IntelliJ IDEA is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) where you will write all your Java code. It gives you code completion, error highlighting, one-click run, debugging, and built-in Maven support. It is the most popular Java IDE in the industry.
| IDE | Best For | Java Support | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntelliJ IDEA Community | Java, Selenium, TestNG | Excellent — built for Java | Use this (free) |
| Eclipse | Java, older enterprise projects | Good but dated UI | Works but slower experience |
| VS Code | JavaScript, Python, web dev | Needs extensions, limited | Not recommended for Java automation |
This course uses IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition — it is completely free and has everything you need. The paid "Ultimate" edition adds web framework support, which you do not need for test automation.
Go to: https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/
The download page shows Ultimate (paid) at the top. Scroll DOWN to find the Community Edition (free). That is the one you want.
.exe installer.dmg fileAlternatively, install via Homebrew:
brew install --cask intellij-idea-ceIntelliJ usually auto-detects your installed JDK. To verify or set it manually:
Exercise 1: Open IntelliJ IDEA. Go to File → Project Structure → verify that JDK 17 is selected as the Project SDK.
Exercise 2: Explore the IntelliJ UI — find the Terminal tab at the bottom (you can run commands directly inside IntelliJ). Type java -version in it.