Is it sane to start a Blackberry Java project without using the recommended IDE i.e. Eclipse?

Question

Considering that I'll be using Vim as my text editor of choice, what tools do I have to consider to manage and build a project of this magnitude?

I'm told that Apache Ant is similar to GNU Make so that part is covered so far. But what about UI design, is there a stand alone UI designer, I mean, something that doesn't need Eclipse installed.

Update: Is there any how-to floating around for Blackberry development, like these ones for Android?

• Android's development without Eclipse
• Android's development guide for Non-Eclipse IDEs

Answer 1

Well. you'll need the simulator at a bare minimum, which you can download from the blackberry website. You will also need to download the SDK for the minimum OS you want to support. You will also need BB-Ant-tools.jar to be able to do ant builds properly.

Answer 2

Is it sane? Honestly No, it isnt. You´ll get lots of headaches.

With blackberry sometimes even the Recommended way of doing things fail, and trying to avoid using the tools that work best for the task is gonna get it even harder.

Answer 3

Writing Java without a Java aware IDE is torture. But if you're already comfortable writing Java code in vim, then you should be fine. There is no designer for BlackBerry -- we're all in the same boat on that aspect.

Answer 4

You may or may not find this relevant

Tips for using Vim as a Java IDE?