NetBeans runs on the NetBeans Platform. A vast array of developed components and actions greatly reduces the amount of effort developers need when building desktop applications (such as NetBeans itself) or developing any plugins that would be associated with it.

If you wish to learn more about the NetBeans Platform, go to:

http://netbeans.org/features/platform/

And for a more detailed look at the platform documentation:

http://netbeans.org/features/platform/all-docs.html

In this chapter we will create our own plugins that will be integrated into the IDE itself.

There are a number of reasons for doing this, such as contributing to the NetBeans project, developing plugins for your own purposes or even re-branding the IDE to suit your company needs.