Most Popular Ide Comparison: VisualStudio, Visual Code, IntelliJ, Android Studio, IDLE, PyCharm, Atom, Sublime, Vim, Eclipse, Notepad++, Komodo Edit, Netbeans and kDevelop

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  8 minutes  |  1677 words  |  dbu9

When it comes to integrated development environments (IDEs), developers have plenty of options to choose from. From Visual Studio to Vim, each IDE has its unique features and benefits. In this article, we will compare some of the popular IDEs like VisualStudio, Visual Code, IntelliJ, Android Studio, IDLE, PyCharm, Atom, Sublime, Vim, Eclipse, Komodo Edit, Netbeans, and kDevelop based on their license, community size, backing company, ease of setup, supported programming languages, integration with Git, debugger, support for remote editing, and IntelliSense support.

Table Of Contents

Visual Studio

  • License: Proprietary
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Microsoft
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: C#, F#, VB.NET, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, and many more.
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with Visual Studio Code Remote - SSH extension
  • IntelliSense Support: Excellent

Visual Studio is one of the most popular IDEs for Windows development. It is a proprietary IDE developed by Microsoft and supports a wide range of programming languages. Visual Studio offers excellent integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through the Visual Studio Code Remote - SSH extension. The IntelliSense support is excellent and provides intelligent code completion and error highlighting.

Visual Studio Code

  • License: Open Source (MIT License)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Microsoft
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: C#, F#, VB.NET, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, and many more.
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with Remote Development extension
  • IntelliSense Support: Excellent

Visual Studio Code is a lightweight, open-source IDE developed by Microsoft. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and supports a wide range of programming languages. Visual Studio Code offers excellent integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through the Remote Development extension. The IntelliSense support is excellent and provides intelligent code completion and error highlighting.

IntelliJ

  • License: Community edition - Open Source (Apache License 2.0), Ultimate edition - Proprietary
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: JetBrains
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: Java, Kotlin, Groovy, Scala, and many more.
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with Remote SSH plugin
  • IntelliSense Support: Excellent

IntelliJ is a powerful Java IDE developed by JetBrains. It is available in two editions - Community and Ultimate. The Community edition is open-source, while the Ultimate edition is proprietary. IntelliJ offers excellent integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through the Remote SSH plugin. The IntelliSense support is excellent and provides intelligent code completion and error highlighting.

Android Studio

  • License: Open Source (Apache License 2.0)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Google
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: Java, Kotlin, C++, and many more.
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with ADB and SSH
  • IntelliSense Support: Excellent

Android Studio is the official IDE for Android development, developed by Google. It is an open-source IDE based on IntelliJ and supports Java, Kotlin, and C++. Android Studio offers excellent integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through ADB and SSH. The IntelliSense support is excellent and provides intelligent code completion and error highlighting.

IDLE

  • License: Open Source (Python Software Foundation License)
  • Community Size: Small
  • Backed By: Python Software Foundation
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: Python
  • Integration with Git: No
  • Debugger: Basic
  • Support for Remote Editing: No
  • IntelliSense Support: Basic

IDLE is a basic IDE that comes bundled with Python. It is a simple IDE with minimal features and is primarily used for learning and experimentation. IDLE supports only Python programming language and does not offer any integration with Git. The debugger is basic, and there is no support for remote editing. The IntelliSense support is also basic and provides only basic code completion.

PyCharm

  • License: Community edition - Open Source (Apache License 2.0), Professional edition - Proprietary
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: JetBrains
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with Remote SSH plugin
  • IntelliSense Support: Excellent

PyCharm is a Python IDE developed by JetBrains. It is available in two editions - Community and Professional. The Community edition is open-source, while the Professional edition is proprietary. PyCharm offers excellent integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through the Remote SSH plugin. The IntelliSense support is excellent and provides intelligent code completion and error highlighting.

Atom

  • License: Open Source (MIT License)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: GitHub
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, and more
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Basic
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with remote-ftp package
  • IntelliSense Support: Good

Atom is an open-source, hackable IDE developed by GitHub. It is a lightweight IDE that supports a wide range of programming languages. Atom offers excellent integration with Git and supports remote editing through the remote-ftp package. The debugger is basic, and the IntelliSense support is good but not as advanced as other IDEs.

