In the advancing world of information technology, the demand and need for software development are ever enhancing and increasing rapidly. Software development is sought in every paradigm, from every business venture to companies dealing in software solutions, every organization is in search and need of software development. Linux is a demand and the first choice of more than 32 million users around the globe is widely adopted by many software engineers for developing different software solutions. Owing to the open-source and faster speed of Linux as compared to Windows and other operating systems, many organizations are using or shifting to Linux. Therefore, the demand and requirement of Linux Development Environments has forever sought a surge and is still witnessing a great demand. In this article, we discuss the best-performing development environments that are cross-compatible and are specifically most acclaimed by Linux software developers.
PhpStorm
Developed by JetBrains in 2010, PhpStorm is the first choice of many software engineers across all the platforms and different paradigms. PhpStorm is a closed-source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) designed especially for PHP, HTML, and JavaScript coders. Packed with an attractive, modern, and smooth user interface, the front-end of PhpStorm is designed with the latest cutting-edge technologies, such as HTML5, CSS, CoffeeScript, etc.
PhpStorm is a flexible and highly integrated development environment offering many features such as SQL and databases support, Remote deployment over FTP, SFTP, FTPS, etc. with automatic synchronization, Version control systems integration, Local History, Code auto-completion capability, Syntax errors highlighting, Easy-to-configure visual debugger, remote deployment, smart code navigator, Code completion for JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, Code navigation and usages search, code refactoring, various testing tools, etc. Other than that, the IDE offers many themes and layouts for enhancing software developers’ coding experience.
Get a free 30-day trial now from https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/download/#section=linux
Eclipse
From beginners to the much-experienced software developers, Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is the favorite of all. Developed and launched by IBM in 2001, Eclipse is a free and open-source software development IDE that comes equipped with many features and functionalities enabling users across all the platforms.
Written mostly in Java, the Eclipse platform is widely adopted for programming Java-based applications. However, it can be used for applications in other programming languages as well by utilizing different available plug-ins. The languages include C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, Python, R, Ruby, etc. Eclipse provides its users Rich Client Platform (RCP) that enable developing general-purpose applications along with providing a list of tools such as different GUI builders, and tools for modeling, charting, reporting, testing, and the list goes on. Furthermore, being a widely adopted platform, Eclipse provides enhanced support on Git and the internationalized support enabling users across the globe.
Get it now from https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
BlueFish
Launched recently by the BlueFish development team in 2020, the lightweight and user-friendly Integrated Development Environment (IDE) has outperformed many existing IDEs. The speed and efficiency of the paradigm have made it come into the competition of the best performing IDEs of the age. BlueFish is cross-platform compatible that makes it accessible for the software developers across all the platforms.
BlueFish was designed for the coders prone to developing and creating web applications mostly requiring HTML and CSS, along with the scripting masters that mainly use PHP, JavaScript, and other coding languages. With BlueFish, the development time and productivity are greatly enhanced as the platform is relatively faster with the ability to load up to hundred files without any additional load time. Furthermore, the platform offers its users many features such as auto-completion, auto-recovery of files, syntax highlighting, and many other features relating to syntax checking. BlueFish is a free and open-source software providing a lightweight environment to developers for coding applications with enhanced productivity and reliability.
Get it now from http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/download.html
VSCode
Another widely adopted platform that is the first choice of many software developers and is used in many software development houses, Visual Studio Code (or VSCode) is a free and cross-platform compatible Integrated Development Environment (IDE) developed by Microsoft. The tool is most acclaimed as it fits all, from the coding beginners to the programming experts, all can benefit from the amazing and most feature integrated IDE.
The platform provides a lot of features such as for coding language and syntax, VSCode provides syntax highlighting, code folding, auto code completion, configurable snippets, refactoring, keyboard shortcuts, bracket matching, debugging support, etc. VS Code Marketplace provides free support for additional languages added and enabled via plugins. Furthermore, VSCode provides enhanced data collection and versioning capabilities enabling productivity and code adaptability across the globe. VSCode enables programmers to code applications in many languages such as C, C++, CSS, HTML, JSON, F#, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Swift, etc., along with the capability to change and apply different themes for enhancing overall user experience.
Get it now from https://code.visualstudio.com/download
Sublime Text
Launched and released in 2008, the advanced Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a free and cross-platform compatible platform that enables software developers across Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms. The lightweight IDE is most recommended for web development as it supports coding in various programming and markup languages such as Python, C, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and many other popular languages and technologies used for web development.
Sublime Text offers its users many advanced commendable features such as quick navigation to files, symbols, or lines with the “Goto Anything” feature, adaptive matching for quick keyboard invocation of arbitrary commands, Python-based plugin API, ability to simultaneously make the same interactive changes to multiple selected areas, extensive customizability via JSON settings files, including project-specific and platform-specific settings, compatible with many language grammars from TextMate, project-specific preferences, etc.
Get it now from https://www.sublimetext.com/3
Closing Remarks
Developing software solutions is a need and demand of many users, companies, and enterprises across the globe. In this advanced world of information technology, it has almost become impossible to expect advancements and improvements or even sustenance without relying on a software solution. Hence, in this article, we summarize the best Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) that despite providing a coding environment, also provide assistance and support along with speed and efficiency to enhance the software developers’ overall coding experience. PhpStorm, Eclipse, BlueFish, VSCode, and Sublime Text – all IDEs are part of our list of top-performing IDEs. Each IDE is cross-platform compatible thereby enabling software developers across all the platforms, i.e. Windows, macOS, and Linux, and making development easy, efficient and equal for all.
Karim Buzdar holds a degree in telecommunication engineering and holds several sysadmin certifications including CCNA RS, SCP, and ACE. As an IT engineer and technical author, he writes for various websites.
