The Java IDE market space is one of the most competitive segments of the Java marketplace. IDEs have evolved and changed very rapidly to suit the growing complexity of Java J2EE as well as the needs of the Java developer.

NCStudio is a refreshing new IDE offfering that claims to provide features that no other IDE has today. In this interview, we speak to Mukesh Hegde, VP Sales & Marketing for NCE Technologies. Mukesh tell us what makes NCStudio special and why Java developers should consider adopting NCStudio instead of the already established IDEs.

IndicThreads >> Hi Mukesh. Welcome to IndicThreads. Could you introduce yourself to IndicThreads members?

NCE Technologies is a product company developing productivity tools for software developers and end-users. Our development team is located in Iselin, NJ, USA and Bangalore, India. We focus on developing products on server centric computing principles. NCStudio ILDE is one such product. It is a development tool for Java application development.

I am responsible for Sales & Marketing at NCE Technologies Inc. I have a B.Tech. from IIT Bombay and an MBA from IIM Bangalore.

IndicThreads >> Great. Tell us a little more about NCStudio ILDE. I noticed that you call it an Integrated Lifecycle Development Environment (ILDE) instead of just an IDE. Why so?

NCStudio ILDE is much much more than just an IDE. It provides comprehensive support for the entire software development lifecycle. It provides a platform to develop all phases ? define, design, development, testing and deployment, including database development – for a Java application in one integrated studio. It provides functionality to develop all kinds of Java applications ? J2EE, J2ME, Swing applications, etc. It supports Struts design patterns and Web Services.

“NCStudio ILDE is much much more than just an IDE. It provides comprehensive support for the entire software development lifecycle.“

Users can start with requirements gathering, generate use cases, class diagrams, sequence diagrams and then move on to writing code. The user can write and debug any Java application. Wizards and frameworks for generating EJBs and excellent refactoring features free up the developer from writing code allowing him/her to focus on applying the business logic.

The DB Manager can be used to access the DB, and create and manipulate the DB tables from within the development environment. The user can write and execute Stored Procedures, run triggers on the database and use the wizards for generating EJBs/JSPs for a particular table.

Easy deployment to different application servers is possible from within the tool. NCStudio ILDE includes source configuration management features obviating the need for any version control tool.

And we will be adding more features to NCStudio ILDE. The issue tracking feature will enable reporting, assigning and tracking bugs. The Project Management feature will allow the user to create tasks/subtasks, set start dates/end dates, create Gantt charts, assign tasks/subtasks, and manage timesheets from within the tool.

For the detailed feature list, please visit http://www.ncstudio.com/features.jsp.

IndicThreads >> How would you compare NCStudio ILDE to other IDE offerings like WSAD, JDeveloper, etc.?

The current offerings in the market are either supplementary add-ons or do not support the entire SDLC. Only few Java IDEs currently available in market support the entire software development lifecycle and are quite expensive. No IDE has NCStudio ILDE?s server centric architecture.

“No IDE has NCStudio ILDE?s server centric architecture.“

NCStudio ILDE provides a comprehensive and rich feature set. For e.g. Model driven architecture and round trip engineering is supported. The user can dynamically generate the code from the class diagrams and reverse engineer the class diagram from the code. Design of Struts applications is simple with the Struts design feature. DB management features allow the user to access, create and manipulate tables, and generate EJBs/JSPs for the table.

In a nutshell, NCStudio ILDE is comprehensive and integrated in a seamless manner permitting easy user movement across the development phases. The server centric architecture enables dynamic collaboration between distributed teams, making it relevant for onsite-offshore development that is widely prevalent.

IndicThreads >> You said that NCStudio ILDE is a server centric development environment. That’s interesting. So often developers have to waste time getting the development environment in place and then there’s always the “It runs on my machine” argument that comes up when something goes wrong. How does NCStudio ILDE help here and what actually runs on the server and what on the client?

Exactly. Communication issues often arise between distributed teams because of different configurations and setups. NCStudio ILDE addresses this problem because all teams access, work and execute the application with the same system configuration.

“90% of the functionality is on the server.
The files are saved, compiled and run on the server. “

90% of the functionality is on the server. The files are saved, compiled and run on the server. The application server and database reside on the server. EJBs are deployed and database querying and manipulation happens on the server. The client is a simple editor and only editing and refactoring happens on the client.

When the user logins in for the first time and launches NCStudio ILDE from his/her client machine, the necessary client jars get downloaded to the client and are saved in the cache. The next time the user logs in the client checks for any updates and downloads only the updates to the client.

Users can evaluate NCStudio ILDE online at www.ncstudio.com and experience the tool for themselves. Clicking on the ?Evaluate NCStudio online? link launches the application and users can start working right away.

IndicThreads >> Is NCStudio ILDE based on any underlying framework and can I build custom plugins for NCStudio ILDE?

Yes, you can develop plugins for NCStudio ILDE. We are working on a plugin architecture for NCStudio ILDE and this will be in place by end of December. We welcome and encourage developers to contribute ideas and develop plugins. We have an attractive plugin development policy for plugin developers. In fact, going forward, you will see a lot of momentum for NCStudio ILDE plugin development.

IndicThreads >> Development for which J2EE version and components does NCStudio ILDE support?

Currently NCStudio ILDE supports JDK1.4.2 and provides full support for JSP/Servlets, EJBs, and JDBC. The next release of NCStudio ILDE will support JDK 1.5.

IndicThreads >> What has the response from the community and clients been like? Do you offer a free / trial version that the community can try out?

The response has been great. The community is excited about the prospect of developing applications remotely on the server and the ASP model that this holds forth. The evaluation version is available for download from our website.

“The response has been great. The community is excited about the prospect of developing applications remotely on the server and the ASP model that this holds forth.“

IndicThreads >> Overall, what do you think is the future of Java and J2EE development? Any new technologies that you are eyeing with particular interest?

We believe that Swing will take off in a major way and there will be a lot of activity related to JDO and JSF. SOA is another interesting area to watch out for. As organizations want disparate applications to talk to each other, SOA will gain prominence.

“As organizations want disparate applications to talk to each other, SOA will gain prominence.”

IndicThreads >> What about the Java scene in India? Any India specific observations?

Over the last year Java technology usage has been growing and people have begun to realize that Java has lot of stuff that .Net cannot provide for. Java has established itself strongly in the enterprise application space. In fact demand for Java developers is greater than .Net and C/C++ developers put together. This is a reflection of Java’s inherent strength.

“In fact demand for Java developers is greater than .Net and C/C++ developers put together. This is a reflection of Java?s inherent strength.“

IndicThreads >> Anything else you would want to share with IndicThreads visitors?

We are targeting NCStudio ILDE to be the “Best product in Customer Satisfaction”. We will appreciate active support and feedback from IndicThreads readers.

“We are targeting NCStudio ILDE to
be the “Best product in Customer Satisfaction”.“

IndicThreads >> Thanks Mukesh.

Written by Content Team on December 21, 2004      Print