VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Are you new to Java development or a coder graduating from Notepad to your first real IDE? If you are, then this book is for you. Authors Duane K. Fields, Stephen Saunders and Eugene Belayev, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that will give you all of the information you need to become an IDEA expert.
Fields, Saunders and Belayev, begin by introducing you to IDEA by demonstrating a simple programming task from implementation to execution. Then, the authors introduce you to the editor's core features that will help you from day to day, line by line. Next, they cover the power features within the IDEA editor. The authors also cover managing your projects. They continue by covering the building and running of your project. Then, they cover the debugger in extreme detail. Next, the authors discuss Junit and IDEA's unit testing support. They also discuss the version control features of IDEA. The authors continue by covering the development of Swing applications. Then, they cover J2EE development. Next, the authors show you how to adjust things to your liking. Finally, the authors cover things like using bookmarks and macros, and extending IDEA by using plugins and external tools.
The purpose of this most excellent book is to get you up and running quickly. Perhaps more importantly, this book shows you how to use IDEA's multitude of powerful software development tools to their fullest advantage!
Great tool, useful book
I switched to IntelliJ IDEA recently and switching tools is never an easy process. This book is very interesting for both beginners and experienced developers. The former will find everything they need to learn how to use an IDE and harness its power to become more productive.
On the other hand, experienced developers will find a lot of information they are already aware of. Nevertheless, this book will prove to be useful to learn about all the features one would normally postpone the learning of because of time constraints during the day. It is also an excellent way to learn about smaller yet useful features that do not appear in the user interface. Given the time we spend in our IDE, I do think it's worth buying such a book, even to get only a few pieces of information. A few of these gems will save a lot of our time and sanity and that's the real value.
Good for the Beginner or Experienced User
IntelliJ IDEA is the first Java IDE that is set up to think like a developer. It's function is to help with the initial writing and then the refactoring of code. The central point of its development has been to assist developers to code faster and increase productivity. IntelliJ IDEA is now in its fifth generation (and as always the next generation is in the works).
The book isn't exactly a joint development between the authors and the developing vendor JetBrains, but it's close. It is an authorized production written with the cooperation, approval, and contributions of the development at JetBrains.
At a superficial level IDEA can be just another editor with a few tools to facilitate rapid typing. Beyond that, however is a multitude of powerful tools to assist development.
The book is organized in such a way that a beginner can start with how to install the program, or an experienced developer can quickly get to topics they need to understand more completely. So if you are a beginner or an advanced user, this is an excellent book and highly recommended.
(3 reviews)
