Install an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
If you’re a developer, this chapter will interest you!
Kate
Kate is a text editor that specializes in development features, encryption, syntax highlighting, language grammar, etc. It’s very lightweight and efficient with KDE and also available in Windows and macOS.
Geany
Geany is an IDE with advanced development functions, compatible with many different languages. Bonus: it’s not linked to any particular desktop environment. It’s also available in Windows.
Eclipse
Eclipse is the major-league player in terms of development IDEs. Initially deployed in Java environments, this professional software program offers all the classic IDE features and features for testing, configuration management, reporting and much more. It’s very popular in businesses, and you’ll almost certainly encounter it at some point.
Atom
Atom is the latest big thing in IDEs!
It’s particularly popular for JS projects, as it can natively manage node.js plugins.
It isn’t available in the Ubuntu store, so you’ll need to download the package.
How do I do that?
Directly from the Atom.io website!
We’re going to show you how to do it.
Use Your Programming Languages
Another important subject for developers is the language environment.
We’ve chosen two widely-used languages: Java and Python.
Java
Java is an object-oriented, compiled language with a runtime environment (JRE) and a development kit (JDK). JRE is for production machines and is suitable for running Java programs and applications but doesn’t allow you to compile (which you wouldn’t want to do on production machines anyway). JDK provides all the necessary tools to create programs and applications in Java and compile sources to create classes and packages.
Python
Python is an interpreted language that is widely used, particularly in scientific contexts and is useful for automating tasks in Linux.
Let’s learn how to install and configure Java and Python development environments.
Other languages can, of course, be used in Linux for development. Apart from Python and Java, you can also program in C, which is the compiled language that Linux is coded in, and in C++, its object-oriented big brother. You can also develop using interpreted languages such as Perl or even Bash. In short, Linux is an excellent system for developers!
Let’s Recap!
You can choose a small IDE which integrates easily, such as the efficient Kate or Geany, or a more robust and professional one, like Atom or Eclipse.
You can also choose your development language: compiled (Java, C, C++) or interpreted (Perl, Python, Bash).
Now that you’ve seen some tools you can use to develop applications let’s look more specifically at tools for web applications.
