An Acronym with several meanings:
Integrated Development EnvironmentAn IDE gathers all of a programmer's tools together for convenience: it can can edit, compile, debug and run programs. Popular IDEs include Emacs, KDevelop, Eclipse and VisualStudio.
Integrated Drive ElectronicsA generic term for various high-level controller Protocols for interfacing to BlockDevices. Examples of such protocols are PATA, SCSI and SATA. However, the term “IDE” is often (mis)used as a synonym for PATA.
In the days before the disk controller electronics were integrated into the drives, PCs had to interface with them using protocols such as
ST-506.
34 pages link to IDE:
