Text editors versus integrated environments
While mostly a matter of developer preferences, the debate is still open in the embedded community between those who use a standalone text editor and those who prefer to have all the components of the toolchain integrated into one GUI.
Modern IDEs incorporate tools for the following tasks:
- Managing the components of the project
- Quickly accessing all the files for editing as well as extensions to upload the software on the board
- Starting a debugging session with a single click
Microcontroller manufacturers often distribute their development kits along with IDEs that make it easy to access advanced features that are specific to the microcontroller, thanks to preconfigured setups and wizards facilitating the creation of new projects. Most IDEs include widgets to automatically generate the setup code for pin multiplexing for specific microcontrollers, starting from a graphical interface. Some of them even offer simulators...
