computer science

Integrated development environment

Integrated development environment is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Integrated development environment rather than just read about it. In short: An integrated development environment (IDE) is software that provides a relatively comprehensive set of features for software development. An IDE is intended to enhance productivity by providing development features with a consistent user experience as opposed to using separate tools, such as vi, GDB, GCC, and make.

Key takeaways

Integrated development environment belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Integrated development environment to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Integrated development environment from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

An integrated development environment (IDE) is software that provides a relatively comprehensive set of features for software development. An IDE is intended to enhance productivity by providing development features with a consistent user experience as opposed to using separate tools, such as vi, GDB, GCC, and make. At a minimum, an IDE typically supports source-code editing, source control, build automation, and debugging. An IDE may include support for integrating tools such as a compiler, runtime environment or version control system, but sometimes such tools are bundled with the IDE. Some IDEs provide special support for constructing a graphical user interface (GUI). Many IDEs support object-oriented programming via features such as class browser and object browser. Typically, an IDE provides special support for one or more programming languages, allowing for features tailored to a language. Some IDEs can be extended to support additional languages. Although some IDEs are implemented as an application, some are implemented as a library, often designed for a particular software platform. For example, although Eclipse is a platform for which there are many plugins that each provide an IDE experience, the core application does not. While modern IDEs are GUI-based, there were IDEs before the availability of windowing systems like Windows and the X Window System. For example, Turbo Pascal for MS-DOS has a full-screen, text-based user experience.

History IDEs initially became possible when developing via a console or terminal. Early systems could not support one, since programs were submitted to a compiler or assembler via punched cards, paper tape, etc. Dartmouth BASIC was the first language to be created with an IDE (and was also the first to be designed for use while sitting in front of a console or terminal). Its IDE (part of the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System) was command-based, and therefore did not look much like the menu-driven, graphical IDEs popular after the advent of the graphical user interface. However it integrated editing, file management, compilation, debugging and execution in a manner consistent with a modern IDE. Maestro I is a product from Softlab Munich and was the world's first integrated development environment for software. Maestro I was installed for 22,000 programmers worldwide. Until 1989, 6,000 installations existed in the Federal Republic of Germany. Maestro was arguably the world leader in this field during the 1970s and 1980s. Today one of the last Maestro I can be found in the Museum of Information Technology at Arlington in Texas. One of the first IDEs with a plug-in concept was Softbench. In 1995 Computerwoche commented that the use of an IDE was not well received by developers since it would fence in their creativity. As of August 2023, the most commonly searched for IDEs on Google Search were Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and Eclipse.

Features Features commonly found in an IDE include:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Integrated development environment

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Integrated development environment claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Integrated development environment before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Integrated development environment ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Integrated development environment

In research: Integrated development environment appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Integrated development environment in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Integrated development environment is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Integrated development environments, Software engineering, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Integrated development environment outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Integrated development environment in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Integrated development environment means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Integrated development environment out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Integrated development environment in simple terms?

Why does Integrated development environment matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Integrated development environment?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Integrated development environment.