Some people still unable to differentiate between regular text editor and IDE. IDE is far different to regular text editor, despite you can also use a regular text editor to write programming code. IDE — which stands for Integrated Development Environment —  is an integrated tool aimed at programmers to ease their job in software development.

An IDE application consists of some components. Normally, it consists of a code editor, debugger, compiler, interpreter and other programming-related tools. Today, most modern IDEs even also have an intelligent code completion to lessen the typo and speed up the coding process.

There are tens of modern IDEs available out there. NetBeans and Eclipse are the examples of popular IDEs. Those IDEs are available for major platforms, including Linux. Some IDEs are designed specifically for a specific programming language, some supports multiple languages. If you use Linux, below is the list of the best IDEs for Linux you can use, depending on what programming language you are focus on.

1. NetBeans IDE

NetBeans IDE is an IDE developed by Sun Microsystems — which is now owned by Oracle Corporation. This IDE is the best tool if you want to use an IDE to develop a Java-based application since it is the official official IDE for Java 8. With its editors, code analyzers, and converters, you can quickly and smoothly upgrade your applications to use new Java 8 language constructs, such as lambdas, functional operations, and method references.

Although this IDE is primarily intended for Java, it can also be used to develop applications in other languages including PHP, C/C++, HTML and other popular programming languages. NetBeans IDE is a cross-platform IDE and released as an open source software. In addition to Linux, NetBeans IDE is also available for Windows and macOS.

2. Eclipse

Eclipse is also an open source IDE primarily intended to a Java app development. This is one of the most-adopted IDEs by Java programmers, other than NetBeans. However, you can also use it to developed other apps in other programming languages through the available plug-ins. Eclipse is developed by Eclipse Foundation. The IDE is also available as a cross-platform IDE. You can use this IDE on Linux, Windows or Mac. Eclipse contains a base workspace and an extensible plug-in system to customize the development environments, which include Eclipse Java development tools (JDT) for Java and Scala, Eclipse CDT for C/C++, and Eclipse PDT for PHP, among others.

3. Aptana Studio

Aptana Studio is a cross-platform IDE developed by Aptana Inc. It’s also an open source IDE. Aptana Studio is developed based on Eclipse. It is available in two versions, standalone app and an Eclipse plug-in. Unlike Eclipse which primarily intended to Java, Aptana Studio is intended to web-oriented programming languages like PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Rails, HTML5, Python and CSS. The main features of Aptansa Studio include integrated debugger, git integration, buil-in terminal and IDE customization.

4. Code::Blocks

Code::Blocks is a cross-platform, open source IDE aimed at C and C++ programmers. This tool is developed by The Code::Blocks team. This IDE supports multiple compilers like GCC, MSVC++, Clang, Digital Mars and lots more. Sure, it also comes with debuggers. Other programming language that it supported by this IDE is Fortran.

5. CodeLite

CodeLite is a personal project by a programmer named Eran Ifrah. It is also released as a cross-platform, open source software. CodeLite is an IDE for C, C++, PHP, and JavaScript. Some of CodeLite features include code completion, compilers, LLDB support, GDB support, XDebug support, built-in SFTP and code navigation. In addition, it also supports source control plugins.

6. JetBrains’s IDEs

JetBrains is a company that develop a number of tools for developers. This company has developed several IDEs for developers. Instead of developing a single IDE that supports multiple programming languages, JetBrains prefer to developed different IDEs for specific programming languages. Some JetBrains’s IDEs are available for free, some require you to buy before being able to use. All JetBrains’s IDE are cross-platform so you can also install them on your Linux machine. Below is the list of JetBrains’s IDEs.

• CLion (C/C++ IDE)
• IntelliJ IDEA (Java IDE)
• PyCharm (Python IDE)
• WebStorm (JavaScript IDE)
• PhpStorm (PHP IDE)
• Rider (.NET IDE)
• RubyMine (Ruby IDE)

7. KDevelop

KDevelop is an open source IDE developed by the KDE community so it would be a perfect tool to be used on the KDE environment. However, it also runs seamlessly on other desktop environments. Furthermore, KDevelop is also available for Windows and macOS. KDevelop itself is an IDE for C, C++, Python, QML/JavaScript and PHP. Some features offered by KDevelop are code navigation, debugger, integrated build automation, version control system and documentation integration.

8. Geany

Geany is a cross-platform open source IDE that you can use to developed applications in a wide range of programming languages like PHP, Java, C, C++, Python, Perl, Ruby, Pascal and so on. Geany is projected to be a simpler IDE by just providing basic IDE features like auto-completion, simple project management, code navigation, syntax highlighting and multiple document support. Geany is a great choice if you need a lightweight IDE. The offered features allow you to work quicker than using regular text editor. Geany was originally created by Enrico Tröger. Today, the development of this tool is handled by a team called “Geany authors”.

9. Anjuta DevStudio

Anjuta DevStudio is a great IDE if you use a GNOME-based distro. This IDE is built specifically for GNOME although other desktop environments can also use it. At the time of writing, Anjuta Studio supports six programming languages. They are C, C++, Java, Javascript, Python and Vala. Some of the useful features you can get from Anjuta Studio include interactive debugger built over GDB and integrated compiler, a source code editor with source browsing, auto-completion, syntax highlighting, project management and version control system integration.

10. Qt Creator

Qt Creator is a cross-platform paid IDE. It is also available for Linux. You can use Qt Creator to develop C++ and QML applications. At the time of writing, those two programming languages are the only programming languages that are supported by Qt Creator. Some as oterh IDEs above, Qt Creator also comes with a code editor and is integrated with tools for designing, testing, deploying and maintaining your software throughout its product lifecycle. Qt Creator is developed by Qt Project.