One of two Java IDEs that Oracle offers, NetBeans is marketed for developers who want to try Java’s latest features. NetBeans can be used to create Java applications for desktops, servers and the Web.

Version 7.4 of the IDE extends the HTML5 support provided in the previous release to Java EE and PHP applications, and becomes the first IDE to provide support for JDK 8 developer preview builds.

Oracle has proposed contributing the NetBeans IDE to the Apache Software Foundation via the Apache Incubator Project.