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Published December 13th, 2016 by

IDE Software: Which Apps Are Specific to Microsoft and Apple

IDE Software: Which Apps Are Specific to Microsoft and Apple

We are now in the age where computer programs and technology is improving at a very fast rate. Anywhere we go, from the business sector to entertainment and gaming industry, to the education sector, the government and private sectors and several other industries; there will surely be a lot of things that are being run by software and computer programs. Thanks to the software developers in our society who are continuously improving our computing experience from different areas like learning, developing, marketing, gaming and a lot more. All software created by computer programmers nowadays don’t get completed without the help of an IDE software. IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment. This is a software that provides tools to computer programmers and web developers to successfully create the applications we now enjoy in our computers or mobile gadgets.

What Is an IDE Software?

IDE software helps the program developer to write the codes, compile them and then run or test them all in one place. Through an IDE software, these are all seamlessly combined to get developers working with their project software with ease. This helps them get things organized as well. It usually has the following: source code editor, build automation tools and debugger. Using an IDE software in software development maximizes the programmers’ productivity since the tools and functionalities they need are all in one place. Some IDE apps can even automatically compile codes as you type them. There are also some with drag and drop features so you could visually create your software.

Choosing the IDE Software

There’s no doubt there are a lot of IDE software in the market so choosing the best one to use might be confusing. It is ideal to check the best IDE software reviews to help you decide which one to use. Websites like CrowdReviews.com provide some of the best IDE software reviews.

However, before jumping to reading reviews, one of the things you need to consider first is the compatibility of the IDE software to the operating system you will be using in creating your program. There are specific applications which are only intended to work on certain platforms. In other words, just like other programs, there are some IDE software that only work for Windows and some that only work for Apple or Mac. It will save you time and effort if you first find out what are the IDE softwares that functions with your operating system before reading through all the online reviews you can find.

Depending on what operating system you are using, it will be helpful to check the features the IDE software have so you can compare them before deciding on what to use in your own software development.

IDE Software for Windows

Probably, the most common platform for software developers is Windows. This operating system is still the most widely used OS. There are several IDE softwares for Windows. Here are some of the top ones according to some of the best IDE software reviews online in no particular order:

  1. Visual Web Developer. This is a free application which is a stripped down version of the other IDE software, Visual Studio. It has similar features as the Visual Studio and the only difference is the price as this one is free. This is good for beginners.
  2. phpDesigner. This software offers support for PHP debugging and profiling. It supports all standard languages. It also offers TortoiseSVN support, and live error detection for PHP, HTML, and CSS
  3. phpEdit. This one is designed mainly for PHP language, but it also supports many other languages such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript, INI, PHPEditScript, PlainText, SQL, XML, and XSLT. It also has debugging and database support together with time-saving keyboard templates to help you setup your PHP code structure faster.
  4. Visual Studio 2008. This application has been the standard for .Net code but can also be used for web development. This one has very good debugging features especially if you are using ASP.NET. It has a lot of amazing features very useful for ASP.NET users.
  5. Expression web. This IDE app offers CSS support which creates and applies your styles graphically. It can help you design and develop web pages using HTML5, CSS 3, ASP.NET, PHP, JavaScript, XML+XSLT and XHTML.
  6. PhpEd. The PhpEd IDE software comes with validators for PHP, CSS, and HTML. One unique which this one has is the dynamic syntax highlighting. This is helpful if you are using multiple languages in one file. If this feature is on, only the language your cursor is on with will become highlighted; all the other codes will appear as normal text.

IDE Software for MAC

Programmers who are using the Mac OS are now on the rise. Below is a list of some of the best IDE software for the Apple operating system.

  1. Coda. It is a commercial and proprietary web development application for OS X. You can remotely edit files on almost any server. It has the ability to collaborate on a file with anyone in the world. According to its website, the new Coda can also now track and publish files modified outside of the program.
  2. CSSEdit. This is great IDE for both veterans and beginners of CSS. It has built in validation, code versioning, and selector builder. This also has capabilities to inspect other websites for you to see how they were done.
  3. Webstorm. This one is a commercial IDE for JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. It has a smart editor that analyzes your project so you can provide the best code completion results for all languages. It also has features that will let you develop mobile apps.
  4. Textwrangler. It is an all-purpose text editor and code editor for OS X. One of the pros of this software is that if you encounter a corrupted word-processing file created with Microsoft Word or OpenOffice, it can help you recover at least some of the text. Textwrangler can be downloaded for free.
  5. XCode. This IDE software contains features and software development tools developedby Apple themselves. You can create apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple

 TV through this IDE.

Now, you should already have an idea on which applications you can further research on. These are just some of the IDEs in the market. There are still a lot of others you can find. The descriptions noted here for every software are just the basics and if you want to know more about these products, better visit their official websites. Their websites will always enumerate the best features of the IDE software they are selling. It is also helpful to check out blogs and online reviews of the best IDE software. The good thing about user reviews is that you can find out both the good and the bad on any software. Users doing the reviews usually list down both the pros and cons of an application.

Nowadays, YouTube is also a good place to look for reviews. There are a lot of videos posted on YouTube about IDE software. Aside from reviews, these videos sometimes contain tutorials that might be useful for you. And the comments section also contains very informative feedback from other users as well.

There are also online community sites for programmers. They have forums and discussions about different concerns in programming. You can get ideas on what applications they are using from these online forums. Sometimes it is good to know what your fellow programmer is using in creating their programs and application. You can also get tips and suggestions from them on how to maximize the usage of a certain tool or IDE software. They might also have the best IDE software reviews.

Take Advantage of Trial Versions

It is also a good idea to take advantage of trial versions of the IDE software if they offer one. Through this, you can see if there are any issues or bugs that might affect your productivity or the way you build your program. You can usually get these trial versions from the software’s website.

It will also be a plus if the IDE software has a chat support or a technical support line to assist you in case issues emerge. This will get you to focus more on creating your own program instead of worrying about the bugs that your IDE software might have.

Are you a developer looking for the best IDE software to use? Visit CrowdReviews.com to see ranking; comparison of the best IDE software; and the best IDE software reviews and blogs.

Our rankings are completely independent, transparent, and community driven; they are based on user reviews and client sentiment. These ide software companies had to earn their way up and didn't just pay their way up.

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