JetBrains has released version 2024.2 of IntelliJ IDEA, which brings a new interface and many useful AI aids for developers. At the core is now the JBR21 runtime, which improves security and performance and supports Wayland under Linux.
Advertisement
New user interfaceWhat was only available as an option in previous versions is now visible by default to all users after starting the program. If desired, the old version is still available as a plug-in, which the manufacturer intends to maintain for a year. The new design strives for clarity and makes room for a larger field of view for the code. In turn, the manufacturer has pushed advanced functions to the background, but the elements can be configured individually if desired.
Developers can now accept or reject code suggestions from the IDE more seamlessly and accurately. Notably, they gradually work their way through long and multi-line suggestions if necessary. Other UI improvements include Linux Desktop and Everywhere Search, which are now in preview.
Artificial Intelligence in Additional Subscriptions
There are many innovations in Intelligent assistant IntelliJ IDEA, most of which require an additional monthly subscription. Automatic code suggestions are now visually structured with syntax highlights for Java, Kotlin, and Python. Developers can accept the AI’s code suggestions step by step using Ctrl + right arrow (under Windows). Additionally, the IDE shows AI code alongside AI-less standard suggestions.
Syntax highlighting is now also available for the code that the AI suggests to developers.
(Image: JetBrains)
Developers who generate code with AI commands in human language can now type them into the currently edited code block. Previously this was only possible in a separate tab. AI Chat is based on GPT-4o
The IDE doesn’t just think about the code, AI is also present in the terminal window when handling merge conflicts in Git and dealing with SQL problems. Users create custom prompts for documentation. And intelligent test generation is now possible with classes (for Java, Kotlin, JavaScript, Go, Python, PHP, and Ruby).
Improved performance with CPU Info
Many other changes are not related to artificial intelligence: there are Chinese, Korean, and Japanese language versions. The Run tool gives more information about CPU and memory usage, which developers can use to improve the performance of their applications. The debugger allows jumping into lambda expressions. The editor renders mathematical expressions in Markdown code seamlessly.
Improves collaboration with IDE frameworks. With Spring, Data JPA methods can be called directly from the code environment. There are autocomplete and ready-made examples of cron services for Spring, Quarkus or Micronaut. The HTTP client runs on GraalJS, with improved performance.
Kotlin has one for highlighting and completion K2 Mode Beta Available to interested parties via Settings/Preferences Languages & Frameworks/Kotlin. However, the mode has no effect on compilation. Finally, the IDE with Scala works with version 3.
JetBrains plans to offer K2 mode by default starting with version 2024.3.
(Image: JetBrains)
JetBrains has made many other changes to the build process, version control, database management and collaboration with the framework. The first overview is provided Blog post from the manufacturer. Interested parties can download the latest build from here JetBrains websiteAbout this Toolbox App Or via Snaps for Ubuntu.
(Who)
