The eclipse IDE is free to use and one of the most famous Integrated Development Environment to develop Java applications. If you are going to develop the Java Swing applications then I would suggest to use Netbeans IDE over Eclipse but if you are going to develop web applications then use Eclipse IDE.
The IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment in which we can develop the software programs of different programming languages. An IDE not only provides a text editor to write the programs but also some inbuilt tools which are required in the development. The tools like compiler, interpreter, profiler, debug, syntax checker, auto correction, servers, and many more.
To develop a desktop application the IDE provides drag and drop facility of UI components that internally automatically generate the source code which helps to speed up the development.
If you do not have the Netbeans IDE installer file then download it from Eclipse Download. Install the Eclipse IDE and start it.
Below are the simple steps to develop a java program using Eclipse IDE. Install and start the eclipse IDE.
Step 1: Click on File --> New -->Java Project / Project... (or press Alt + Shift + N) Select Java Project under Java category
Step 2: Enter the project name --> Finish
Step 3: Right click on the project --> New --> class --> Enter class name: HelloJava --> Check main method checkbox --> Finish.
Step 4: Write the source code and Execute the program. Click on Run --> Run (or press Ctrl + F11). You will see the output.