Best IDEs for Windows 10 Users

After the release of the first ever IDE - Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) in 1991, countless other IDEs have sprung up to ease the software development process. They vary in purpose and capabilities.

While some strive to become jacks-of-all-trades, others focus on a handful of programming languages. Programmers may find it hard to pick up one of them for their Windows 10 system. To solve the problem, we list the top 5 as follows.?

Top 5 best IDEs for Windows 10 Users?

1. Visual Studio

Visual Studio is arguably the most popular IDE for software development on Windows. Microsoft actively develops and maintains this IDE with regular version updates.

The latest version, Visual Studio 2022, boasts significant upgrades over previous versions. Visual Studio offers first-class support for more than 36 programming languages, including C#, F#, Visual Basic .NET, and C++.

It supports various computer applications, mobile apps, websites, frameworks, and APIs.

Furthermore, the IDE contains several free-to-use Microsoft APIs, including Windows Forms Application, Windows API, and ASP .Net web framework. Additionally, other Microsoft products like MySQL, GitHub, and Azure are integrated into Visual Studio.

2. NetBeans

NetBeans is a free and open-source cross-platform IDE developed by Oracle Corporation and maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. It is primarily used for Java development but supports other languages like C++, PHP, and JavaScript through plugins.

Additionally, NetBeans provides powerful tools for syntactic and semantic code highlighting, refactoring, and profiling.

NetBeans facilitates application development through collections of classes and functions called modules. Consequently, software developers have a wide range of libraries and frameworks at their fingertips when using NetBeans.

In addition, this functionality helps to reduce code bloat as programmers need only include the features required in their applications.

3. JetBrains Rider

JetBrains Rider is a powerful cross-platform IDE that is a major competitor to Visual Studio for .NET development. It combines the best features of the JetBrains IntelliJ platform and ReSharper for robust live code analysis and refactorings.

In addition, Rider provides other state-of-the-art facilities, including database integration, unit testing, source control, and debugging.

Rider is very popular among game developers because it contains features tailored to development on game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine.

However, most programmers prefer Rider for its speed and C# programming support. Moreover, it is highly extensible and supports user-made plugins in addition to official plugins from JetBrains.

4. IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA is another cross-platform IDE from JetBrains. It was written in Java for software development using languages that depend on the Java Virtual Machine, such as Kotlin, Groovy, Scala, and Java. Furthermore, IntelliJ IDEA bundles plugins that support other languages like JavaScript, Dart, and Python out of the box.

IntelliJ IDEA is one of the best Java IDEs due to its smart code completion, code navigation, and integrated tools like version control, debugger, and performance profiler. It has also served as the platform for building other popular IDEs like Android Studio, PyCharm, Rider, and CLion.

5. Android Studio

Android Studio is the official IDE for building applications that target Google’s Android operating system. It is built upon IntelliJ IDEA and distributed as free, open-source software.

Android Studio officially supports Kotlin, Java, and C++. However, Google recommends Kotlin as the preferred language for Android development and provides the Android software development kit within the IDE.

Android Studio ships with a suite of features customized for making Android apps. These features include a visual layout editor for customizing UI, APK analyzer, build automation, linting and refactoring, and a performance profiler.

However, its most powerful attribute is the Android Virtual Device, or Emulator, which allows you to test applications without needing a physical device.

Notable Mentions

As you may already be aware, there are several other IDEs available for use on Windows besides those mentioned in this article. JetBrains makes some of the best IDEs, most of which are designed for specific programming languages.

These IDEs include CLion, PyCharm, PhpStorm, and Ruby Mine. Alternatively, you can use other non-JetBrains products like Eclipse, Code::Blocks, AWS Cloud 9, and Atom.

Which IDE Should You Install on Your Windows PC?

Choosing the best Windows IDE depends on your programming language, budget constraints, and target platforms. Hence, this article has revealed the very best among the many options available to you and will hopefully guide you in making your decision.

Moreover, in this age of free and open-source software, nothing stops you from installing more than one IDE on your Windows PC.