JetBrains has released the second version of their popular IDE for this year. IntelliJ IDEA 2018.2 is full of changes including support for Java 11, updates to version editor, user interface, JVM debugger, Gradle and more. Let’s have a quick look at all the different features and updates.
Updates to Java
- IntelliJ IDEA 2018.2 brings support for the upcoming Java 11.
- The IDE now supports local-variable syntax for lambda parameters according to JEP 323.
- The Dataflow information can now be viewed in the editor.
- Quick Documentation can now be configured to pop-up together with autocompletion.
- Extract Method has a new preview panel to check the results of refactoring before actual changes are made.
- The @Contract annotation adds new return values: new, this, and paramX.
- The IDE also has updated its inspections and intention actions including smarter Join Line action and Stream API support, among many others.
Improvements to Editor
- IntelliJ IDEA now underlines reassigned local variables and reassigned parameters, by default.
- While typing, users can use Tab to navigate outside the closing brackets or closing quotes.
- For or while keywords are highlighted when the caret is placed on the corresponding break or continue keyword.
Changes to User Interface
- IntelliJ IDEA 2018.2 comes with support for the MacBook Touch Bar.
- Users can now use dark window headers in MacOS
- There are new cleaner and simpler icons on the IDE toolbar and tool windows for better readability.
- The IntelliJ theme on Linux has been updated to look more modern.
Updates to the Version Control System
- The updated Files Merged with Conflicts dialog displays Git branch names and adds a new Group files by directory option.
- Users can now open several Log tabs in the Version Control toolwindow.
- The IDE now displays the Favorites branches in the Branch filter on the Log tab.
- While using the Commit and Push action users can either skip the Push dialog completely or only show this dialog when pushing to protected branches.
- The IDE also adds support for configuring multiple GitHub accounts.
Improvements in the JVM debugger
- IntelliJ IDEA 2018.2 includes several new breakpoint intentions actions for debugging Java projects.
- Users now have the ability to filter a breakpoint hit by the caller method.
Changes to Gradle
- The included buildSrc Gradle projects are now discovered automatically.
- Users can now debug Gradle DSL blocks.
Updates to Kotlin
- The Kotlin plugin bundled with the IDE has been updated to v1.2.51.
- Users can now run Kotlin Script scratch files and see the results right inside the editor.
- An intention to convert end-of-line comments into the block comments and vice versa has been added.
- New coroutine inspections and intentions added.
Improvements in the Scala plugin
- The Scala plugin can show implicits right in the editor and can even show places where implicits are not found.
- The Scalafmt formatter has been integrated.
- Added updates to Semantic highlighting and improved auto-completion for pattern matching.
JavaScript & TypeScript changes
- The newExtract React component can be used for refactoring to break a component into two.
- A new intention to Convert React class components into functional components added.
- New features can be added to an Angular app using the integration with ng add.
- New JavaScript and TypeScript intentions: Implement interface, Create derived class, Implement members of an interface or abstract class, Generate cases for ‘switch’, and Iterate with ‘for..of’.
- A new Code Coverage feature for finding the unused code in client-side apps.
These are just a select few updates from the IntelliJ IDEA 2018.2 release. A complete list of all the changes can be found in the release notes. You can also read the JetBrains blog for a concise version.
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