{"id":20399,"date":"2020-01-29T16:41:09","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T16:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/development-environment"},"modified":"2026-09-24T17:38:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:38:30","slug":"development-environment","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/development-environment","title":{"rendered":"Development Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad wp-image-23153 size-full alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/development-environment.jpg\" alt=\"Development environment\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/development-environment.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/development-environment-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>development environment<\/strong> is the configured set of tools, dependencies, services, and settings used to build, run, test, and debug software without directly changing the production system. It may be installed on a developer&#8217;s computer, run in a virtual machine or container, or use remote resources and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/cloud-computing\">cloud computing<\/a> services.<\/p>\n<p>The environment should provide known conditions so that the code behaves reproducibly. Its configuration depends on the language, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/framework\">framework<\/a>, dependency versions, and services required by the application.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Components of a development environment<\/h2>\n<p>The exact setup varies between projects, but it usually brings together several elements that work in coordination:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Execution or build tools:<\/strong> Interpreters, compilers, SDKs, and utilities that transform or run the code.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Source code and version control:<\/strong> The project files and a system such as Git for recording changes, often coordinated through platforms such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/github\">GitHub<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dependencies:<\/strong> The libraries, packages, and versions that the application needs in order to work.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Configuration:<\/strong> Environment variables, permissions, and settings specific to that installation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supporting services:<\/strong> A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/database\">database<\/a>, cache, message queue, or the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/api\">APIs<\/a> with which the program interacts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Testing and debugging:<\/strong> Tools for finding errors, inspecting execution, and checking behavior before deployment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Difference between a development environment and an IDE<\/h2>\n<p>A development environment is not necessarily an integrated development environment, or IDE. The <strong>IDE is one of the tools<\/strong> that may form part of the environment: it combines a code editor, build or execution features, debugging, and other utilities in a single interface.<\/p>\n<p>Eclipse and NetBeans are examples of IDEs that can be extended through plugins. However, the complete environment also covers installed versions, dependencies, configuration, and external services. Two people can therefore use the same IDE and obtain different results if their environments are not configured in equivalent ways.<\/p>\n<h2>Environments in the delivery lifecycle<\/h2>\n<p>Software development and release workflows usually separate several environments. Not all of them are development environments in the strict sense; they are isolated stages with different purposes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Development:<\/strong> Used to write, run, and debug changes quickly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Integration or testing:<\/strong> Combines changes from several developers and supports automated or functional testing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Staging:<\/strong> Reproduces the relevant production conditions so that a release candidate can be checked before publication, without requiring identical data, credentials, and resources.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Production:<\/strong> The environment that provides the live service to its users and remains separate from ordinary development work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Moving a version between these environments is part of the deployment process. Their separation reduces the risk that a test, incomplete data, or an experimental setting will affect the live service.<\/p>\n<h2>Local, virtual, and remote environments<\/h2>\n<p>An environment may run directly on the local operating system, inside a virtual machine or container, or on remote infrastructure. The choice depends on the project&#8217;s resources and the level of isolation it needs. Containers and automated configuration make it easier for several people to reproduce compatible versions of tools and services.<\/p>\n<p>Reproducibility also requires pinned versions, documented dependencies, and configuration kept separate from code. Credentials and other secrets should not be included in the repository; they are supplied to the environment through dedicated configuration mechanisms.<\/p>\n<h2>Relationship with frontend and backend<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/frontend\">frontend<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/backend\">backend<\/a> may use different tools and dependencies. The frontend usually needs an environment that can process interface assets and display them in a browser, while the backend may require a runtime, database, and other services.<\/p>\n<p>When both parts belong to the same application, their environments need coordinated addresses, ports, API contracts, and test data. This coordination makes it possible to develop each layer separately and then check how they work together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A development environment combines tools, dependencies, configuration and services for building and testing software. Learn about its components and types.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1273],"class_list":["post-20399","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-web-programming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}