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
> 
> ...so an IDE is a text editor, debugger, profiler, UI painter, VC 
> interface and doc-gen tool, except that it's one program instead of 
> several?

An IDE is an integrated development environment. I offered a list of example 
features that an IDE might integrate. It doesn't mean it's all one program. 
It doesn't mean that all IDEs have that particular list of features.

> For example, I've seen IDEs that can generate pages of useless 
> boilerplate that you don't want at the touch of a button, but I've never 
> seen an IDE that can write *useful* code for you. Certainly I've never 
> seen an IDE write GUI code, and I've never seen an IDE that has any 
> functionallity of any kind even slightly related to database access.

Well, go download one. ;-)

> I also haven't personally seen an IDE that can handle version control - 
> although it seems like an obvious and easy feature to add, so I can 
> believe that one.

Well, go download one. Visual Studio 2008 is free and pretty much 
top-of-the-line, altho the free one integrates fewer tools.

> That sounds more like a CASE tool. (Does anybody still use those?)

Sure. And if you integrate it into your development environment, what do you 
have?

> goes that if your language doesn't suck so much that you need to write 
> so much cruft in the first place, you don't need an IDE. I am not 
> entirely convinced by this argument.

It's a decent argument, but it sounds like it's being made by someone who 
thinks "development" means "coding." Boilerplate has nothing to do with 
ensuring that unit tests run before you check in the code, nor with making 
sure that the right version of the documentation is distributed with the 
release you pressed to the disk.

> Every IDE I've ever used has made my job harder, not easier. Then again, 
> maybe they just means that an IDE is overkill for small projects.

Or your IDE sucks.

-- 
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?"

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