We Keep Coding

Applications that require Java are having strange tab namings

I am having a problem with applications that require Java to run, like Eclipse, DBeaver and so on. I have Java 11 JDK installed, but the tabs on each of these applications are showing weird names. I do think that the problem is because of Java and I really wanted to know if anybody else had this kind of problem, and how they dealt with it. It is driving me crazy. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling JDK but nothing successfully resolved my problem.

I have not experienced the issue that you are seeing however I can suggest a possible reason for this.
Java 9+ represents Strings using UTF-8, rather than UTF-16 (I think), which was used previously. This means that characters will take a different number of bytes in their representation. I would suggest re-installing the packages which are showing the issue, these (if they are java based) have presumably been built with a newer java and the new install will hopefully not display this issue.

How to migrate Java code to a more recent jdk (e.g. 1.8)

What is the best way to migrate Java code of an older jdk (1.5) to a more recent Java version (1.8) to provide from its new features and improvements.
We have a large Java jdk 5 code base and want to migrate to jdk 8.
There are a lot of compiler warnings and hints (e.g. diamond operator, multicatch, unnecessary (un)boxing, etc) which will improve the performance, code readability, etc.
We are using Netbeans IDE. Are there any plugins which we can use or are there migration scripts?

The likelihood of your code being incompatible with Java 8 is slim, since Java has taken great strides to ensure backwards compatibility with all previous versions.
The issues that you'll likely run into lie much deeper, likely in implementations of collections or methods who have changed over the years.
If you don't have a test suite that covers the critical paths of your code, start there. You'll need that test suite to ensure that the migration hasn't horribly broken anything.
Next, peruse the compatibility guides for Java 1.7 and Java 1.8 and be sure that nothing that you're using in particular is impacted by those changes.
Lastly, the code cleanup piece can be tackled, but it shouldn't be addressed right now. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is to get the platform running on the new version of Java. As you work in the code base, discipline yourself and the team to use the newer Java idioms, such as the diamond notation, and try-with-resources where applicable.

Unfortunately, there are no magical ways to achieve what you are asking, but here are a few pointers that can make it easier for you to migrate the code to JDK 1.7 (note that JDK 1.8 has been out for some time now, and 1.7 is already out of support officially by Oracle):
Use checkstyle or a similar plugin in Eclipse to find the problems
Build your project with JDK compiler level 1.7 in Eclipse; warnings given by Eclipse are much more user friendly than the warnings printed on console by command line compiler
In theory, JDK 1.7 is backwards compatible with 1.5. The only exceptions are assert and enum keywords. If you used these words as user defined type/method names, you'll get a compilation error. So for most part, you can get right down to warnings. If push comes to shove, you can choose to ignore many of these warnings (of course, only if you must)

Found what I was looking for: Netbeans offers Inspect and Transform.
This can be used to transform your complete code base (or parts of it) with a configuration of changes.
This is how it works:
select your project
click Refactor menu
click Inspect and Transform menu item
select configuration and configure it using the Manage button
choose your desired transformations (e.g. Can Use Diamond, Join catch sections using multicatch, unnecessary boxing, etc.)
click Inspect
Review proposed refactoring suggestions and click Do Refactoring
Your complete code base is refactored and uses your selected new features and new idioms.
IntelliJ IDEA has a similar feature. See Analyze > Inspect Code ...
In Eclipse this is called clean up in code style (configuration) or source (menu).

Can I change the platform version of an android app after creating it?

