When comparing BlueJ vs NetBeans IDE, the Slant community recommends NetBeans IDE for most people. In the question“What are the best open source IDEs for Java?” NetBeans IDE is ranked 2nd while BlueJ is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose NetBeans IDE is:
NetBeans is a free, GPL-licensed IDE. It can run on any computer with a Java virtual machine. If a computer has a Java virtual machine (JVM), Netbeans can run on it. Netbeans can, therefore, run on a variety of operating systems such as Windows, *nix, and Mac OS.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Many features
All the features you would expect: syntax highlighting, code-completion, templates, extension-manager, git integration, unit-testing, etc..
Pro UML start view
Shows UML chart of your project, making it easy to find classes. Helps beginners get familiar with the structure of Java programs.
Pro Great IDE for beginners
BlueJ was created for educational purposes and is designed to be simple for those who are just learning.
Pro Easy to learn
Because BlueJ was created for teaching purposes, it is designed to be easy to use. It has a user-friendly and intuitive interface.
Pro Cross-platform
NetBeans is a free, GPL-licensed IDE. It can run on any computer with a Java virtual machine. If a computer has a Java virtual machine (JVM), Netbeans can run on it. Netbeans can, therefore, run on a variety of operating systems such as Windows, *nix, and Mac OS.
Pro Good refactoring
Pro Easy to learn
Very easy to learn, unlike e.g. Eclipse (which is probably the most flexible).
Pro Good support for integrated Database e Servers (E.g. Tomcat)
Pro Multiple revision control system integration
Pro Customizable theme
Pro Take less memory
Cons
Con Not good for big projects
BlueJ is much better suited for small projects. It is designed to be simple and quite basic, rather than to handle large applications.
Con Lack of features
There are very few features available in BlueJ that would would expect from an IDE. For example, syntax highlighting is minimal and there is no code completion.
Con Good just for beginners
Not comfortable for expert programmers.
Con Uses its own "Java"-dialect
Con Little support for UML
Unless you load extensions.
Con Slow
The Netbeans IDE is known to take a large memory as compared to other lighter IDE's available on the market. The slowdown can decrease productivity and frustrate programmers.