Can Emacs beat NetBeans or Eclipse?

[John Wells]

Guys,

I'm an emacs newb. I've been using vi for text editing for years and
Eclipse or Netbeans for Java development, but have finally promised
myself to learn emacs. The motivator for this is really to not die
without knowing it, and to learn what's on the other side of the fence
(and to perhaps find a new, warm, welcoming home for my editing
needs).

What I'd like to understand is where emacs hits the "text editor" wall
when it comes to Java development. I've already looked at it's Ruby
support (my other current language) and it looks very strong, but in
terms of Java development I'm betting that there is a point you reach
with emacs where you can go no further. For example, debugging Java,
refactoring Java, and deep insight into Java data structures for
navigation, refactoring, etc.

NetBeans, Eclipse, and other Java-based Java IDEs have an easier time
with understanding the semantics of Java, I'd wager, simply because
they *are* Java.

I guess what I'm looking for is to understand: what can you do, as a
java developer, in NetBeans or Eclipse that you can't do (reasonably)
in emacs?

Thanks guys! I appreciate the guidance!

John