5 Best IDEs for Programming on Windows 10

However, the period of their domination has long since passed. Modern IDEs greatly improve the old methods through advanced features, making them more useful to programmers.

There are hundreds of IDEs available for programmers to choose from. Therefore, beginners and even seasoned developers often find it difficult to choose. Furthermore, not all IDEs on the market are suitable for use on Windows, as they may be developed specifically for other operating systems.

This article will highlight the top 5 IDEs that you can use on Windows and explain their best features.

The Best IDEs for Windows 10 Users

1. 1. Visual Studio
2. 2. NetBeans 
3. 3. JetBrains Rider 
4. 4. IntelliJ IDEA 
5. 5. Android Studio

Since the development of the first IDE, Microsoft Visual Basic (VB), in 1991, countless other IDEs have sprung up to ease the software development process. These IDEs differ in purpose and capabilities.

The following list will list the top 5 integrated development environments that you can use on Windows 10.

1. Visual Studio

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Visual Studio is arguably the most popular IDE for developing software 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 over 36 programming languages, including C#, F#, Visual Basic.NET, and C++.

You can use Visual Studio to develop various desktop applications, mobile applications, websites, frameworks, and APIs.

Furthermore, the IDE contains a number of Microsoft APIs that are free to use, including Windows Forms Application, Windows API, and the ASP .Net web framework. In addition, other Microsoft products such as MySQL, GitHub, and Azure are also integrated into Visual Studio.

2. NetBeans

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

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

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

In addition, this functionality reduces code bloat as developers only need to include the necessary features in their application.

3. JetBrains Rider

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JetBrains Rider is a powerful cross-platform IDE that is Visual Studio's main competitor for .NET development. It combines the best features of the JetBrains IntelliJ and ReSharper platforms for powerful live code analysis and refactoring.

In addition, Rider provides other modern conveniences, including database integration, unit testing, source control, and debugging.

Rider is very popular in game development because it contains features suitable for development on game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine.

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

4. IntelliJ IDEA 

IntelliJ IDEA is another cross-platform IDE from JetBrains. It is 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 includes plugins that support other languages ​​such as JavaScript, Dart, and Python.

IntelliJ IDEA is one of the best Java IDEs thanks to its intelligent code completion, code navigation, and built-in tools like version control, debugger, and compiler performance. It has also served as the foundation for building other popular IDEs such as Android Studio, PyCharm, Rider, and CLion.

5. Android Studio

Android Studio is the official IDE for building apps targeting Google's Android operating system. It is built on top of IntelliJ IDEA and is 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 in the IDE.

Android Studio comes with a customized set of features for creating Android apps. These features include a visual layout editor for user interface customization, APK analyzer, build automation, linting and refactoring, and a performance compiler.

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

Choosing the best Windows IDE depends on your programming language, budget limitations, and target platform. Therefore, this article has come up with the best choices among the many available options and hopefully helps you make the right decision.

Furthermore, in this age of free and open source software, there is nothing stopping you from installing more than one IDE on your Windows PC.

Kareem Winters

Update 03 August 2022