How was JBuilder designed?  Why is the Foundation Edition free?  What is the OpenTools API?  These questions and more are explored in the first of a series of articles that delves into the depths of the JBuilder experience.

The History of JBuilder

From day one the goal of the JBuilder team was to push the limits of Java^TM.  To use Java every day to build as much of our own product as possible.  To help Sun improve the language and the core API in order to let Java realize its full potential.

These lofty goals were realized as Borland delivered the first commercial JIT, defined the component model that eventually became JavaBeans, created a sophisticated set of model-view based JavaBeans components, and delivered the first IDE to support JavaBeans and JDK 1.1.  JBuilder 1.0 shipped with about 75% of the code written in Java, and the other 25% primarily written in Delphi.

For JBuilder 2.0 only two developers worked on the native part of the product.  During JBuilder 3.0's development there was only one developer writing native code.  And now, with JBuilder Foundation, the entire IDE is written in Java.

Why the focus on writing everything in Java?  Because we love the language.  Because we use JBuilder to write JBuilder, so we can continually improve our product based on our own experience as well as feedback from our users.

The Decision to Release a Free Product

Needless to say, convincing a traditional company to give away a revenue producing product is no easy task.  There are a number of reasons why the JBuilder team stood their ground and insisted that it was the right thing to do.  We wanted educators and students to have access to tools that make it easier to approach and learn Java.  We wanted potential customers to be able to use the technology at the core of our Professional and Enterprise products for evaluation purposes.  We wanted to show the world that Java is capable of producing world-class client applications as well as server-side functionality.

Perhaps most importantly, we wanted to give the open source community and the commercial market a starting point for creating new and innovative Java tools without having to reinvent the wheel.  That's where the OpenTools API comes into play.

JBuilder Foundation is the OpenTools API

JBuilder Foundation is really a class library that provides compilation, editing, browsing, visual design, and other features... and over 100 OpenTools of our own design that tie these features together into a unified environment.  Individuals and companies are strongly encouraged to customize and extend the tool to meet their own needs.  Starting with the freely available JBuilder Foundation.

I hope it's obvious why we chose the name "Foundation."  This is a starting point for the Java community to build upon.  We will continue to deliver free updates and commercial enhancements in years to come.  We also encourage others to use our free foundation for their own efforts, commercial products, shareware projects, and open source solutions.

Enjoy