# 5 reasons why you need an IDE > What an IDE is and five ways it saves a new developer time — syntax highlighting, text autocompletion, refactoring options, importing libraries, and one-click build/compile/run instead of memorizing console commands. - **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFSUFu6zGFI - **Page:** https://prostdev.com/video/5-reasons-why-you-need-an-ide - **Series:** Other MuleSoft videos - **Duration:** 9:11 ## About this video What an IDE is and five ways it saves a new developer time — syntax highlighting, text autocompletion, refactoring options, importing libraries, and one-click build/compile/run instead of memorizing console commands. ## Resources - [Read the article](https://www.prostdev.com/post/5-reasons-why-you-need-an-ide) ## Transcript ### Intro Hi there, I'm Alex Martinez — you can call me Alex. For this video I will talk about IDEs. You may already know what an IDE is and why using one is a great idea, but if you're new to the software development world you may want to take a look at this quick video of five reasons why you need an IDE and how it can save you so much time. ### What is an IDE? Okay, first of all, what is an IDE? An IDE is an acronym for integrated development environment. It's nothing more than an application that can be used to develop any kind of software. You can download it from the creator's website and install it like any other app. IDEs provide a graphical user interface that can be easily used to perform basic day-to-day functions. A metaphor that comes to my mind is a calculator. If you're a mathematician, you probably have bigger problems to solve than a basic average or division calculation. You can be more productive and solve more complex problems if you don't have to worry about the smallest operations that a tool can solve for you. This is basically what an IDE does for a developer. ### How can an IDE help me save time? So how can an IDE help you save time? ### 1. Syntax highlighting Number one: syntax highlighting. If you speak English you may say "cheers" at a toast at a wedding, but you will say "salud" in Spanish or "prost" in German. Just like a regular language, every programming language has their own syntax — their own way of writing or communicating the same thing. Here are some examples of how you could create two variables — in this case `x` and `y` — and add them to create a new variable in different programming languages. As you can see, they have some things in common, like the equal or plus symbols, but they also have some differences, like the end of the line or the variable declarations. When you're using an IDE that knows the programming language's syntax that you're using, the IDE is able to recognize what a symbol or a keyword means, and then it shows your code with certain colors or format in order to make it a bit more readable. ### 2. Text autocompletion Number two: text autocompletion. You know the thing Google does when you start writing some text for a new search and it wants to complete or give suggestions as to what you might be searching for? Well, the same thing happens with an IDE. Since it already knows the syntax of the language you're programming in, it can give you suggestions of what you want to write next. This helps you to be faster because you don't have to write everything yourself. You can just start writing something and the autocompletion will give you a list of possible choices. That's pretty cool, right? ### 3. Refactoring options Number three: refactoring options. Whoa, wait — what does refactoring mean? Don't worry, it means that you can restructure your existing code or project's resources without affecting any behavior. For example, renaming a file, changing files to different folders, or even renaming a variable. Okay, why would I want to do that if it already works as it is? Well, sometimes the code can get too complex to understand, even by the developer who wrote it, and there are some changes that can be done to improve the code's readability. For example, you can create a function that will add two numbers and return the result, but you don't want to think of descriptive names for the function or the two variables, so you just name them `x`, `a`, and `b`. That's not too readable, right? If I were to rename the function or the variables to something more descriptive, instead of manually renaming the `x` in the definition of the function and then once more in the function call, I can just select the `x`, right-click on it, and select Refactor → Rename. After writing the new name for my function, I can see that all the references were correctly updated. This can also be done for the `a` and `b` variables, that can have a more descriptive name like `firstNumber` and, let's say, `secondNumber`. Yeah, way better — now I can clearly see what the `addNumbers` function is doing. ### 4. Importing libraries Number four: importing libraries. There are some functions that someone already created that are available for you to reuse in your project — they're called libraries. There's absolutely no need for you to reinvent the wheel in your code if you can just import a library and take advantage of it. There are times when you remember a library's function but you don't remember the name of the library. So instead of taking time off your day to Google the library, you can just write the function that you wanted to use and let the IDE handle the import for you. Are you convinced now? Yes, no, maybe? Okay, let me give you the last reason why you need and want an IDE. ### 5. Build, compile or run Number five: build, compile, or run your project. Once you finish coding your project or feature, you'll want to do a quick test to verify that it's working as you expected. How are you going to run your code to check that? Well, if you have Java code, these are the commands that you have to run to start running your application. That's a lot, eh? No, scratch that — let's go to an IDE and run it. That's it, beautiful. Let's see it again. Amazing. Pretty sure you want an IDE now, huh? You just have to click on the green arrow and click on run, and that's it. ### Recap Okay, so to recap, an IDE saves you so much time and so many headaches because of these five reasons: 1. Syntax highlighting, that helps you to be able to read the code and not get lost in between hundreds of lines of code. The IDE uses different colors or formatting for the code to make it more readable. 2. Text autocompletion, just like the Google search bar does but for your code. If you forget a keyword, the IDE will give you the best suggestion of what you were looking for. 3. Refactoring options, like renaming a file, a function, or a variable, or moving files from one folder to another. This way you don't have to manually update every single reference in the whole project. 4. Importing libraries, in case you remember the code but not the name of the library. Most likely the IDE already knows what function you're referring to — it just has to import that library to your project and you're all set. 5. Build, compile, or run your project just by clicking one button. There's no need to memorize all those commands and run them one by one from the console or terminal. There are not only five benefits that an IDE can give you — there are a lot more that I love: debugging, testing, managing your dependencies or environments, using version control systems. If you're a new developer, though, these five ways to save time are the most important ones that you need to know. ### Ending This video's written version can be found under prostdev.com/blog, under the same name: "5 reasons why you need an IDE and how it can save you so much time." You can create a new account there and give a like to this blog post to be able to save it in your profile — that way you can have this information handy when you need it. So what's your favorite IDE? Why don't you leave me a comment to let me know which ones you love, or you can let me know if you need any suggestions. Subscribe to this channel for more technology content, and that's it for today. Thank you so much for watching. This is Alex — I hope you have a nice day today. See ya!