If you’re going to do any sort of work with scripting or programming you should understand the difference between a text editor and IDE. In Windows the difference between VS Code (my recommendation for IDE btw), Code::Blocks, and Notepad are pretty obvious. However, in Linux the line blurs a lot because you have robust editors such as nano and vi. Emacs kind of blurs the line between editor and IDE on purpose due to its high level of customization. Really though the difference comes down to serving a specific purpose (editing text) versus providing a robust environment for writing code.
In windows, that is incredibly obvious because it does not make sense to write C++ code in Notepad. However, in Linux it is very easy to write C or C++ in VI and compile it using GCC. For me, that’s one of the big benefits of Linux over Windows. There are Integrated Developer Environments, or IDEs available for both Windows and Linux. They can be great because they can offer a lot of bells and whistles to simplify your job. They can complete functions, help you optimize and test your work, and even compile your code all in the same window. However, they are not always convenient or necessary for work on servers or other similar applications. Sometimes the work just needs to be done, and text editors can be great for those situations.
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