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JetBrains has released the latest version of its IntelliJ IDEA Java integrated development environment (IDE), Version 13.
This new major version of IntelliJ IDEA is a planned annual release with updated support for all the important Java development technologies advanced this year, including Java EE 7, Glassfish 4, Wildfly 8, Tomcat 8 and others.
JetBrains also updated and refined some of the other existing functionality in the product, such as Spring Framework support, Gradle integration and Android development tools.
According to JetBrains, over the course of 2013, IntelliJ IDEA increased its mindshare and market share among developers. IntelliJ IDEA thrives not least because of JetBrains’ close cooperation with the companies behind the leading Java technologies, the company said.
For instance, Android Studio, a new development environment by Google built on top of IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition, did not go unnoticed by the Android development community. This noncommercial partnership is an implementation of the open-source concept embraced by JetBrains. Indeed, the announcement of Google’s Android Studio was one of the biggest issues of the year for JetBrains, with the announcement of a new development environment for Android, built in cooperation with JetBrains.
“This influx of passionate Android developers using the IntelliJ Platform is not only improving our platform, but also resulting in some really great new features,” said Maxim Mossienko, IntelliJ IDEA project lead, in a statement.
IntelliJ IDEA 13 is the first major release that includes features from this collaboration, as well as a new Gradle-based build system, new editor, UI designer improvements and more.
Spring developers will also find IntelliJ IDEA 13 helpful, as the new release offers better performance, a new dedicated tool window and an easier way to configure Spring projects.
“We continue to work with JetBrains on their support for the Spring framework,” said Pieter Humphrey, consulting product marketing manager for Spring at Pivotal, in a statement. “They’ve shown a strong commitment to helping Spring developers be more productive in IntelliJ IDEA, the favorite tool of many of our own engineers. We look forward to working together on improved features and integration.”
Moreover, JetBrains officials said with this new release, Scala platform support receives built-in Simple Build Tool (SBT) integration and numerous other enhancements.
“We are continuing to work with the JetBrains team to improve their support of Scala,” said Derek Henninger, vice president of engineering at Typesafe, in a statement. Typesafe is a company founded by Martin Odersky and the creators of the Scala programming language. “IntelliJ IDEA 13 represents the first features based on our collaboration. They address the needs we’ve both seen from our joint customers and our use internally at Typesafe with our development and consulting teams.”
Overall, IntelliJ IDEA 13 highlights include support for Java EE 7; Spring support improvements, with better performance, a new dedicated tool window and easier project configuration; improved Git, Mercurial and Subversion tools; refined Gradle support, with code insight and smooth project synchronization; improved database tools and SQL support; new tools for Android development; a more straightforward user interface; better Scala support with built-in SBT integration; Cloud Foundry 2.0, OpenShift and Heroku deployment tools; and improved performance.
Both personal and commercial licenses now include a one-year upgrade subscription. For more information on the new pricing and licensing options for IntelliJ IDEA, go here.