I have long heard my Java-geek-colleagues rave about IntelliJ. So, when I recently came across a reason to write some Java code, I thought to download an eval version of the acclaimed IDE.

I went through their QuickStart guide and was impressed. It does syntax coloring, code hinting, and auto-indenting — all that I’ve come to expect from an IDE. It also gives warnings — in real-time — of problems that I expect to see only at compile time. It integrates Java Docs nicely and has piles of features that promise not to get in the way, but rather, unobtrusively increase productivity. IntelliJ is super-cool for Java, but that