what IDE?

[ancutza]

Hi there

What IDE do you use/recommend?
I'm new into PHP field, and i need to understand/improve an web-application written by one of my ex-colleagues. The IDE(with debug) is very important for that, because i need to follow the variables.

What do you recommend for that?
Now I'm using Aptana. I've also tried Zend.

[mmanders]

I frequently use frameworks like CodeIgniter and Symfony to speed up the development process, for which I find a good IDE invaluable. I use Linux as my OS, and until very recently I used the open source Eclipse IDE. Eclipse is a very good IDE, but in Linux, it was prone to crashing with errors like 'Copy function not defined'. I therefore started using Netbeans, which has recently had PHP support included. I can't speak highly enough of Netbeans. I used to use it for Java development, and it was a little sluggish. However, the latest version is a lot more speedy and I think Netbeans is definately a good all rounder with plenty of short-cut features.

[Mark Baker]

What IDE do you use/recommend?

Personally I use PHP Designer 2008

[risoknop]

Komodo IDE

[sk89q]

Eclipse with PDT or Zend Studio, hands down! Though the only IDE I haven't tried is Komodo.

[picohax]

IMO, on Linux, Netbeans-PHP beats everything else hands down. I'm a long time user and fan of Eclipse PDT - from the days of PHPEclipse, I tried Aptana which is good too, but nothing like Netbeans for PHP - it's just a 25 MB download if you Java installed (which is the case with recent releases of all major distros).
It is the Visual Studio counterpart for PHP/MySQL in Linux as far as UI organization and "intellisense" / auto-complete / code-completion are concerned. It comes with built-in support for popular webservice APIs and the definitions can be revised via a plugin/update mechanism.

Even on Windows, Netbeans-PHP is the same since it is all in Java which is platform independent. Don't download the full Netbeans - just the PHP bundle - this makes it very fast too - faster than Eclipse PDT. You're missing something if you dont try it out - I forgot to mention that it's free and opensource too.

[imaginethis]

I only use Vim/Vi or GEdit >.>

[LAMP]

I only use Vim/Vi or GEdit >.>

I pity you.

[imaginethis]

I pity you.

Pity? I have the glory of linux at my finger tips... I pity anyone who doesn't

[Tarh]

I only use Vim/Vi or GEdit >.>

Real programmers use butterflies.

[Cups]

Vim for php programmers

[risoknop]

Been using Vim, didn't like it... Too easy to quit without saving (just a little typo required) and you must begin from zero

[logic_earth]

^^^ Never add "!" after q and you should not have that problem.

[dnordstrom]

Back when I used an IDE, it was Zend Studio which is really good. These days I think all IDEs are too slow if I'm running Windows in VMWare, Photoshop, iTunes and a few different browsers simultaneously.

[spikeZ]

For the millionth time - phpdesigner 2008 professional .

Please just search the forums for IDE and you will get thousands of results.

[davro]

vim +Project
or
http://www.easyeclipse.org/site/home/

[mmarif4u]

Been using Vim, didn't like it... Too easy to quit without saving (just a little typo required) and you must begin from zero

Vim is very powerful editor, you have to know how to use it.
I am using Quanta for time being, not quite so impressive. because some time a 1000 line script will make it slow. Some time use Gedit. Used bluefish.
All have cons and pros over each other, now its upto you, what benefit you want from an editor.

Heard about netbeans for PHP support recently, but hav'nt tried yet.

Used crimson editor,PHP editor,PHP designer,Komodo IDE, and a lot more. Except crimson editor, all are heavy for my system, take some time to open. Now i am using Notepad++ in windows, and it is very light with code highlight.

Choose that one, which you like. I know, you will try to test all. So test it, and select your own choice.

[picohax]

Whoever cannot use or try the other stated IDEs, do have a look at Netbeans for PHP.
It is better than Eclipse and Aptana. Trust me, you will save hours of toiling around if you try out Netbeans for a day or two. I have recently switched to netbeans and it is mind-blowing - a really well designed desktop program - with the cross platform Java - it is really quite impressive. Be sure to try it out. If you are already comfortable with another, maybe you should ignore, but otherwise, Netbeans is for you.

[Cups]

Thanks picohax, I looked at some of the videos on the netbeans site and the code completion and stuff looks really clever.

It dawns on me though that this is probably a tool which will help me write a lot of code faster, when in fact I want to write less code slower.

Now, and IDE which made me think, that'd be smart.

"Paul, thats the second time you have written the same thing, if you write it a third time today I am going to regrettably have to shut down for 15 minutes, and report you to the code smell police."

Know what I mean?

[mgkimsal]

Will have to echo the votes for NetBeans 6.5 with PHP support. We had a hands-on demo of Aptana, ZendStudio and NetBeans at our last PHP user group, and the Netbeans got the most "ooh, didn't know it had that in it" sort of comments. The library of webservice components that you can drag/drop in (for amazon webservices and such) was something that impressed many, as did the inbuilt css support). Aptana's a little nicer for javascript stuff (didn't check that in netbeans) but it crashed/locked up more than that others (netbeans never did during the demo)

[Cups]

@mgkimsal and picohax

I hate to admit I'm wrong, but as i am working on a flickr mash/app, and have just seen this netbeans screencast on a demo phpFlickr app.

I don't need any more convincing to give it a try.

You may well have a convert.

[lespaulsf]

I use PHP Designer. I have tried alot of different ones but this one is very cheap and very good. It has a nice debugger with tons of other awesome features. Zen and Aptana are ridiculously expensive.

[mangiaphoto]

few days ago, I bought a phpDesigner 2008.... I do not regret for any euro...

It is very fast, ftp support, debugging, auto completer,....

[Stormrider]

NuSphere PHP Ed. I used to use Zend Studio, PHP Ed is like Zend on steroids, and runs a lot faster than Zend, which is Java based. I've spend a LOT of time trying to find my perfect IDE, and PHP Ed fits the bill, nothing else I've tried has come close.

[markup2go]

Aptana/Eclipse is my favorite. Check Aptana out, lots of features.