The NetBeans community is growing by leaps and bounds. In the past six months, the number of subscribers on our mailing lists have grown from about 5,000 to 40,000! With this many new members of the community I thought it would be work talking about all the ways you can get better involved with what's going on. There are a number of ways you can get involved today and we're working on even more options, no matter what level of time commitment you'd like to provide.

Use the IDE and Tell a Friend! Our goal is to have as many users as possible using the technology produced at NetBeans.org. The most basic way you can be part of the community is to let people know you like the technology.

Discuss the Future! Most of the people on our mailing lists are subscribed to the "announce" list -- which is only one-way communication. However, there are numerous lists where users and developers discuss a wide range of topics. For a lists of some of the most interesting lists you can go here.

The "nbdiscuss" list is a great place to make your voice heard on things you'd like to see happen with this community going forward. Discussions on "nbusers" and "nbdev" have recently been having a big impact on the design of NetBeans 4.0 features, such as the new build system. Make your voice heard.

Dive Right In!
If you're using NetBeans then you're a Java developer. The IDE is designed to be modular so that people can add features and functionality without hacking on the core IDE. Recently the team developing the Web Apps support asked for help implementing a feature to test compile JSP pages. Developer Illya Kysil offered to pitch in and has built an initial version of this module that users can try. Thanks Illya!

On Tuesday, June 29, 2004, we'll be having a companion event to JavaOne that will feature the NetBeans Project including a preview of the latest release, inside NetBeans technology and will also feature key NetBeans Partners.

The keynote will feature James Gosling talking about Tools and the future. And if you've seen James talk, you know they'll be some great surprises. This is not to be missed!

Whether or not you're planning to sign up for a full JavaOne pass, registration for NetBeans Day is free. And, as a special bonus if you're thinking about signing up for a full JavaOne pass then you can receive a special $300 discount as a member of the NetBeans community.

This is great time hear from key Sun technical staff who manage the NetBeans project, to learn about the technology and the roadmap. Additionally we'll be featuring NetBeans partners that help make NetBeans a thriving ecosystem. Meet you fellow NetBeans enthusiasts and learn those invaluable shared knowledge tips.

We'll be conveniently located in the Yerba Buena Theater which is adjacent to the Moscone Convention Centers entrances. The proposed schedule of events:

Localised Documents include:

Installation Guide: Chinese, Japanese
Release Notes: Chinese, Japanese
What's New in NetBeans 3.6? Chinese, Japanese
GUI Building in NetBeans IDE 3.6: Chinese, Japanese
NetBeans IDE 3.6 Quick Start Guide: Chinese, Japanese
Using NetBeans 3.6: Chinese, Japanese

You can also subscribe to the Chinese discussion list (nbdiscuss_zh@netbeans.org) and/or the Japanese discussion list for more support.

JAPISoft has released nbxsl v1.0 which is a new module for editing XSLT with fast result view and XPath evaluation. Follow here for more information including a link to the free evaluation.

In other module news RefactorIT 2.0 RC2 (build 1.9.15) is now available. 2.0 RC2 now works well with the NetBeans IDE 3.6. Here is what's new:

• 4 all new Quality Metrics: DIP, DCYC, EP, LSP (whereas, every single Metric has a recommended interval and violations are colored appropriately in the results table)
• "Freeze" option was added to the Draw Dependencies
• many bug fixes and usability improvements

Building Web Modules With NetBeans: Transitioning from 3.5 to 3.6 - This article discusses the new features in NetBeans 3.6 for building web modules. It then discusses changes to previously existing features that might affect the way you do your work. Last, it lists known bugs and provides some tips.

Web Module Quick Start Guide - This document takes you through the basics of developing, testing, and debugging a web module by creating a simple coin toss application. This document is designed to get you going as quickly as possible.

Adding J2ME Platform Support to the NetBeans IDE - Updating the NetBeans IDE with the Mobility Modules for NetBeans integrates support for developing and testing applications for mobile devices that use the Java 2, Micro Edition (J2ME) platform.