ide

An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE typically includes a source code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger, and may also include a compiler or interpreter. Many IDEs integrate version control, testing tools, and a runtime or deployment utilities, and offer features such as syntax highlighting, code completion, refactoring, and code navigation.

IDEs emerged in the 1980s to consolidate development workflows. Early products such as Turbo Pascal and Borland's Delphi evolved into modern environments, and today popular IDEs such as Microsoft Visual Studio, Eclipse, and JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm shape professional workflows across languages and platforms.

Types vary: general-purpose IDEs support multiple languages through plugins, while language-specific IDEs target a single ecosystem. IDEs can be desktop-based, cloud-based, or cross-platform, and may provide extensive plugin ecosystems for additional language support, tooling, or project management.

Usage and impact: IDEs are used in software development for applications, web, and mobile projects. They streamline coding, debugging, testing, and deployment through integrated tooling and workflows, potentially increasing productivity but at the cost of resource use and a steeper learning curve.

Examples: Visual Studio, Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, Xcode, PyCharm, Android Studio.