In hosted software (e.g., web site/application, database not shrinkwrap software) development, a development environment refers to a server tier designated to a specific stage in a release process.
Development, staging, and production is a common arrangement of tiers.
A more comprehensive list of tiers:
Environment/Tier Name | Description |
---|---|
Local | Developer's desktop/workstation |
Virtual Machine | VM hosted on developers desktop or possibly development server |
Development | Development server aka sandbox |
Integration | CI build target, or for developer testing of side effects |
Test/QA | For functional, performance testing, Quality Assurance etc. |
UAT | User acceptance testing |
Stage/Pre-production | Mirror of production environment |
Production/Live | Serves end-users/clients |