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What is an IDE? | A Beginner's Guide to Integrated Development Environments

Introduction to IDE

An IDE is a software that helps developers write codes for developing applications. It has a user-friendly interface consisting of an editor and a compiler. We can write the code in the editor window and compile it using the compiler. Consequently, we can run it to check the output of the program on the output terminal.

An IDE facilitates developers with plenty of functionalities to program in various languages. Thus, it has become one of the essential tools for the development of various applications.

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As mentioned above, an IDE consists of the following tools:

Text Editor

We write programs in the text editor window. Here, we can edit, debug, and comment on our programs. It also provides features such as text predictor that helps in correcting errors.

 Project Editor

A project consists of different files for various functionalities. We store these essential files of a software project in the Project Editor window.

Output Terminal

The output terminal in an IDE shows the result of the program.

Toolbar

A toolbar is a set of options that are bound to specific functionalities such as view, run, debug, etc. It helps in performing various operations on the program that we create.

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The Need for an Integrated Development Environment

Speed and efficiency are the two factors that affect every industry. In this competitive era, it has become a challenge to create fast and scalable software for customers. This is where a smart IDE wins the game. An IDE helps us with the following features:

Auto-completion

This feature helps us correct syntax errors immediately. It suggests the correct variables, keywords, functions, libraries, and packages to use while writing the code. Also, the color scheme of an IDE proves to be a great asset. It helps in understanding the flow of a program. We can easily distinguish between variables and the text and between functions and classes, and thus understand the logic of the code.

Debugging

Debugging is the most important step in creating successful software. Debugging the code involves testing and clearing up all errors so that our program does not crash.

File management

A project consists of different files carrying different functionalities. It becomes a necessary task to place these files in proper locations for the execution of the program. An IDE makes the location of all the resource files of a project more visible

Types of IDEs

Creating applications using different programming languages requires various types of IDEs compatible with the respective programming languages. In this section, we will see the different types of IDEs used for development in various languages.
There are different categories of IDEs, such as we use IDEs for multiple programming languages, mobile development, and for particular programming languages. Let’s now get familiar with each category.

Dive into our blog on 7 best IDE for Web Development to pick and choose based on your requirements.

IDEs for Multiple Languages

There are many IDEs available that help programming in different languages. We can use a single IDE for programming in various languages such as C, C++, or Java. Some of these IDEs are mentioned below:

  1. NetBeans: It is an open-source IDE that consists of various useful packages and modules for development. NetBeans supports various languages as given below:
  • C/C++
  • Java
  • Python
  • Ruby
  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • Groovy
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  1. Eclipse: It is also an open-source software used for various development frameworks. It is majorly used for application development using Java. The languages supported by Eclipse are:
  • Java
  • Python
  • C/C++
  • PHP
  • Perl
  • Ruby
  • COBOL
  • Haskell
  • Fortran

Certification in Full Stack Web Development

  1. Aptana: It is a popular IDE used for the development of web applications. The programming languages supported by Aptana are:

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Mobile Development IDEs

There are various IDEs used for the development of mobile applications. Some of them are listed below:

  • PhoneGap
  • Android Studio
  • IntelliJ IDEA
  • Visual Studio
  • Appcelerator

IDEs for Particular Languages

For programming exclusively in a specific language, there are various IDEs available. They are as follows:

  • Java: JCreator
  • Python: IDLE
  • C/C++: CodeLite
  • R: RStudio

These are some of the commonly used Integrated Development Environments for various programming languages.

With the help of an IDE and its various features, it becomes an easy task to understand the functionalities and behavior of our code. Hence, we can create software with greater efficiency in less time.

This is the reason for the necessity of the Software Development Environment and we use an IDE for it.

Now, we can see that Python is supported by most of the IDEs. From this, we can infer that Python is one of the popular languages used for application development. In the next module, we will be going through the PyCharm IDE used for Python application development.

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About the Author

Senior Consultant Analytics & Data Science

Sahil Mattoo, a Senior Software Engineer at Eli Lilly and Company, is an accomplished professional with 14 years of experience in languages such as Java, Python, and JavaScript. Sahil has a strong foundation in system architecture, database management, and API integration.