If you’re a developer or keep up with the IT industry then there are high chances that you keep searching for that perfect IDE. An IDE that supports all the languages that you work in, has lots of plugin support, and is customizable.
Netbeans is an IDE which is currently owned by Apache. It was originally open-source and owned by Sun Microsystems. Currently, Netbeans has two products namely Apache NetBeans IDE and the Apache NetBeans Platform. NetBeans is popularly used to make applications that use Java as their programming language. Apart from Java, it has support for languages like HTML, C, C++, Ruby on Rails, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, etc. It has downloads of over 18 million and the community is growing. It has support for popular operating systems like Windows, Mac, and Linux. Netbeans is used in a wide range of applications like education, businesses, software development, open-source projects and many more.
Some of the features of Netbeans are:-
- NetBeans offers syntax highlighting, automatic code completion, code suggestions, refactoring, navigation, templates, and many more which makes writing code easy.
- The inbuilt debugger helps you to spot errors in runtime by using breakpoints and inspecting variables, callbacks, and functions.
- Netbeans has a GUI builder to develop Java applications as well. Developers can just drag and drop the elements they want and write the logic. This reduces the code that has to be written for making the UI and layout.
- The ecosystem is very important for an IDE and Netbeans has a vast ecosystem. Lots of plugins are available for Netbeans that can be used to bring the desired functionality to your IDE.
- NetBeans helps you optimize your application with its profiling tools. Profiling tools can analyse the areas that are acting as bottlenecks which can further be optimised by you.
Prerequisites for NetBeans Installation on Linux
You should take care of the following before installing Netbeans on Linux:-
- You should have sudo or root permissions because it requires administrative privileges.
- Check the system requirements from the official websites. And check if your system will be able to run Netbeans or not.
- The Java Development Kit (JDK) because Netbeans require it as a dependency. We recommend either Oracle JDK or OpenJDK.
- Check if your Linux distro is supported by Netbeans. Some of the popular Linux distros Netbeans supports are Ubuntu, Fedora, and CentOS.
- You should have enough space for the IDE to install. We recommend having plenty of storage space as the projects you’ll be making will take up space quickly.
- It is recommended to have a stable and fast internet connection to download the IDE.
Step-by-Step Guide to Installing NetBeans on Linux
NetBeans can be installed through apt or snap package managers and through downloading it from the official site as well.
We’ve listed the installation process for popular Linux distros below.
Installing NetBeans Using Snap Package Manager
If snap package manager is installed in your system then you can use the following command to install NetBeans on Linux:-
sudo snap install netbeans --classic
Installing NetBeans on Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint
For installation of NetBeans on your system you also need JDK. So in the following steps, we’ve also included the JDK installation.
- Open the terminal and use the following command;-
sudo apt update
sudo apt install default-jdk
- Download the Apache NetBeans installer from the official site.
- Change the directory of the terminal to the directory where the downloaded file is located. Then use the following commands:-
$ chmod +x Apache-NetBeans-12.0-bin-linux-x64.sh
$ ./Apache-NetBeans-12.0-bin-linux-x64.sh
- You’ll be greeted with the installation wizard and the welcome screen. You can go through with the installation process, and customise the options according to your needs. And at the end, Netbeans will be installed.
Verifying JDK Installation on Your System
To check if JDK is installed on my system use the following command:-
java -version
If the output shows a version of Java then JDK is successfully installed.
Why NetBeans is Your Go-To IDE for Linux
NetBeans is a very popular, versatile, widely used feature-rich IDE. This can help you to write and predict code snippets. It is open source and was given to Apache as a charity in 2016. The IDE is constantly updating due to the large community support.
The installation process is also not very tough. We recommend downloading and installing from the official site or using the snap package manager to install NetBeans in your system. There’s also an apt CLI method but the apt packages have an older version of NetBeans.
Don’t forget to check out the prerequisites section. They tell you the things you need before installation. For example for NetBeans you need JDK and there are minimum CPU and memory requirements.
At last, enjoy making new applications and services through NetBeans IDE. NetBeans is not just an IDE; it’s a community-driven platform that evolves with your needs. Ready to dive in?