Coding is generally written, I talked about this before. As a programmer, when working on the source code of your programs you’ll mostly work with text files. Especially as a Web developer.
In some programming languages or environments, also the end result will be a text file - but it’s not always the case.
But, staying the realm of working on the source code, how do you write to these files? And how do you edit them?
Text files can be opened with any program. Like Nodepad on Windows, TextEdit on macOS. It’s possible to work using those tools, but surely it’s not ideal.
What you need is a tool made just for you, the programmer.
That tool is called a code editor.
Many, many kinds of such editors exist on the market, and the best and most popular one changes over time. It’s safe to say that today the most popular ones for Web programming are VS Code, Sublime Text and Vim.
They do provide various degrees of utilities. As a programmer, what you look for is almost always code highlighting, some light way to navigate your code, and other utilities to work with files.
My favorite one is VS Code.
An IDE is a more heavy and powerful tool, which can be essential to work on some programming languages. I think of Swift, Java or C++. IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment and it can provide essential tools.
I think about xCode, the tool created by Apple to develop apps for the Mac and iOS - it’s quite essential in the toolset if you are a programmer building apps for Apple devices.
WebStorm is a popular IDE for JavaScript and Web development. Do you need an IDE, or a code editor? It depends. Mostly on your preferences, and needs. I do prefer code editors, more lightweight and adjustable to my workflow.