We’re frequently taught to use a text editor when we’re learning to write code so that we understand the fundamentals. However, if we treat our IDE as a text editor, we are doing ourselves a disservice. As professional developers, we no longer need to learn the fundamentals; we need to deliver working applications. We can use the features of an IDE to help us with this.

This community version of Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA contains the entire contents of Part I of the book, which introduces the IDE, gives you guiding principles on how to work effectively with IntelliJ IDEA, and walks you through the UI so you know where you should be looking for context-sensitive information. Parts II, III and IV are only in the full book.

Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA (Community Edition) includes the full contents of Part I of Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA (First Edition), and sets the scene for working with IntelliJ IDEA. We will:

• Learn about what IntelliJ IDEA is, who makes it and what the different editions are.
• Discuss the three guiding principles of IntelliJ IDEA that we use throughout this book.
• Show you where to find information on installing the IDE.
• Give you pointers on how you can get the most from the IDE.
• Show you the key areas of the user interface.
• Talk about how IntelliJ IDEA works with your projects.

We will also show you the structure of parts II, III and IV of Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA, so you can get a sense of whether the whole book or the two online courses will be helpful for you.