I am just learning about android app development and have created my first app which is a relatively simple app with a link to a gallery of images and some text pages. I created this using the 1.5 platform as it seemed sensible to make it backwards compatible. I've been testing it on 3.0 and it comes up tiny on the screen and I have since learnt I need to use supports-screens and other related commands to allow variable screen support which from what i read is only available in 1.6 and above. As a result I need to change the app platform to 1.6 or above and my questions are as follows:
1) Am I able to just go to project properties and change the platform version tickbox to a newer one (in this case 1.6)? As I tried this with the project but the supports-screens tag still gives an error (which it doesn't when I create a brand new project)?
2) What version should I be creating it in these days for ideal backwards compatibility but able to use most desirable features? I understand 1.6 includes a lot of the newer functionality but according to http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html only about 4% of people are using less than 2.1 so is it better to just code using 2.1 (assuming I want to target mobiles and tablets)?
Thanks so much for your help as ever,
Dave

Take a look at this. It explains how you can go about changing your AndroidManifest.xml to specify which version of the SDK to use. You may also need to update default.properties to point the target to the proper api value.
This really depends on what you want to do. If you require something from 2.1 or 3.0, then I think you need to go with that. But if you can get by using just 1.6 and still have all the functionality that you need/want, then I would definitely recommend using 1.6.

For someone coming from Visual Studio/C# background and wants to learn Java - Which should I get: Netbeans or Eclipse?

I'm looking for the following:
A nice debugger that allows me to easily view variable values if I use breakpoints.
Works very nicely in Windows 7.
Has something similar to the Toolbox pane in Visual Studio.
Built in intellisense, and code completion with the TAB key.
Long term support. I mean something that will last and stay in active development for years. I don't want a pet project IDE that will stop developing in a year. I'm just learning so it'll be very dificult at first to switch IDE's.
I'm new so I don't really know which IDE provides what I need between the two. Any help?

Well, I switched from Eclipse to Visual Studio, and I use both just about every day.
I found it hard to get used to the little differences at first, but now I am proficient in both IDEs.
I can't speak to whether or not Netbeans would be easier to learn, but Eclipse shouldn't be hard at all.
Both IDEs will provide all of the features that you have listed, and you should be able to customize both of them to get them to work almost exactly like Visual Studio.

So you want to learn Java and your first question is about which IDE to learn ? I suggest you look at BlueJ which is an IDE designed for people who want to learn Java. From my, I admit limited, experience with the IDEs you mention, BlueJ is the one which gets least in one's way when trying to learn Java as opposed to learning the IDE. Once you've exhausted BlueJ's capabilities there is an easy progression to NetBeans through a plug-in but you would probably not find it too difficult to step up to Eclipse instead.
Yes, I know you want to choose between Eclipse and NetBeans but BlueJ might be of interest.

This is a common debate, and there are obviously merits on both sides (this might be better served as a community wiki page). I prefer Eclipse, but to answer your questions as well as I can briefly:
Works very nicely in Windows 7.
Both are fine.
Has something similar to the Toolbox pane in Visual Studio.
Sorry, not familiar. Neither are short on panes, though Eclipse has a richer cache of third party plugins that might give you the experience you want.
Built in intellisense, and code completion with the TAB key.
I believe both are Ctrl-Space by default. If you're working in Java in Eclipse, there's an automated pop-up after a half second delay each time you type a separator (.) character.
Long term support. I mean something that will last and stay in active development for >years. I don't want a pet project IDE that will stop developing in a year. I'm just >learning so it'll be very dificult at first to switch IDE's.
Both are very mature products. I'd imagine Eclipse's fortunes are a little more secure simply because NetBeans might experience some turbulence during the Oracle acquisition of Sun.
My only other comment is that it's always seemed to me that Netbeans had far nicer "click-and-go" project templates out of the box, while Eclipse offered richer third party library integrations and a better debugger.

Probably both will do. Personally, I'd rather use Netbeans, because it's easier to get started right-out-of-the box. Eclipse depends more on plugins.

Why not try both and see which one suits your individual tastes more?

Both are find but if you want to build GUI's, Netbeans has the edge as it has a built in GUI builder, including a toolbox of controls to use with it.
Eclipse does not have a GUI builder. The commercial Eclipse distribution, MyEclipse does have a GUI builder - it's actually the one from Netbeans.

