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JetBrains Rolls Out 2024.1 Updates of its Suite of IDEs

• By John K. Waters
• April 11, 2024

In a significant move to enhance coding efficiency and protect developer privacy, JetBrains has rolled out the 2024.1 updates for its suite of integrated development environments (IDEs), introducing an advanced full-line autocompletion feature that runs on local AI models. This development, according to JetBrains, is designed to keep data processing securely on the user's device.

"Our models operate entirely on your device, allowing each code suggestion to be validated by the IDE," said Mikhail Kostyukov, JetBrains senior product manager, in a statement. He emphasized that this technique not only elevates the user experience but also guarantees that autogenerated code is free from invalid variables or methods.

This feature comes as a boon for coders in privacy-sensitive sectors or those with unreliable internet connections. The new autocompletion is now available for a variety of programming languages, including Java, Kotlin, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, PHP, Go, and Ruby, directly within their respective JetBrains IDEs. Further expansions are in the pipeline, with work in progress to extend support to languages such as C#, Rust, and C++.

JetBrains has also revamped its AI Assistant. Enhancements include leveraging existing test files to automate test generation, augmenting the AI prompts library, adding a keyboard shortcut for swift one-line code suggestions, and facilitating the creation of files from code snippets.

In an effort to decentralize its toolset and grant developers more control, the AI Assistant is now available as a separate plugin. Product marketing manager Alexandra Charikova noted in a blog post that this change aims to provide users with more flexibility in integrating AI-powered tools into their workflow.

"JetBrains AI Assistant, released in December 2023, has become the fastest-growing of all JetBrains products, Charikova wrote. "Powered by artificial intelligence, it is woven into the core IDE user workflows and connects you to different large language models (LLMs) hosted either by JetBrains or external providers like OpenAI."

The latest updates also bring a refined terminal experience, with improved navigation, independent nesting of commands, better completion suggestions, and more accessible command history.

Tailoring to the specific needs of different programming languages, JetBrains has added unique features to each IDE. IntelliJ IDEA boasts support for Java 22 and the Kotlin K2 mode. GoLand graduates its Data Flow Analysis feature from beta. PyCharm introduces enhanced Jupyter notebook functionalities. RubyMine enables command execution with the project's local SDK. PhpStorm integrates Symfony's AssetMapper to facilitate the installation of missing modules or packages. Additionally, updates have been applied across other JetBrains products, including DataSpell, Scala, and WebStorm, rounding out a comprehensive update package for the JetBrains suite.