NetBeans 6.0 is out!

NetBeans 6.0 is now available from the NetBeans web site. Congratulations to a huge effort by a lot of people.

I've been working on 6.0 for a while now, and I would have a hard time going back. Some of my favorite features include:

• Really fast detection of errors while I code
  
• Showing all the errors in red and all changes in green on the side bar, and if I click on a red or green mark it takes me to that line.
• Greying out of unused variables, and color-coding local variables
• No more two-phase refactoring, unless I request it.
  
• Solid Ruby support, including cool things like auto-completion of ActiveRecord methods by using migration data.
• PostgreSQL and MySQL JDBC drivers included and registered out of the box
  

In the Database Explorer fixed two things that were real annoyances to me (and others):

• No more quoting in SQL DDL! (this caused no end of confusion for users)
  
• Ability to remember password for DB connections (I was so tired of having to re-type passwords

There were also a lot of things that happened under the covers which perhaps weren't so noticeable, including integration of a number of packs/plugins, including VisualWeb Pack, Enterprise Pack, Mobility. and UML. This took a lot of work, and the amazing thing was it was done in a way that maintained the over consistency and solid out-of-the-box experience that is one of NetBean's real strengths.

So, anyway, kudos to all, and now onto the next release! :)