Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

BlueJ VS DrJava

Compare BlueJ VS DrJava and see what are their differences

BlueJ logo BlueJ

BlueJ is an Integrated Development Environment for Java, developed mainly for educational purposes...

DrJava logo DrJava

DrJava is a lightweight programming environment for Java designed to foster test-driven software development.
  • BlueJ Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-02-04
  • DrJava Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22

BlueJ features and specs

  • Educational Focus
    BlueJ is specifically designed for educational purposes, making it an excellent tool for beginners learning Java. It offers a simplified interface that helps users understand the basics of object-oriented programming.
  • Visual Tools
    BlueJ provides visual representations of objects and their interactions, which aids in comprehension of object-oriented concepts. This feature is particularly helpful for visual learners.
  • Interactive Testing
    BlueJ allows users to interactively test code by invoking methods on objects directly. This provides immediate feedback, which is beneficial for learning and debugging.
  • Small and Lightweight
    Compared to other IDEs, BlueJ is lightweight and simple, which reduces the overhead on system resources and provides a focused environment for learning Java.
  • Simple Interface
    The user interface is straightforward and stripped of unnecessary features, which minimizes distractions for beginners learning to code.

Possible disadvantages of BlueJ

  • Limited Advanced Features
    BlueJ lacks many advanced features found in more complex IDEs, such as advanced debugging tools, extensive plugins, and support for other languages, which may limit its usefulness for more experienced programmers.
  • Not Suitable for Large Projects
    The simplicity of BlueJ makes it less suited for managing large-scale software projects, where more sophisticated features and tools are necessary.
  • Performance Issues
    While BlueJ is lightweight, it can sometimes experience performance issues, especially when handling larger codebases or complex operations.
  • Less Community Support
    As a specialized educational tool, BlueJ has a smaller community compared to general-purpose IDEs. This can limit the availability of third-party resources and community support.
  • Outdated Interface
    Some users may find BlueJ's interface to be outdated compared to modern IDEs, which can impact the user experience.

DrJava features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

BlueJ videos

Learning Java: #1 - Setting up BlueJ, Writing HelloWorld...

More videos:

  • Review - Review of BlueJ, Variables, and User Input

DrJava videos

How to Use DrJava

More videos:

  • Review - Setting up DrJava and Java in Windows - CS 180.1x

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to BlueJ and DrJava)
IDE
72 72%
28% 28
Text Editors
71 71%
29% 29
Software Development
72 72%
28% 28
Developer Tools
59 59%
41% 41

User comments

Share your experience with using BlueJ and DrJava. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, BlueJ seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

BlueJ mentions (1)

  • How to include JavaFX in JVM to run a GUI app?
    For the record, I find the teaching IDE BlueJ very easy to use and try things out in JavaFX. It is very light to use as it isn't designed as a normal IDE but you can simply write a JavaFX class and right-click to run as it. Source: almost 4 years ago

DrJava mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of DrJava yet. Tracking of DrJava recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing BlueJ and DrJava, you can also consider the following products

Eclipse - Eclipse is an open source community, whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle.

IntelliJ IDEA - Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM

Netbeans - NetBeans IDE 7.0. Develop desktop, mobile and web applications with Java, PHP, C/C++ and more. Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris. NetBeans IDE is open-source and free.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Xcode - Xcode is Apple’s powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode 4 includes the Xcode IDE, instruments, iOS Simulator, and the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs.

Aptana Studio - The world’s most powerful open-source web development IDE just got better. Rebuilt from the ground-up. It's now much faster, customizable and includes new features to help you be more productive.