Neither Intellij IDEA is the Cadillac of Java IDEs

Netbeans = Great out of box experiance
Eclipse = Highly customizable with plugins and (so I've heard) slightly better intellisence-like capabilities.
If possible, I'd say try both (despite the bandwidth problem). If you get basic Java Development versions, the sizes aren't that big (48 MB for NetBeans and 92 MB for Eclipse)
I personally prefer NetBean's in-built capabilities since I don't like having to install plugins to make my experience the way I want it (and not all Eclipse plugins are free) but most of my fellow java devs prefer Eclipse's simplicity and ease of use.

I think you should try Intellij Idea, it the most powerful-intuitive java IDE I've never seen (http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/index.html). The new Community Edition is free and more than enough for java developpement. As it is highly configurable you can choose 'TAB' for auto completion, but I think you can learn from existing combinations that are well design.
Regards.

Java has some really nice IDEs available and many will do what you require.
I dont know you, but I use VS with Resharper so I m very used to those shortcuts, if you do too then have a look at IntelliJ ( they have a comunity edition)
Otherwise you can get eclipse and get the IntelliJ keymap ( or try to get the default VS keymap)
Netbeans is nice too, but I had some problems with it ( ie didnt build, rancomly crashing, etc)
Also most offer Source Control integration ( in Eclipse you have many flavours of subversion for example)
I guess you ll have to play around and find what suits you
Cheers

Emacs and Java change propagation and errors notification

Emacs and Java change propagation
Hi,
I'm mostly used to code in IDE like Eclipse but I wanted to try emacs. Because I keep hearing about how much better it is than big IDE like Eclipse and Visual Studio.
So I was looking at what emacs provides for Java (with the JDEE extension) but it doesn't seem as complete as Eclipse.
One of the most important thing I look for in a Java editor is change propagation and error notification. For example if I rename a class, I want to be able to have all the declarations of this class renamed automatically. And if I delete a method, I want to be able to see all the place where this creates errors.
I didn't find those things in emacs, and this is a showstopper for me, I can't see how I could work on big projects without those features.
So my question is : those features don't exist or is it just me that haven't looked at the right place?

Emacs can be better that Eclipse, but the question is "for what"? Emacs (and VIM) are generally smaller, faster and optimized for text editing and navigation*. In recent versions Eclipse are quite capable for editing and navigating java code but with different "style".
If you are willing to learn Emacs then learn it. You will get experiences on your own and it is very important for a developer (you are the only one can decide what is work for you). But learning Emacs does not mean to "throw out" Eclipse, they can co-exist quite well if you use ant or maven-based project building and a source control system. You can for example do all editing in Emacs while for debugging and refactoring use Eclipse.
There are some interesting thought in this thread about Emacs and java development. Also there is an interesting read and conclusions about Emacs and Eclipse from someone who tried both environment.
If you are not an expert Eclipse user yet you should look at the powerful editing and navigating features of Eclipse before starting Emacs:
10 Eclipse navigation shortcuts every java programmer should know
Effective Eclipse: shortcut keys
Effective Eclipse: custom templates
Effective Eclipse: fix it quickly
Back to the question: there is an Emacs extension called Xrefactory for Java but it does not support Java 1.5 features so it is useful only if you use Java 1.4 or older.
(*) of course they are much more, I know :)

Emacs is an incredible editor, with good support for developing in C. For developing in Java there is much better support in one of the Java IDE's which has deep knowledge about the programs being edited. You probably want something like Eclipse, JDeveloper or Netbeans.
In my opinion you will not be satisified with developing Java with Emacs, and you should use another tool.

I don't know much about Emacs (so you may regard the following as off-topic), but I work with both Eclipse and VIM.
I use Eclipse for big Java projects, and I can't live without the large-scale features (cross-project renaming/refactoring etc.). I use VIM for small scale stuff (e.g. knocking up code for StackOverflow examples in multiple languages).
Eclipse and VIM have very different capabilities and consequently I use each bearing this in mind. I don't expect VIM to do the heavy lifting, but on the other hand I don't expect Eclipse to start in a keystroke and to be able to write a new (small) project in a few seconds (in whatever language I require - not restricted to Java). Perhaps you should look at the Emacs/Eclipse pair in a similar light ?