JetBrains goes EAP on IntelliJ 2020.1, goes to town on TeamCity

JetBrains goes EAP on IntelliJ 2020.1, goes to town on TeamCity

JetBrains has thrown open the early access doors on IntelliJ IDEA 2020.1, delivering Java 14 support and a raft of usability improvements.

Java 14 is in its own Early Access Programme and not due for public release until March, but JetBrains said users can play around with some of the features in this IntelliJ build. These include the ability to create Java Records via a New Java Class popup, with the IDE allowing users to “quickly generate a canonical or custom constructor and it will notify you about any existing errors”.

IntelliJ also supports “pattern matching of instanceof that will be included in Java 14.” This build provides “full code insight support including inline renaming (Refactor | Rename or Shift+F6) of pattern variables”. “And,” it continues, “here’s also a new inspection and a quick-fix that enables you to quickly simplify the verbose instanceof-and-cast idioms with the new and concise pattern variables.”

JetBrains also flagged up the ability to download and setup a JDK within the IDE, from the New Project wizard, “allowing you to jump straight into coding without having to switch contexts.” When opening existing projects, the IDE will automatically check if there is a suitable JDK available.

UI improvements include JetBrains Mono as the default font – this is a typeface specifically aimed at developers and their needs, with features like more distinctive symbols, increased letter height and more rectangular ovals height for easier reading. A default light theme is unified across different operating systems.

Git improvements include an explicit search field for existing remote and local branches in the Branches popup. Incoming and outgoing commit indicators have been added to the status bar. Also, the Version Control window is now simply called the Git tool window, “or Subversion/Mercurial/Perforce if you are using any of these instead of Git.”

Also last week, JetBrains pushed out TeamCity 2019.2.1. The vendor said it resolves over 120 issues, but chose to flag up the extension of the Kotlin DSL implementation, “by supporting authentication and mirroring in Maven settings which allows accessing custom libraries in private Maven repositories.”