IntelliJ IDEA version 2024.1 brings a host of innovations to the JetBrain Java and Kotlin development environment

Czech software maker JetBrains has released IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1, adding a number of new features to the development environment with the latest update. However, unlike Microsoft's VS Code or the command line editors Vim or Emacs, only the community edition of IntelliJ is free; anyone who wants to use the full range of features in JetBrains' Java and Kotlin IDE must take out a subscription. Exceptions are made for students and educators, as well as open source projects, who can also use the Ultimate Edition for free.

The Community Edition and Ultimate Edition of IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1 support Java 22 and JDK 22 respectively. For the Kotlin programming language, the IDE comes with a K2 mode that uses an integrated K2 compiler for Kotlin for more efficient code analysis. However, this feature is still in alpha, according to the blog post for IntelliJ IDEA version 2024.1.

The latest update to the JetBrains IDE is also not stingy when it comes to workflow optimisation: lines of code can be "pinned" in the editor, so that even when scrolling through large files, a specific piece of source code is always in view. Another useful feature is the new option to reduce the size of the entire development environment in steps of 90%, 80% or 70%. IntelliJ 2024.1 also includes a new terminal, which is still marked as beta.

Among other things, the Ultimate Edition now offers code completion for entire lines and improvements to the AI Assistant, which is now integrated into the IDE as a plug-in. Within the AI Assistant itself, IntelliJ Ultimate users now have access to improved code highlighting for Java and Kotlin.

The full list of features and changes in IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1 is available in the JetBrains blog post.