Java Developers’ Must-Have Tools

IntelliJ 

Few software conflicts cause as much angst and suffering as the one between IntelliJ and Eclipse. Both IDEs are powerful, versatile, and user-friendly, and they make creating Java code more enjoyable. When it comes to user experience, though, IntelliJ is unrivaled. It’s quick, polished, and well-coordinated. While the repetitive indexing can be annoying, it serves a valuable purpose in that it allows IntelliJ to keep a complete picture of your whole project. Your project will have up-to-date error highlighting, smooth code completion, and quick navigation.

IntelliJ has tons of shortcuts and suggestions, and there’s a plugin for practically every case. For example, do you need to create a bash code in your project? That’s something for which there’s a plugin. Do you need to write some regexes to test console output? There’s also a plugin for that. By previewing your future changes and highlighting any problems, IntelliJ makes refactoring a snap. While every IDE has advantages and disadvantages, IntelliJ provides a pleasant development environment.

JaCoCo

Great code necessitates even greater testing, and JaCoCo assists you in ensuring that your Java code is well tested. This free code-coverage tool creates reports that show how much of your code tests. For example, when running a JUnit test, JaCoCo instrumented the class files used in the trials and created an a.exec file. Another task uses that file to create an HTML, XML, or text file with your coverage report.

Java profilers like YourKit can help you uncover memory leaks, evaluate the implications of multiple code paths, and detect other performance issues so you can write better code. The report provides a percentage representation of how much of your instructions and branches were covered. Adjust your tests once you’ve received the coverage report to ensure your code is sufficiently covered.

Any developer can use JaCoCo to generate a comprehensive, in-depth test suite for even the most complex application. It works with both Gradle and Maven and offers Eclipse and IntelliJ plugins.

JMeter 

JMeter is a free load-and-performance testing tool that supports various test types, including load, functional, performance, and regression. It’s the gold standard for load testing since it gives you the most information about your application’s flaws when put through its paces. Although JMeter has a more significant overhead than other load-testing tools, it also collects and processes the most data. It gives you a detailed, accurate picture of how your application performs under stress.

JMeter is highly flexible and platform-neutral and can use plugins to add new functionalities. Because it maintains its test plans in XML files, it’s pretty simple to change.

JUnit

It’s barely superfluous to extol JUnit’s virtues. For a good reason, JUnit is the most used unit faced similar for Java developers. Mockito is fantastic for behavior-driven programming, but JUnit reigns supreme in test-driven development. Its dominance stems partly from the fact that you can test one block of code at a time, allowing you to try and then code rather than finishing a feature and then scrambling to write tests. Its annotations clean up your test suite while reducing boilerplate code.

With each new major version, JUnit improves even more. JUnit 5 added lambda support, an annotation for nesting sets of tests into a single test class, and a way for other test frameworks. New testing frameworks will have the same platform support as JUnit 5, making their adoption faster and easier.

While it may seem foolish to include something as well-known as JUnit on our list, leaving it off would be a graver offense. JUnit is an essential part of the Java development process, and it belongs on every list of the best Java tools.

Mockito 

You’re undoubtedly already familiar with Mockito if you’re a Java developer who believes in behavior-driven development. This open-source mocking framework makes it easy to develop mocks and spies. Mockito aids in the creation of clean tests and, as a result, loosely linked code. It’s also helpful in mocking up classes and interfaces. Using spies instead of mocks results in fewer lines of code and more realistic tests that accurately predict your application’s actual behavior.

Mockito (and other mocking frameworks) might be tough to maintain. Still, the benefits of clean testing and mocking make the extra effort worthwhile.

Spark

Spark is a small Java web framework that allows for rapid development with no overhead. As indicated by its design philosophy, it creates with microservices in mind. Spark inspires by Sinatra’s Ruby framework and is based on Java 8 lambda expressions. Its API is simple, adaptable, and straightforward, making it a favorite among RESTful API developers.

Spark isn’t the ideal pick if you’re looking for an extensive Java framework to do all of the hard liftings. Spark is the way to go if you want a clean, robust framework that keeps your Java code clean and practically boilerplate-free.

SpotBugs 

SpotBugs is a static code analysis open-source project. As the name implies, it’s designed to detect bugs before you do. SpotBugs goes deep into your code to expose possible issues using over 400 bug patterns, allowing for near-instant bug detection and rectification. It then assigns one of four ratings to its findings: “of worry,” “troubling,” “scary,” and “scariest.”

SpotBugs is the follow-up to FindBugs, which was last updated in March 2015. The community has rallied around SpotBugs, and the project now has a dedicated team of contributors and maintainers pushing it forward. Ant, Maven, Gradle, and Eclipse integrations are available for SpotBugs.

SpotBugs may save you a lot of time and effort by detecting and categorizing issues before impacting your users.

Boots for Spring 

A common dependency injection framework is the Spring framework. However, it’s a maze of features and aids that even seasoned users may find overwhelming. Spring Boot aims to remove the complexities, making it easy for everyone to construct Java-based Spring applications. Think of it as a machete for slicing through the Spring framework forest. Technically, it’s nothing more than a mechanism to generate opinionated Spring application instances.

To get started with Spring Boot, you must first select a starter, a pre-configured set of dependencies tailored to the type of application you want to create. For example, if you’re building a RESTful web service with Spring MVC and Tomcat, you will use spring-boot-starter-web. To complete setting up your application, add annotations like @EnableAutoConfiguration, and you’ll have a fully configured Spring application ready to launch.

Spring Boot is the ideal tool for harnessing the Spring framework’s power while taming it.

YourKit

Running code is excellent, but high-performing, efficient code is even better. Java profilers like YourKit can help you uncover memory leaks, evaluate the implications of different code paths, and detect other performance issues. On-demand, local, and remote profiling are all possible with YourKit.

Like JProfiler, YourKit easily integrates with popular IDEs, making it a natural part of the development process. Unlike many other profilers, YourKit can profile specific sections of code in real-time, allowing you to experiment with different code paths using its what-if functionality.

YourKit also contains sophisticated exception profiling capabilities, which show the type of exception thrown and how many times it has been thrown. Finally, you may examine the details of numerous database calls, including the queries that ran.

What distinguishes YourKit from other profilers is how simple and intuitive it is to use. Unskilled coders can inspect heap dumps and comprehend YourKit’s path-based leak detection concept. Indeed, heap dumps are easy to understand and explore because of YourKit’s robust profiling features.

Conclusion 

You won’t utilize these tools in isolation from one another, and your toolbox is likely to contain numerous of them. Other well-known and well-proven Java development tools, such as Eclipse (IDE) and Maven, are not included (build tool). It should be straightforward when you only plan to use a tool occasionally. Personal preference can be just as essential as objective criteria—to who’s say it’s not the best way to go if it works for you?

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