Unlike Microsoft.net java has a wide variety of tools to support development . I think personally this works both as an advantage and a disadvantage. The challenge is to pick the right tools . I have been in the industry long enough so here is my list of tools
Clip Path : http://personal.vsnl.com/sureshms/ClipPath.zip . This program installs in the windows context menu. It will retrive the path of the file in use and stores it in the clipboard . This is very useful during development.
Jcreator : http://www.jcreator.com/download.htm . I always use this to write test programs . This is fast and has a rich interface and light weight when compared to eclipse.
Msconfig : Type this in run user prompt and it should display a panel. This will help you configure services and have complete control over what programs load during startup . Most java applications consume a lot of space so this is a great tool to prevent unwanted applications from loading during startup.
