JCreator and lightweight workflows
Java is everywhere and this week got even louder with Oracle saying it will buy Sun. In the middle of that noise we still have to ship code. A lot of us bounce between Eclipse and NetBeans, then watch the fan spin while the project indexes. There is another angle for certain days: JCreator. It is tiny, starts fast, and plays nice with plain JDK tools. Not fancy. Very usable. If your goal is faster feedback and fewer moving parts, the idea of a lightweight workflow deserves a look.
Here is the frame. When your machine crawls, focus breaks. When a build script is the one true source of truth, the editor should get out of the way. JCreator sits in that sweet spot: quick editor, buttons wired to your JDK, Ant if you want it, and no project magic that only lives inside a workspace file. It is Windows only, so this is mainly for those living on XP or Vista right now.
Three cases from the trenches
Case 1: learning and utility scripts
New dev on the team needed to grasp core Java without getting lost in plugin dialogs. We sat down with JCreator LE, pointed it at JDK 6, and mapped run and compile keys. Classes compiled in a blink. No background index. No project wizard forest. He wrote small console tools, ran them, and kept focus on code and output. The win was not a feature list. It was the time from save to result. That kind of speed keeps momentum when you are learning or cranking out one off utilities.
Case 2: quick servlet and JSP loops with Tomcat
On a bug bash day we had to tweak a couple of servlets and JSPs on a Tomcat app with an old Ant build. Full blown IDEs wanted to resync the world. We opened the source tree in JCreator, wired External Tools to call Ant targets and Tomcat scripts, and kept one console window for logs. Edit JSP, call deploy target, refresh browser. Rinse and repeat. JCreator did not try to own the build. Ant did the heavy lifting. The editor stayed fast and predictable, which is all we needed for that loop.
Case 3: heavy legacy project, light entry
A legacy codebase with mixed encodings and a giant Eclipse workspace kept breaking on import. We did not need full project smarts to trace a bug. We needed to read code, search fast, and run a single test harness. JCreator opened the folders instantly. Find in files was quick. We tied a one line batch file to run the harness. No model rebuild. No workspace recovery. We fixed the bug and left the heavy project setup for a calmer day.
Objections and replies
- It lacks refactoring tools: True. When we needed a deep rename or extract method, we fired up Eclipse for that session and came back. Keep the build script as the anchor and you can swap editors without pain.
- No full debugger in the free version: JCreator Pro adds one, and the free one can still work with jdb or a remote debug port for Tomcat. For many fixes, logging and quick runs were faster than wrestling with breakpoints.
- What about Maven: We wired Maven as an external tool. Same idea as Ant. The editor does not need a POM model if the command line already knows the project.
- Team uses a big IDE: Fine. Let the team keep its choice. The point is not to convert everyone. The point is to cut your feedback loop when you are doing small focused tasks. As long as you commit code that passes the same build, nobody cares if you typed it in JCreator or on a napkin.
- Windows only: Yes. On a Mac or Linux box, a lean combo like TextMate or gedit with Ant or Maven gives similar results. The principle is the same.
Try it for a week: a simple plan
- Install JCreator LE and point it to your JDK.
- Open your project folder. Do not import. Just open.
- Wire External Tools to your Ant or Maven build, plus run configs for main classes or Tomcat scripts.
- Set two or three hotkeys: compile current file, run last tool, search in files.
- Work in small loops. Edit. Build. Run. Read output.
- Measure time from save to result on your usual tasks. Write the number down. Compare with your heavy setup.
The takeaway is simple. Use the big guns when they help. Use a lightweight workflow when you need speed and focus. JCreator earns a spot in that toolkit. With all the news swirling around Java, this is one part of your day you can keep sane and fast.