Historically, IDEs provided unmatched convenience on a single-tasking computer. My first C compiler required the following steps in the edit-compile-run cycle:

• Start editor
• Edit program
• Save program, quit editor
• Compile program
• Assemble compiled program
• Link compiled and assembled program
• Run program

on my CP/M system. (I could have automated much of that as a batch program had my disk drives been larger.)

When I got Turbo Pascal, I was delighted to be able to keep the editor available while compiling and debugging.

That, I believe, is what made IDEs popular in the first place.