Those who develop and streamline software use IDEs or Integrated Development Environments. IDEs are software applications providing a programming environment for developing and debugging software. The older way of developing software was to use unrelated individual tasks such as coding, editing, compiling and linking to produce a binary or an executable file. An IDE combines these separate tasks to provide one seamless development environment for the developer.

Developers have a multitude of choices when selecting an IDE. They can choose IDEs made available from software companies, vendors and Open Source communities. There are free versions and those whose pricing depends on the number of licenses necessary. In general, IDEs do not follow any standard and developers select an IDE based on its own capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.

Typically, all IDEs provide an easy and useful interface, with automatic development steps. Developers using IDEs run and debug their programs all from one screen. Most IDEs offer links from a development operating system to a target application platform such as a microprocessor, smartphone or a desktop environment.

Developing executable software for any environment entails creating source files, compiling them to produce the machine code and linking these with each other along with any library files and resources to produce the executable file.

Programmers write code statements for specific tasks they expect their program to handle. This forms the source file and developers write in statements specific to a high-level language such as C, Java, Python, etc. The language of the source file is evident from the extension that developers use for the file. For example, a file written using c language usually has a name similar to “myfile.c.”

Compilers within the IDE translate source files to the appropriate machine level code or object files suitable for the target environment. The IDE will offer a choice of compilers suitable for the proper environment. In the next level, a linker collects all the object files that a program requires and links them together. Linking also takes in specified library files while assigning memory and register values to variables in the object files. Library files are necessary for supporting the tasks needed by the operating system. The output of the linker is an executable file, in low-level code, understood by the hardware in the system.

Without an IDE, the task of the developer is highly complicated. He or she must compile each source file separately. If the program has more than one source file, they must have separate names so that the compiler can identify them. While invoking the compiler, the developer must specify the proper directory containing the source files along with specifying another directory for holding the output files.

Any error in the source files leads to a failure in compiling and the compiler usually outputs error messages. Compilation succeeds only when the developer has addressed all errors by editing individual source files. For linking, the developer has to specify each object file necessary. Errors may crop up at the linking stage also since some errors are detectable only after linking the entire program.