IDEs

IDEs

1. integrated development environment

2. e.g. IDLE, Greenfoot

3. text editors with extra features designed to make programming easier

   • built-in compiler or interpreter
     • allows you to compile and run the software directly from the IDE interface
   • linker/ loader
     • most IDEs allow the user to load and group multiple files together
   • debugger
     • steps through the code line by line so the user can see where an error has been made
     • useful for finding logic errors
   • tracer
     • another debugging tool that creates a log of what happens as the code runs - including logs of when variables change, user inputs and loops
   • variable watch
     • keeps a table of variables used by the program, and can show the contents of each variable at various points during debugging
   • break point
     • a break point is inserted at a particular point in the code, causing the execution to pause at this point, allowing us to see if the variables are as expected
   • error diagnostics
     • if a syntax error or run time error is thrown by the compiler, IDEs highlight the code that caused it