What is NetBeans? Benefits and uses

A IDE (Integrated Development Environment) or integrated development environment is a digital environment that allows the development of software, video games or any other code-related element. 

IDEs make work easier for software developers as well as computer programmers.

Thanks to the SDIs, the basic steps of an software development process are integrated, as well as those of code writing, among other actions. 

In this post, we talk about a currently widely used IDE: NetBeans, which has been created primarily to work with the Java programming language.

Netbeans or Apache NetBeans - definition

What is NetBeans? First of all, it is worth noting that although everyone knows NetBeans as "NetBeans", after a rebranding process in 2016, the name was changed to "Apache NetBeans". Hence the title of this section. Now it's time to get to know its definition:

NetBeans is an IDE or integrated development environment, based on the Java language and running in Swing.

Thus, NetBeans or Apache NetBeans is an open source application, which has become quite popular in recent years. 

This IDEmainly oriented towards Java appsoffers different digital tools such as text editor, code editor, compiler, graphical user interface and debugger.

On the other hand, it should be noted that NetBeans facilitates the creation of structured applications, as they are based on a set of modules. Thus, it favours the development of the various functions in an independent manner and can also reuse the components. 

NetBeans and Java

If you want to really answer what NetBeans is and what it is for, this application has to be placed next to the Java language. Both belonged to the same company, which is why this IDE is mainly oriented towards this programming language.

However, NetBeans can be used without any problems with other programming languages for the creation and development of software.

We can therefore create and develop applications with NetBeans and PHP or even with more dynamic languages such as JavaScript. In addition, there is a long list of other languages, such as: CRuby, C++ or Groovy, among others.

What is NetBeans for?

NetBeans helps in the development of any kind of software and in its different phases. Programmers use it as a means for scripting, compiling or simply finding bugs in programs based on the above languages.

It is useful for running programs on different electronic devices, both mobile and PC. NetBeans also allows you to mark the lines of code to be modified at a later date by means of Bookmarking.

On the other hand, it provides a visual library where you can get the different widgets and allows you to managing data storage in an optimal way. 

Advantages of Netbeans

In order to understand what NetBeans is, it is important to understand what are the benefits of using this IDE. Here are some examples:

• Open source: NetBeans is open source and therefore free, so anyone can download this application. To do so, it is necessary to visit the official web site of Apache NetBeans.
• Multi-platform: It can be used on different devices, as well as run on different operating systems (Mac OS, Windows, Linux and Solaris). 
• Automatic memory management: For C or C++ programs, memory management can be done automatically.
• Multilanguage: As we have been saying, NetBeans allows you to develop multilingual applications. That is to say, it does not only operate with Java; NetBeans can use other languages such as PHP, C or Ruby, among others.

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