Things I didn't know...

Things I didn't know...  I use IntelliJ IDEA, from Jetbrains, as my Java and JavaScript development environment.  I've been using it for years, since (I think) 2003.  I started using it at the recommendation of a friend, and immediately liked it better than its main competitors (all of which I was familiar with).  Later, when I worked for ServiceNow for seven years, I used their standard IDE, which was Eclipse – but still used IntelliJ IDEA for my personal projects.  Since I retired, I've switched back to only IntelliJ IDEA.   

During all that time I've thought of IntelliJ IDEA as a sort of edge product, one of those things that a few borderline nut cases like, while everyone else uses the perfectly good (and free!) Eclipse.  I had no idea that IntelliJ IDEA, along with Jetbrains other products, have been gobbling the IDE space up.  I'm very glad to hear it, though – their products are first rate, the community is great, and they just keep making it better all the time (as the linked article points out).

Endorsed!

I had the chance to meet some of the Jetbrains folks a few years ago.  Their development center (or at least, one of them) is in St. Petersburg, Russia, and their offices were near by those of a company I worked for at the time.  When I wrote and told them I'd be in town, they invited me down to their offices for a visit.  I had a grand time talking with some of their developers.  Since it was Russia, of course we also had vodka and chocolate :)