An IDE, or Integrated Development Environment, is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE typically consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger. It helps programmers develop software code efficiently by consolidating the different aspects of writing a computer program. Some key features of an IDE include:
-
Source Code Editing: IDEs facilitate writing code with features like syntax highlighting and autocomplete.
-
Intelligent Code Completion: An IDE can make suggestions to complete a code statement when the developer begins typing.
-
Refactoring Support: IDEs allow developers to automate unit tests locally before the software is integrated with other developers code and more complex integration tests are run.
-
Debugging: IDEs are used for debugging, using an integrated debugger, with support for setting breakpoints in the editor, visual rendering of steps, etc. .
IDEs can be used for various programming languages and can be classified into several different categories, depending on the application development they support. IDEs increase programmer productivity by combining common activities of writing software into a single application: editing source code, building executables, and debugging. They allow developers to start programming new applications quickly because multiple utilities don’t need to be manually configured and integrated as part of the setup process.