Sublime Text

  • License: Proprietary
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Jon Skinner
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: C++, Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more
  • Integration with Git: Good
  • Debugger: Basic
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with SFTP plugin
  • IntelliSense Support: Basic

Sublime Text is a proprietary IDE developed by Jon Skinner. It is a lightweight IDE that supports a wide range of programming languages. Sublime Text offers good integration with Git and supports remote editing through the SFTP plugin. The debugger is basic, and the IntelliSense support is basic, providing only basic code completion.

Notepad++

  • License: Open Source (GPL)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Don Ho
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: Various (with syntax highlighting)
  • Integration with Git: Good (with plugin)
  • Debugger: N/A
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with FTP/SFTP plugin
  • IntelliSense Support: Basic (with plugin)

Notepad++ is a free, open-source text editor with support for various programming languages and syntax highlighting. It is lightweight and easy to use, with an intuitive interface. Notepad++ has good integration with Git, although this requires a plugin. It does not have a debugger, and IntelliSense support is basic, although this can be improved with plugins. Notepad++ also supports remote editing through FTP/SFTP plugins. Overall, Notepad++ is a good choice for simple text editing and lightweight programming tasks, but may not be suitable for more complex development needs.

Vim

  • License: Open Source (Vim License)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Bram Moolenaar
  • Ease of Setup: Difficult
  • Supported Programming Languages: Almost all programming languages
  • Integration with Git: Good
  • Debugger: Basic
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with SSH
  • IntelliSense Support: Basic

Vim is a highly customizable, text-based IDE that has been around for over 30 years. It is a powerful IDE that supports almost all programming languages. Vim offers good integration with Git and supports remote editing through SSH. However, Vim has a steep learning curve and can be difficult to set up for beginners. The debugger is basic, and the IntelliSense support is also basic, providing only basic code completion.

Eclipse

  • License: Open Source (Eclipse Public License)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Eclipse Foundation
  • Ease of Setup: Moderate
  • Supported Programming Languages: Java, C++, Python, and more
  • Integration with Git: Excellent
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with Remote System Explorer (RSE) plugin
  • IntelliSense Support: Good

Eclipse is an open-source IDE developed by the Eclipse Foundation. It is primarily used for developing Java applications but also supports other programming languages such as C++, Python, and more. Eclipse offers excellent integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through the Remote System Explorer (RSE) plugin. The IntelliSense support is good, providing code completion and error highlighting.

Komodo Edit

  • License: Open Source (Mozilla Public License 2.0)
  • Community Size: Small
  • Backed By: ActiveState
  • Ease of Setup: Moderate
  • Supported Programming Languages: Python, PHP, Ruby, Perl, and more
  • Integration with Git: Good
  • Debugger: Basic
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with SSH
  • IntelliSense Support: Basic

Komodo Edit is an open-source IDE developed by ActiveState. It supports a range of programming languages such as Python, PHP, Ruby, and more. Komodo Edit offers good integration with Git and supports remote editing through SSH. The debugger is basic, and the IntelliSense support is also basic, providing only basic code completion.

NetBeans

  • License: Open Source (Apache License 2.0)
  • Community Size: Large
  • Backed By: Apache Software Foundation
  • Ease of Setup: Easy
  • Supported Programming Languages: Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more
  • Integration with Git: Good
  • Debugger: Excellent
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with Remote Development plugin
  • IntelliSense Support: Good

NetBeans is an open-source IDE developed by the Apache Software Foundation. It is primarily used for developing Java applications but also supports other programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more. NetBeans offers good integration with Git and a powerful debugger. It also supports remote editing through the Remote Development plugin. The IntelliSense support is good, providing code completion and error highlighting.

kDevelop

  • License: Open Source (GPL)
  • Community Size: Small
  • Backed By: KDE Community
  • Ease of Setup: Moderate
  • Supported Programming Languages: C++, Python, PHP, and more
  • Integration with Git: Good
  • Debugger: Basic
  • Support for Remote Editing: Yes, with SSH
  • IntelliSense Support: Good

kDevelop is an open-source IDE developed by the KDE Community. It is primarily used for developing C++ applications but also supports other programming languages such as Python and PHP. kDevelop offers good integration with Git and supports remote editing through SSH. The debugger is basic, and the IntelliSense support is good, providing code completion and error highlighting.

Summary

In conclusion, choosing an IDE is a matter of personal preference and depends on the programming languages you use, your development needs, and your familiarity with the IDE. However, based on the comparison, some of the IDEs that stand out are Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, IntelliJ, Android Studio, and PyCharm, which offer excellent integration with Git, a powerful debugger, and good IntelliSense support.

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