Oracle unveils NetBeans IDE 7.2

Two months on from releasing the beta, Oracle have let the latest version of their multilingual IDE into the wild
Two months on from a beta
release, Oracle have let the latest version of their
multilingual IDE loose into the wild by
unveiling NetBeans IDE 7.2. Within that time, they’ve bolstered an
already-stocked offering with some further intriguing
tidbits.
With the free, open source IDE, developers can craft web,
enterprise, desktop and mobile applications for the Java platform,
coding in a variety of languages. These include
PHP, JavaScript, C/C++, Scala and
Clojure.
Whilst much of this release is devoted to enhancing
performance through wiser project scanning, the biggest coup for
the IDE is the native integration of FindBugs – the
popular, open source Java-based static analysis tool. Now
NetBeans users get the ammunition they need to kill the most
elusive of bugs earlier on in the development
lifecycle.
Editor tinkering further enhances developer productivity by
adding a new bookmark manager, search bar and JPA code completion
plus general refactoring. NetBeans has also been given a kickstart,
with the team reporting a 10 percent improvement in
average startup times thanks to the work done in this
release.
As for the supporting lineup, the latest JavaFX features make
their debut here, and the most welcome newcomer is visual editor
SceneBuilder. Groovy 1.8.6 is now supported, so we’ll have to wait
some time yet for Groovy 2.0 to make its appearance.
“NetBeans IDE 7.2’s enhanced performance and responsiveness
continues to improve the Java developer experience,” said Ted
Farrell, chief architect and senior vice president, Tools and
Middleware, Oracle. “The new capabilities, which resulted from
collaboration with users, can help developers write code quickly
and efficiently for their web, enterprise, desktop and mobile
applications.”
If you’re a fan of this particular IDE, download it here, and
be sure to check out some supporting screenshots
and tutorials
for the release. There’s no denying that whilst Oracle don’t
really do anything radical with NetBeans, its success
lies in the way they keep it ticking over with regular
updates.