Apache closed the year 2018 with the release of the much-awaited NetBeans 10. The new version has brought some major updates for JDK 11 support and PHP support. NetBeans is a popular IDE for Java developers. Apart from Java, it has extended its compatibility with PHP, JUnit 5, JavaScript and Groovy. The release date of Apache NetBeans 10 is 27th December 2018, and the following is the list of the features it has brought for the coders.

What Is New In NetBeans 10 –

Apart from the already stated JDK 11 support and PHP support, it has included the support for JUnit 5 testing framework for Java. JDK 11 arrived in September 2018 and hence, you are getting the latest version’s support. In other words, you will be getting to implement the new features of JDK 11 through the IDE without any issue. Apart from that, there is support for dynamic class file constants which are highly useful for language designers and compile implementors. It reduces the cost of creating new materializable class-file constants.

JDK 11 Support –

All the new features of JDK 11 are available. There is local-variable syntax support and LVTI support for lambda parameters. In short, it allows variables to be used during the time you are declaring the formal parameters of implicit lambda expressions. Basically, it aligns the formal parameter declarations with local variable declaration. The COBRA module has been confiscated. Besides, the integration of nb-javac project is there.

PHP Support –

There are different support features available for different PHP versions. For PHP 7.3, you can add trailing commas during function calls. Moreover, you can use the feature of list reference assignment. On top of that, it supports Nowdoc Syntaxes and flexible Heredoc. The trailing commas are also supported for PHP 7.2 in list syntax. Furthermore, you can use coloring for object types. As far as PHP 7.1 support goes, it supports nullable types, multi-catch exception handling, and class constant visibility. Besides, the context-sensitive lexer is supported from PHP 7.

JUnit 5 Support –

NetBeans has added Junit 5.3.1 as a new library. You can add it your Java project. JUnit 5 is now the default JUnit version for Maven projects. On top of that, JUnit 5 Test template is provided in it as well. Moreover, there is support for OpenJDK, and various modules in the Groovy cluster are included. In fact, NetBeans team sees a Groovy as a replacement for Python as well as C and C++ in the future.

On the face of it, it looks like NetBeans can finally be on the same page as the two other most popular IDEs namely Eclipse and IntelliJ. Even some of them consider it to be finally better than those two IDEs. NetBeans lost its market share when it dropped its support for Python and C, and C++ are barely hanging by threads. NetBeans 11 is somewhat a comeback, and it remains to be seen how the market share increases especially in the corporate world.

Kitty Gupta
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