IDE
An integrated development environment (IDE) is software that consolidates basic tools required to write and test software to make a programmer's journey effective and useful, this will ensure they have key features to improve programming code and ensure it does as instructed. Some features are:
- Basic code formatting - changing the font, size of the font, making text bold etc
- Coloured keywords in source code - e.g. Python code print, input etc turn purple, if turns orange. This makes it easy to see keywords
- Code Editing - this will allow users to write and manipulate source code, it includes features such as auto-completion and auto-correction of code, bracket matching, syntax checks etc
- Commenting code - this allows sections of code to be commented out easily to stop it from being run or as comments on what the program is doing
- Identifying errors - highlight particular areas of code or provide direct error messages where the error may have appeared e.g. indentation errors etc
- Run-Time environment - to allow the program to run and see its corresponding output
- Debugger - this will identify and remedy errors within the source code. This can provide a step through command also which provides step by step instructions and shows what is happening to the code line by line. This method is amazing for catching logical errors
- Libraries - extra modules that are not included in the main programming language e.g. math in Python for extra mathematical commands
- Graphical User Interface Builder - will create a graphical design rather than working with source code
- Translator - which compiles or interprets the code
Exam Tip
- You could be asked to Identify or Describe different features within an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) this number could range from 2-5
