The top news headline in the month of August was the announced availability of the NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta and NetBeans Platform 4.0 Beta downloads!

Take the opportunity to download and test the latest and greatest NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta release that is winning critical acclaim, converting developers worldwide and making the NetBeans community rave. To borrow a quote from James Goslings blog, "NetBeans 4.0 Rocks!"

The new NetBeans 4.0 NetCAT program (what is NetCAT?) is up and running. Within the first 48 hours of the call for participants more than 260 valid applications were submitted. Aniticpation of the NetBeans IDE 4.0 release is tremendous!

In this edition you will find the latest NetBeans 4.0 schedule, download links, and a wealth of resources to get you started.

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and read more about NetBeans 4.0 Beta 1 and what this means for you. Don't forget that the mailing list is where you can ask questions on IDE usage. There is a great group of people there always willing to answer your questions and provide tips. Subscribe or browse the archives. You can also help promote the latest release by placing a NetBeans graphic on your web pages or the official NetBeans logo.

Key Features Include:

• Tiger (J2SE 5.0) support - Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 language feature support
• Ant-based project system - A new project systems based on the Open Source Apache Ant technologies
• J2ME MIDP support Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) development support
• Java refactoring - including: renames (class/method/field), move class, rename package, change method paramaters, encapsulate field and find references
• J2EE enhanced support - Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) development support for NetBeans IDE 4.x (Early Access available in October)
• Performance Profiler (coming soon)

The NetBeans IDE 4.0 release schedule:

• September 30 - 4.0 Beta 2 Released Based on Beta 1 Feedback
• End of October - High Resistance Mode
• Mid of November - Release Candidate Build Testing
• End of November - Customer Acceptance Survey Launched
• Mid of December - Final Release Version
• Mid of December - J2EE Module Collection

NetBeans IDE 4.0 Quick Start Guide - Gives you a quick tour of the IDE by guiding you through the creation of a simple application. This document takes less than 20 minutes to complete.

NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta Quick Start Guide for Web Applications - Takes you through the basics of using NetBeans IDE to create a simple web module.

J2ME MIDP Development for NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta Quick Start Guide - Takes you through the basics of using NetBeans IDE 4.0 to create a Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME platform), Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) application.

Import and Migration Guides

Importing Existing Java Source Code into NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta - Explains how you can import existing Java desktop application projects into NetBeans IDE 4.0.

Importing Existing Web Applications into NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta - Explains how you can import existing web module projects into NetBeans IDE 4.0.

Importing Existing J2ME MIDP Source Code into NetBeans IDE 4.0 - Explains how you can import existing J2ME platform source code into a NetBeans IDE 4.0 project.

Transitioning from NetBeans IDE 3.6 to 4.0 Beta - Helps you transition your applications and IDE settings from NetBeans IDE 3.6 to NetBeans IDE 4.0.

Tutorials and Other Articles

Advanced Freeform Project Configuration - Shows you how to further configure a freeform project to fully integrate your IDE with your company's build process. Includes information on hooking up Ant targets to IDE commands and writing targets to debug your application.

NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta Coin Flip Tutorial - Shows how to build a web application that stores data using a JavaBeans component, processes data using a servlet, and displays data using JavaServer Pages technology. This tutorial can be completed in 30 minutes.

NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta Midnight Cookie Company Tutorial - Shows how to use NetBeans IDE to build, deploy, and execute a web application that contains JSP pages and servlets and that uses tags from the JSTL tag library. Also shows how to use the HTTP monitor to view the requests and responses between the server and the web browser.

NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta 1 Released - NetBeans.org
The NetBeans IDE 4.0 Beta sports a number of key upgrades, including: support for Tiger (J2SE 5.0), a rewritten Ant-based project system, and Java refactoring.

NetBeans IDE: What's New in NetBeans 4.0 IDE - java.sun.com - To help you determine whether NetBeans IDE works for you, this article provides an overview of NetBeans IDE, highlights the new features in NetBeans 3.6 IDE, and the upcoming features in NetBeans 4.0 IDE. The article also provides a comparison between NetBeans IDE and Eclipse.

Java Developers get NetBeans preview - Builder.AU - The beta release of NetBeans 4.0 shows where cross-platform development is heading.

Other News & Blogs:

NetBeans 4.0: Perfect Enough for the Lazy and Demanding

NetBeans Delivers Version 4.0 Beta

NetBeans IDE beta released, tackles Java specs

NetBeans 4.0 beta1 does indeed look promising