(Written by guest contributor Tim Golen)
This article is for three primary audiences. It\’s for the business owner who does his own programming and development. It\’s for the business owner who has hired or contracted a developer to work for him. It\’s for the developer doing the work. I will be discussing the single piece of software that can increase your efficiency more than any other investment. Yes, it is an investment in your business, and it will increase your revenue.
I\’m talking about an integrated development environment (IDE). That might sound fancy, or it might sound complicated, but more than likely it probably sounds scary. The purpose of an IDE is to give developers all the tools they need in a single, fast, efficient place. There are many different IDEs that exist for many different programming languages. Some examples of IDEs that you might have heard of are Dreamweaver, FrontPage, GoLive, and Visual Studio.
How do these programs increase your efficiency? I can remember when I first started using text messages on my cell phone. I\’m talking about trying to write a text message using the ten number keys. If you wanted to compose the word \”the\” you had to press the 8 key once, the 4 key twice, and the 3 key twice. So, that\’s five keys to compose a three-letter word. Eventually they developed the predictive feature which would check the key combination and suggest the best word; you could then cycle through possible word suggestions to pick the word you wanted. The best part of that feature was if you were trying to compose a really long word, you could enter the first four letters of \”yesterday\” and it might already suggest the full word for you to use, allowing you to skip typing the other five letters.
This, in effect, is what an IDE has done for programming. It used to be that programmers used basic text editors such as Notepad to write their code. For people who don\’t want to work at the code level and only need to do some basic HTML or CSS, then you\’re looking for a WYSIWYG editor. That might look like a funny word, but all it stands for is What You See Is What You Get. It will allow you to lay out a webpage visually without ever having to worry about the underlying code. There are many free WYSIWYG editors and a lot of IDEs have them built in (like Dreamweaver and Visual Studio).
Most IDEs are built for certain programming languages. This allows you to have full access to the entire programming language, which will cut down on the number of \”how do I …\” Google searches you need to do.
I have introduced you to some of the most basic IDE features that will help you increase your efficiency. This is barely scratching the surface of the benefits they give you and the features they provide. If you\’re looking for a good all-around IDE, I suggest Dreamweaver. It supports multiple programming languages, has a built-in WYSIWYG editor, and it\’s relatively easy to learn and use.
Key Features of IDEs
For those of us who need to work on the code level, IDEs have many advanced features. Some of the advanced functionalities of an IDE allow you to use color preferences to help your code be more easily consumed.
They also have a predictive feature where it tries to guess what you\’re typing and give you shortcuts to finish it.
They can outline a file, making it easier to jump to different places in it, especially if you are working with a very long file.
There is also code folding, which helps you to expand and collapse areas of code, making it more consumable.
Action Steps
• For the Developer:
o Install several IDE trials and see what works for you.
o Get an IDE and start being efficient today.
o Begin writing efficient code and documenting it thoroughly.
• For the Business Owner:
o Make sure your developer is using an IDE.
o Give your developer the choice of using whatever IDE they like and buy it for them.
o If you don\’t have a developer, use an IDE with a built-in WYSIWYG editor.