The idea of an integrated development environment was started by TurboPascal in 1983. Borland Ltd. acquired a Pascal compiler and published it as TurboPascal, which had an integrated editor and compiler.
But many believe that Microsoft’s Visual Basic (VB) was the first true IDE in history. It was released in 1991 and built on the old BASIC language. The development of Visual Basic meant that programming could instead be viewed in graphical terms, and noticeable performance benefits became apparent.
Before the IDE, programmers wrote their programs in text editors. This included writing and saving the application in a text editor before running the compiler, taking note of any error messages, and returning to the text editor to check their code.
What Is IDE?
IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is an application used to develop software. It includes the computer itself and a software package that provides some preconfigured development tools and features. They provide a graphical user interface for writing code. It allows you to write source code, compile, debug and run your programs.
Most IDEs also include code editors for writing code. Some IDEs also have other tools such as web browsers, file viewers, etc. The IDE can be used with any programming language. Typical IDE has features like syntax highlighting, smart indentation, autocomplete, etc.
The IDE provides many useful features for creating, running, testing, etc. of a program, such as a text editor, compiler, debugger, and other tools.
The code editor is similar to a regular text editor, but it also provides syntax highlighting and word completion, making it easier to write and understand code.
These IDEs have a built-in compiler/interpreter, debugger, file browser, and other utilities so that programmers can build, compile, debug, and run their programs without going to the command line.
This allows programmers to make changes to the source code without having to do it manually.
IDE Code Editor
The environment in which the user can write code is called a shell. The code editor is a text editing area that allows developers to write, edit, and save a document with code. It has features that help in writing and editing code. This includes:
Auto-completion (or code completion). This is done to save time when writing code. When you start typing the first part of a function, it proposes or terminates the function and any arguments or variables.
Bracket Matching
This is used for languages that use pairs of brackets to denote blocks of code. This allows you to read and understand the code faster. If you forgot to close the
this into a text file that other developers can use to understand how and why the code was created.
Libraries
They provide features that are not included in the main body of the programming language. These functions can be imported and used at the beginning of the code. For example, in Python, the Turtle Graphics library provides access to some simple drawing and graphics tools.
Build Automation
These tools save time by automatically terminating processes that would otherwise be done manually. They may include testing or compiling. These tools are especially handy when the program consists of many thousands of lines of code. They improve software quality by minimizing bad software builds and saving time and money.
Debugger
This is a program in the IDE that is used to detect errors. If the debugger finds errors, it can suggest the type of error and the line it is on.
Benefits Of Using An IDE
IDEs increase developer productivity, reduce installation time, and speed up development tasks by keeping developers up to date on the latest best practices and threats and standardizing the development process so everyone can join in.
By integrating an IDE, programmers don’t have to spend time setting up multiple development tools. They can have the same set of features in one place without constantly switching between instruments.
Closer integration of development tasks speeds up problem-solving. For example, developers can analyze code and check syntax while editing, allowing them to respond to syntax errors instantly. Programmers no longer need to switch between applications to complete tasks. IDEs help programmers organize resources, prevent errors, and implement shortcuts.
They allow programmers to think of their activities in terms of the entire development life cycle (SDLC) rather than a series of individual tasks.
It also standardizes the development process, helping programmers work comfortably together and helping new hires get up to speed so they can get on with the project quickly.
Examples Of IDE
There are many types of IDEs, some of them are owned by major software companies and other organizations, and as mentioned earlier, some of them are specialized in a specific area of development, such as web, mobile or desktop development. The examples of IDE include but are not limited to: Xcode, Eclipse, IDLE, IntelliJ, Netbeans. One more very popular example of an IDE is Visual Studio, a famous Microsoft .NET development tool. There are also special IDEs for the development of databases. One of the most popular MySQL IDE is dbForge Studio. It is used for MySQL Administration, Development and Management. It helps create queries, automate database object management, develop and debug stored procedures, compare and synchronize data.
