IDE ( Integrated Development Environment )
An IDE is a tool used by developers which makes writing code much easier by providing a variety of helpful tools. Here are some of them:
Typeahead suggestions - A good IDE knows what language which the developer is using and makes good predictions about what they are trying to type. Many times, this can allow the developer to type a few keystrokes and then press "tab" for the IDE to autocomplete.
Code Folding - this collapses sections of code into one line, thus "hiding" a portion in order to make large swaths of code more navigable
Code Navigation - A page of code can be broken down into sections. By providing code navigation, a developer can access different parts of a document quickly without repeatedly scrolling up or down.
Colored Text based on what purpose that code has
Syntax checking - Does the code that is being typed make sense or will it introduce errors?
Formatters - automatically formatting code in a way that helps keep it organized and readable
Compliers - Languages like Java need to extra steps before they can be deployed and many IDEs can perform those steps.
It is highly recommended that you use VScode for this class because of the integrations which already exist for BoxLang. Other IDEs such as IntelliJ or Dreamweaver are perfectly fine to use but won't have the same level of support. VSCode is a free from Microsoft and is used by millions of developers all over the world.
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