Download and install the best free apps for Programming Software on Mac from CNET Download.com, your trusted source for the top software picks.

Java is an extremely common programming language, used nearly everywhere – Android apps, game consoles, even supercomputers. It is known for its simplicity, and its amazing portability. In today’s article, we will be looking at the 10 Best Java IDEs of All Time.

An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is an all-in-one software which not only lets you edit and compile your code, but also manages resources, provides deployment and version controlling options, and lets you use advanced debugging features for your entire project. Best Java IDEs 1. NetBeans Once owned by Sun Microsystems, and now by Oracle, NetBeans is one of the best IDEs from the past decade. NetBeans is completely modularized, and all the IDE functions come in packages called modules. It offers easy integration with version control software. NetBeans was made open source by sun, so anyone can contribute to its development. It is free, and works on most operating systems and platforms.

• Developer: Oracle • Platforms: NetBeans is a cross platform IDE, supporting Windows, Mac and Linux • Pricing: Free • Size: 186 MB for the Java EE Version 2. IntelliJ IDEA IntelliJ is a closed source Java IDE, and one of the ‘big three’ among Java IDEs (The other two being Eclipse and NetBeans). IntelliJ IDEA has a great, modern UI. It was chosen to be the base IDE for Android Studio, the new all-in-one software for developing Android apps, developed by Google. There are two versions of IntelliJ, the Community Edition, which is free, and the Ultimate Edition which is fully featured and requires paid licenses to use. • Developer: JetBrains • Platforms: OS X, Linux, Windows • Pricing: Paid ($199 individual user license).

Free for Students and open source projects. • Size: 180 MB for the Community Edition, 290 MB for the Ultimate Edition 3. Eclipse Eclipse is one of the most popular IDEs out there, and not for just Java, but also for C++ and PHP. Eclipse is an open source tool and has a great community of developers.

It also features a huge library of plugins, all made by users. Eclipse latest big release came last year with Eclipse Luna, which offered support for Java 8. Eclipse was also the base IDE for the old Android SDK (Software Development Kit).

• Developer: Eclipse Foundation • Platforms: Eclipse is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and OSX • Pricing: Free • Size: The Eclipse Luna download package for Java Developers is (almost) 155 MB. Jdeveloper JDeveloper is a fully free IDE released by Oracle. JDeveloper offers several features like, Refactoring, Version Control, Audit & Metrics,Debugging, Profiling. Ant Support and Maven Support. It comes in two editions, a Studio edition which has a fully loaded tool set for creating programs in Java, and a Java Edition, which lacks J2EE, ADF, UML and Database features, but is much smaller and faster.

The Java Edition has all the core features needed for Java and should satisfy most beginner and intermediate Java coders. • Developer: Oracle • Platforms: Cross Platform • Pricing: Free • Size: Java Edition-181 MB, Studio Edition -1.8 GB 5.

Java is a lightweight Java IDE which is maintained on Sourceforge. It is designed primarily for Students, and beginners, but also has advanced features for Java pros. It is free and open source. Java is maintained by the JavaPLT group at the Rice University. Its interface has been designed using the Swing toolkit developed by Sun Microsystems. • Platforms: Cross Platform • Pricing: Free • Size: 13 MB 6.