Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 2
Setting Up Your Java 8 IDE: An
Introduction to NetBeans 8.0
Let's get started here in
Chapter 2
by considering
NetBeans IDE 8.0
, because that is the
primary piece of software that you will be using to create your Java 8 games. Even
though Java JDK 8 is the foundation for your Java 8 games, as well as for NetBeans 8.0,
you will start your journey by learning about NetBeans, as it is the “front end,” the win-
dow through which you look at your Java game project.
NetBeans 8.0 is the
official IDE
for Java JDK 8, and, as such, it is what you will be
using for this topic. That is not to say you cannot use another IDE, such as Eclipse or In-
telliJ, which are the official IDEs for Android 4.x (32 bit) and Android 5.x (64 bit) re-
spectively, but I prefer to use NetBeans 8.0 for my new media application and game de-
velopment for the Java 8, JavaFX 8, HTML5, CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheets 3), and
JavaScript software development markup and programming paradigms.
This is not only because NetBeans 8.0 integrates
JavaFX Scene Builder
, which you
will be learning about in
Chapter 5
of this topic, but also because it is an HTML5 IDE,
too, and I create everything I design for my clients using Java 8, JavaFX 8, Android 4.x,
or Android 5.x as well as HTML5. I do this so that the content works across (on) closed,
or proprietary, OSs and platforms. I prefer open-source software and platforms, as you
observed in
Chapter 1
.
First, you will take a look at what is new in NetBeans 8.0. This version of NetBeans
was released at the same time as Java 8, and the version number synchronization is no
coincidence. You will discover why you will want to use NetBeans 8.0 rather than an
older NetBeans version, such as NetBeans 7.4 or earlier.
Next, you will examine the various attributes of NetBeans IDE 8.0 that make it an
invaluable tool for Java 8 game development. You will not be able to get hands-on ex-
