SQL Developer 2.1 EAP

The latest major release of SQL Developer is now in the Early Adopter stage, starting at 2.1 (not to be confused with the much older & somewhat flaky 1.2 version).

I gave it a go and here are some quick observations:

1. Unzipped footprint including JRE from 166mb to 200mb (Update: I've just noticed the memory usage on my laptop has almost doubled to 237mb!)
   
2. On opening I still have to tell it where java.exe is, not the nicest thing to have to do for those more basic users.
3. Snappier to open, even considering I was migrating preferences from 1.5.4
   
4. All icons are sharper and clearer
5. Jobs included in navigator list
6. Free data model viewer, which makes sense to me and seems fair.
7. I can compile packages/procedures using F9 in worksheet - yay!
8. ... and I get syntax errors more appropriately.
9. Although saying that when I open the program from the navigator, I get erroneous errors on valid compile.
10. Syntax errors for queries aren't in popups, just in the results window. The number of rows fetched and timing just above results too, which is more friendly to the eye.
11. I like the fact the tabs above the result set can be closed if you don't want them.
12. I still can't figure out how to open to table views at the same time though.
13. There is a unit testing component that will be interesting to explore, giving the nice people at Quest some more competition in the testing market.
14. I like the preferences changes. One of which includes more options for SQL formatting, including a preview.
15. The coding templates are also a good inclusion. Let's ensure good standards are more widely adopted!
16. It didn't auto prompt me for a connection when I opened a new SQL file and attempted to execute.
17. F6 for explain plan has moved to F10
18. ...best I continue with work now and see how it performs with day-to-day tasks.
    

Official new feature list can be found here.

Some people think all it needs to do is run SQL and PL/SQL, but considering it's a GUI tool we want it to be brisk and easily customisable - otherwise we'll stick with SQL*Plus. Overall, I like the new improvements. I'm sure the kinks will be ironed out quickly and I look forward to the ongoing improvements to a good free product.

Tip o' the hat to Dimitri Gielis for the tip-off.