Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> OK, so apart from syntax hilighting, what does an IDE actually do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio#Features

> 1. Expert programmers using powerful programming languages don't need an 
> IDE. (Alternatively, "if you need an IDE, you're a bad programmer or 
> you're using an inferior language".)

They may not need an IDE to code, or perhaps to debug. But an IDE does more 
than just the code. Hence the "integrated" part. It draws forms, generates 
code, lets you edit database schemas, lets you generate code to easily 
access your database schema from code, runs tests, checks code in and out of 
the repository, generates documentation, packages for distribution, etc.

> 2. Large systems require an IDE. 

The IDE in big projects does the parts that aren't code, like drawing 
pictures of the over-all flow of data through the 15 different programs that 
may or may not touch it between source and destination.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The question in today's corporate environment is not
   so much "what color is your parachute?" as it is
   "what color is your nose?"

Post a reply to this message