Play targets this exact pain point in Java. The "I want to script stuff easily in a text editor not an IDE and by invoking from the command line and/or by loading a web page without a compilation and deployment step" case.
Here's the manual page for calling an HTTPS service [1]. You just call WS.url("https://example.com").get(). And if it's a self-signed certificate then it's more or less one line in a config file to add it. That's about as easy as it gets short of deliberately making HTTPS insecure.
My experience: I very quickly evolved beyond this case and prefer the robustness of standard Java with the convenience of a bundle like Dropwizard [2]. Dropwizard packages up and glues together various best-of-breed libraries for building services. That was the real pain point for me, not so much having to use an IDE.
Here's the manual page for calling an HTTPS service [1]. You just call WS.url("https://example.com").get(). And if it's a self-signed certificate then it's more or less one line in a config file to add it. That's about as easy as it gets short of deliberately making HTTPS insecure.
My experience: I very quickly evolved beyond this case and prefer the robustness of standard Java with the convenience of a bundle like Dropwizard [2]. Dropwizard packages up and glues together various best-of-breed libraries for building services. That was the real pain point for me, not so much having to use an IDE.
[1] http://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.3.x/WSQuickStar...
[2] http://dropwizard.io