Sun Delivers OpenSolaris, NetBeans Updates - NetBeans News Growing (
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Meanwhile, Sun and the NetBeans community announced the availability of the
NetBeans IDE Early Access for PHP scripting
language. The move enables Web 2.0 developers using PHP to leverage the
NetBeans IDE. Sun also announced the general
availability of NetBeans 6.1, the latest version of Sun's open-source IDE.
Both can be downloaded here.
NetBeans IDE Early Access for PHP
includes intelligent editing features such as prioritized code completion,
instant rename, mark occurrences, dynamic code templates and easy navigation.
Outside of the editor, it provides debugging support, deployment to the local
server, dynamic help and sample projects intended to make it easier to get
started with PHP development, and support for embedded CSS,
HTML and JavaScript technologies. More details can be found here.
"Dynamic languages continue to be a major focus for Sun and we are
thrilled to provide NetBeans IDE Early
Access for PHP to this community," said Octavian Tanase, senior director
of NetBeans Engineering at Sun. "Support for JavaScript technology,
integration with MySQL database and a host of other powerful features position
NetBeans as a premier IDE for PHP developers
everywhere."
NetBeans 6.1 includes new features for developing AJAX
(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web applications using JavaScript
technology and delivers tighter integration with the MySQL database.
David Folk, group manager for marketing at NetBeans, said NetBeans 6.1's
JavaScript technology support is based on the dynamic language infrastructure
added for the Ruby programming language and includes semantic highlighting,
code completion, type analysis, quick fixes, semantic checks and refactoring.
Version 6.1 also adds in a browser compatibility feature intended to make it
easier to write JavaScript code to run in Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari or
Windows Internet Explorer.
In addition, the NetBeans Database Explorer in NetBeans IDE
6.1 makes it easier to create, start and stop MySQL databases and connect to
and browse a database's tables, said Gregg Sporar, a NetBeans technology
evangelist. Other new NetBeans features include faster startup and code
completion, enhanced support for Ruby and JRuby such as a new Ruby platform
manager, and support for the IBM Rational
ClearCase version control system, Sporar said.
NetBeans 6.1 also includes enhanced support for Web services. "We have
support for REST-ful [Representational State Transfer] Web services,"
Sporar said.
Sporar and Folk said NetBeans has closed the gap considerably in its competition
with the Eclipse open-source IDE, which
maintains the lion's share of mind share among developers who use an
open-source Java IDE.
However, over the last three years, that as begun to change as NetBeans has
added a host of new features such as PHP support, support for Ruby and all the
new features in NetBeans 6.1, Sporar said. When it comes to whether developers
are using one or the other, "the conversation has changed to become one
more of 'and' rather than an 'or,'" Folk said, noting that more developers
are saying they use both Eclipse and NetBeans, choosing depending on the
situation.
Application Development 
