What is an IDE, Code editor? Some of the best IDEs and code editors

Photo by Flavio Takemoto from FreeImages

IDE:

The term IDE is used as the short form of "Integrated Development Environment".

IDE is a software application that has all the essential tools and facilities for computer programmers. It is used for software development.

Three main components of IDE:

Code editor
Compiler or Interpreter(a build tool which reads convert your code into the machine language)
Debugger

Code Editor:

Code / Text editor is the softwares that enable programmers to edit or write source code and it may contain special features related to programming such as auto-completion.

Best IDEs which are useful for beginners:

Here are some of the best IDEs(Integrated Development Environment):

1.     Visual Studio 2019

Pic Credit: Tech Geek Net

The Visual Studio 2019 is built by Microsoft. Visual Studio supports, built-in languages C, C++, Visual Basic, .NET, C#, F#, JavaScript, Typescript, XML, HTML and CSS. It also supports Python, Ruby, Node.js with the help of plug-ins. Java was supported previously.

2.     Eclipse

Pic Credits: Eclipse

Eclipse contains a base workspace and a vast plug-in system for customizing the IDE. The IDE is written mostly in Java and it's primarily for the Java app development. It can be used for many other languages by plug-ins which include: Ada, ABAP, C, C++, Clojure, COBOL, Fortran, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby. It can be used for document development LaTeX via the plug-in.

3.     IntelliJ

Pic Credits: JetBrains

IntelliJ is developed by Jetbrains. It is an IDE for Java but it also understands many other languages Kotlin, JavaScript, TypeScript, SQL, Scala, and Groovy.

4.     PyCharm

Pic Credits: JetBrains

PyCharm is also developed by Jetbrains. It supports Python, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, XML, XHTML/HTML, CSS. It also supports frameworks such as Django, Google App Engine, Flask, Buildout.

5.     Repl.it

Pic Caption: Repl

Repl.it is an Online IDE which supports more than 50 programming languages some of them are: Python, Node.js, C, Java, C++, Ruby, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Kotlin (Beta), C# (C sharp), Swift, SQLite, PHP CLI, CoffeeScript, etc. It also supports frameworks such as Django, React, Ruby on Rails, etc. So far at the time of writing there is no software form of this IDE.

Some others use full IDEs include Android Studio, CLion, and  Komodo IDE.

Best Code editors:

Here are some of the best Code Editors:

1.     Visual Studio Code

Pic Credit: Tech Geek Net

Visual Studio Code is an open-source code editor developed by Microsoft. It has built-in support of TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js. It has with IntelliSense based autocomplete features. It provides smart completions based on function definition, modules, and variables. It also provide debugging and refactoring solutions.

It provides a wide range of extensions/plug-ins.

2.     Atom

Pic Credits: Atom

Atom is an open-source code editor. It is preferred by programmers due to its simple interface compared to other editors. Atom users can install packages (plug-ins) for personalization. It has features like code beautify, debugger, auto-complete and a lot more.

3.     Sublime Text 3

Pic Credits: Sublime text 3

Sublime Text 3 is a shareware cross-platform source code editor. It supports a lot of programming and Mark-up languages. Further functions can be added by users with plug-ins. The plug-ins are typically community-built and they are maintained under the free license.

Conclusion:

The programmer's productivity is highly dependent on the quality of IDE or Code Editor a programmer is using and his familiarity with it. Do carefully select a good IDE or Code editor, especially if you are a beginner.