Can someone clearly explain terminals, shells, editors, and development environments?

You do not need to understand everything before starting. Choose one operating system and language, install a suitable editor, and practice small tasks in the terminal while following a beginner course. Trying commands and seeing what they do will make the terminology much easier to understand than memorizing definitions alone. When asking for help, include what you currently think a term means, since that helps people correct specific misunderstandings.

A terminal is the application window where you type commands. The shell is the program running inside that window that interprets those commands. Bash is common on Linux and macOS, while PowerShell and Command Prompt are common on Windows, although most systems can run additional shells. For example, listing files is usually done with `ls` in Bash and `dir` in Command Prompt. Start with basic commands such as `ls`, `cd`, `mkdir`, `cp`, `rm`, `grep`, `find`, and `ssh`, then learn variables, loops, and functions as you become comfortable.

An editor is a program for writing and changing text or source code. Examples include VS Code, Sublime Text, Vim, Emacs, and nano. An IDE, or integrated development environment, includes an editor plus tools such as a debugger, compiler support, project navigation, testing, and code analysis. Visual Studio and JetBrains products are examples. VS Code sits somewhere between a simple editor and a full IDE because extensions can add many development features.

The word environment depends on context. A development environment usually means the complete setup needed to build software: your operating system, programming languages, libraries, packages, editors, tools, and configuration. An IDE is one application within that broader setup, not necessarily the entire environment.