Aug 17th, 2023

Code Editors

Authors: Daniel Cui, Ryan Kim

Code editors are just text editors to write code. They may also include plugins and specialized features like syntax highlighting, code completion, debugging tools, integrated terminal, etc., and a code editor is often called an Integrated Development Environment, or IDE for short.

List of Commonly Used Code Editors

Visual Studio Code (VS Code): a lightweight, highly versatile editor that is used by the majority of programmers, includes many features, very customizable with plugins
JetBrains IDEs: includes many powerful, commercial IDEs with impressive refactoring and language support, IntelliJ for Java and PyCharm for Python have free Community Edition versions
Vi/Vim/Neovim: keyboard-based text editors for users who want to maximize efficiency with key commands and different modes instead of using a mouse (has a steep learning curve)
Android Studio: an IDE based on IntelliJ from JetBrains, specifically made for Android development
Xcode: Apple’s IDE to develop apps for their suite of products
Others: Sublime Text, Notepad++, Visual Studio

We recommmend VS Code for its simplicity, versatility, and widespread use. It’s also free!

You can download these on most systems (Windows/Mac/Linux), but if you are on ChromeOS or a mobile device, you might have to use repl.it or something like GitHub Codespaces to work online instead of locally. You might also be able to use VS Code in the browser!