JavaScript is used for many different kinds of applications today. Most often, it works with HTML5 and CSS to build web front ends. But JavaScript also helps build mobile applications, and it has found an important place on the back end in the form of Node.js servers. Fortunately, JavaScript development tools—both editors and IDEs—are rising to meet the new challenges.
Why use an IDE instead of an editor? The main reason is that an IDE can debug and sometimes profile your code. IDEs also have support for application lifecycle management (ALM) systems, integrating with the likes of Git, GitHub, Mercurial, Subversion, and Perforce for version control. But as more editors add hooks to these systems, ALM support is becoming less of a differentiator.
