In computing, an integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, a compiler and/or interpreter, build automation tools, and (usually) a debugger. Sometimes a version control system and various tools are integrated to simplify the construction of a GUI. Many modern IDEs also have a class browser, an object inspector, and a class hierarchy diagram, for use with object oriented software development.
IDEs are designed to maximise programmer productivity by providing tightly-knit components with similar user interfaces, thus minimising the amount of mode switching the programmer must do comparing to loose, discrete collections of disparate development programs.
Typically an IDE is dedicated to a specific programming language, so as to provide a feature set which most closely matches the programming paradigms of the language. However, some multiple-language IDEs are in use, such as Eclipse, ActiveState Komodo, SlickEdit and recent versions of Microsoft Visual Studio.
