interactive development environment


interactive development environment

(programming, tool)(IDE, integrated development environment)A system for supporting the process of writing software. Sucha system may include a syntax-directed editor, graphicaltools for program entry, and integrated support for compilingand running the program and relating compilation errors backto the source.

Such systems are typically both interactive and integrated,hence the ambiguous acronym. They are interactive in that thedeveloper can view and alter the execution of the program atthe level of statements and variables. They are integrated inthat, partly to support the above interaction, the source codeeditor and the execution environment are tightly coupled,e.g. allowing the developer to see which line of source codeis about to be executed and the current values of anyvariables it refers to.

Examples include Visual C++ and Visual Basic.