In this chapter, we provided an introduction to NetBeans as an IDE, explaining the different ways that NetBeans can be obtained, we also covered how to install NetBeans for the different platforms it supports.

Additionally, we looked at how to set up NetBeans with third party Java EE application servers and with third party Relational Database Systems, including how to register a JDBC driver for the RDBMS in question.

We also built and deployed our first Java EE application, and took a first look at the NetBeans HTTP monitor, which helps us better understand how our code behaves "under the hood" by providing request headers, request attributes, session attributes, at a glance.

Finally, we covered some of the NetBeans features such as code completion, code templates, keyboard shortcuts and visual cues that allow us to do our job as software developers more effectively.