1. Developer Console
The developer console is an integrated development environment with a collection of tools that we can use to create, debug, and test applications in our Salesforce org. It can be opened by clicking on Developer Console in the gear icon. In this, Apex classes, Aura, and Visualforce can be coded.
2. Visual Studio Code
VS Code (with installed Salesforce CLI and Salesforce Extensions pack) editor is lightweight and extensible. The Salesforce Extension pack includes tools for developing on the Salesforce platform. This tool provides features for working with development org (scratch orgs, sandboxes, and DE orgs), Apex, Aura components, LWC components, and Visualforce.
3. Code Editor in Salesforce Interface
This code editor compiles all classes(in setup, Apex Classes) and triggers(in setup, Apex Triggers) and then flags the errors if there are any.
Note:
The Code doesn’t get saved until it compiles(without errors). The developer console allows you to write, test and debug our Apex code. On the other hand, the code editor in the user interface enables only writing the code and does not support debugging or testing.