Introduction to software development tools

Many tools are available for building software and software engineers adopt a set of these to create applications, which may change over time and will often come down to personal preferences. These tools also differ based on the programming language and the platform that is being built on. As an example, in the previous chapter, you learned that Android developers need an Android device or a simulator to run and test the app they’re building. However, a web developer will needs a browser to test out their web application. Despite the differences in tools and how the software is built, there are some common tools all software developers will need. These sets of tools can be described as development environments, the set of tools a software developer needs to write, build, run, and test software.

Writing code without configuring the development environment is like getting into a car without knowing how to reach your destination; you...