Generics, while Generics-aware code completion performs the tedious tasks;
  • JUnit Integration
    Enhanced integration makes JUnit testing easy to launch, with quick switching between test results or failures and the relevant code;
  • Modular Projects
    Modularized source code and libraries can be shared between projects, an especially useful capability for J2EE™ and Web applications that may use the same component sources;
  • BEA WebLogic Server Integration
    J2EE development is enabled with BEA WebLogic Server, including configuration and debugging for local and remote servers, Enterprise JavaBeans™ and more;
  • Splitting Editors
    A second editor window with another set of tabbed files allows the user to open two different files at one time;
  • Enhanced Debugger
    More efficient code debugging with HotSwap support means there is no need to stop and restart the debugger when modifying code;

JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA 4.0 is immediately available for purchase. A complete list of features and free 30-day, fully functional evaluation copy are available at www.jetbrains.com. International Sales: JetBrains s.r.o., Klanova 9/506, 14000 Prague, Czech Republic (Phone: +420 2 4172 2501; Fax: +420 2 6171 1724). North American sales representatives are available in the Medford, New Jersey office by calling (609) 714-7883 and in San Mateo, California by calling (650) 378-8571.

About JetBrains, Inc.

JetBrains, Inc. is a technology-leading software development firm specializing in the creation of intelligent development tools. The company is widely known for its innovative, unsurpassed Java integrated development environment, IntelliJ IDEA (see details on the Web at https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/). JetBrains, Inc. maintains its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, with its R&D lab located in St. Petersburg, Russia and its new Boston, Massachusetts facility. For more information, see https://www.jetbrains.com.

IntelliJ and IntelliJ IDEA are trademarks or registered trademarks of JetBrains, Inc. Java, J2EE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

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