Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA by Trisha Gee and Helen Scott

Whether you are new to IntelliJ or have used it for a while, there's something in this book for you. I was a little skeptical about how that would work. The authors have “Helen Hints” (for those new to the IDE) and “Trisha Tips” (for those not) sprinkled throughout the book. Plus there are features I haven't come across. Or forgot about.

After reading the book, I have a list of shortcuts I want to get better about using. For example “shift shift” for search anywhere is one I didn't know. I also learned some vocabulary like “gutter icons”. And helpful things to save time like keyboard shortcuts to toggle between a class and its test.

There are lots of screenshots. They use the “old” API. (It wasn't old when they wrote the book.) I don't think that affects the usefulness of the book, but do be aware they may not match. And once the book has been updated, make sure you buy the new one.

I like that each chapter ends with references – both to the internet and to keyboard shortcuts. The book also covers gotchas like a caveat for running tests in parallel. Finally, I had an action item – to disable built in plugins I don't use to save memory.

The book has 41 chapters. (some of very short). This results in a wide array of topic and each chapter being very focused. There are also three appendices. One is tips like multiple carets that are useful, but didn't fit anywhere else. My favorite is the final appendix. The top keyboard shortcuts counted by number of mentions in the book. This definitely helps prioritize what to learn.

I give this book 10 out of 10 horseshoes.