What is an IDE?
Options
- Integrated Development Environment: an editor plus tools (Correct option)
- A type of server that hosts and runs web applications
- A programming language that is used to write compilers
- A cloud service that builds and deploys the projects
Answer
Integrated Development Environment: an editor with extra tools such as autocomplete, a debugger and run/test buttons, for example IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse or PyCharm
Why
You can write code in any text editor, but an IDE saves a lot of time: it highlights errors as you type, suggests code, refactors safely, runs tests and lets you pause the program in a debugger.
IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse are common for Java; PyCharm for Python. Editors such as VS Code become IDE-like with extensions.
Remember
IDE = editor + debugger + tools in one app.