Zend Studio 7.0 vs Netbeans 6.8

[PHPycho]

Just willing to see the survey result regarding:
Zend Studio 7.0 vs Netbeans 6.8
so that i can choose the one to start with.

If anybody has used both and has well reason for switching, are requested to jot down.

Thanks

[AnthonySterling]

Price should be a large determining factor, €399 for Zend or €0 for Netbeans. Saying that, if my development team required a collective IDE, I'd much prefer a paid, 'supported' solution.

[Raju Gautam]

I don't like Zend not only because the price but also its performance. I found it very slower in startup and takes much memory to be operated too. In comparison, free and light weight Netbeans is much better I think. But i love using PHPDesigner and feel easier, very much light weight and cheaper too.

[AnthonySterling]

I'm quite the fan of Komodo Edit at the moment, cross platform is quite important for me, but I really should get Netbeans another go.

[hash]

I'm currently using Geany. Also cross platform. And likewise, probably should give NetBeans a decent go rather than just a 10 min tinker ...

[PHPycho]

I think Zend Studio 7.0 has much more feature than any have.
I used it for more than a year. Zend Studio 6.x was lighter than Zend Studio 7.x.
When switched to Zend Studio 7.0, it became very slow and buggy too.
So i thought its time to switch unless a very fast Zend Studio arrives in the market.

they even miss a simple word wrap functionality, it's really disgusting.

What about NetBeans? Any lover/users there?

[PHPycho]

No any Zend Studio & NetBeans users in this forum?
Really strange!!

[Vali]

I used the two.

Zend 7 is much better, if it wasn't for the slowness and crashes... which makes it useless.

NetBeans is free, and works, most the time. But it sometimes losses classes and so on in big projects (could not figure out why).

I used the two with biggish projects (1000 files+, 100+ classes).

If Zend Studio 7+ for Eclipse wouldn't every time you move the mouse, select something or type anything, then it would worth the money. But you can get something for free that does all you need.

[PHPycho]

I used the two.

Zend 7 is much better, if it wasn't for the slowness and crashes... which makes it useless.

NetBeans is free, and works, most the time. But it sometimes losses classes and so on in big projects (could not figure out why).

I used the two with biggish projects (1000 files+, 100+ classes).

If Zend Studio 7+ for Eclipse wouldn't every time you move the mouse, select something or type anything, then it would worth the money. But you can get something for free that does all you need.

Yes exactly. Zend Studio 7.x seems to have much feature but its so slow that you gets irritated.
I think Zend Studio 7.x hasn't considered the time importance of programmers

Regarding NetBeans what i have discovered so far is:
It doesn't show the proper identetion when open some existing file/code.
Regarding speed, its better.
Regarding html code folding, it's best.
and much more to discover.

Would like to have some more feedback from Zend Studio / NetBeans users

Which IDE are you using nowdays Vali?

[Vali]

For PHP, a nightly build of NetBeans (the one with the array auto-formatting).
And sometimes, Zend Studio 7, if I need to unit test / profile something (got used to the integrated unit test and profiler), or auto-formatting code to store in SVN (I like to auto-formatting everything before each commit).
Also use Dreamweaver 2004 for HTML auto-formatting, I got used to it back in the day, and cannot find something that can do a comparable job for HTML.

For Java, I use Easy Eclipse with a bunch of web developer add-ons, and for perl, sadly VIM...

[PHPycho]

For PHP, a nightly build of NetBeans (the one with the array auto-formatting).
And sometimes, Zend Studio 7, if I need to unit test / profile something (got used to the integrated unit test and profiler), or auto-formatting code to store in SVN (I like to auto-formatting everything before each commit).
Also use Dreamweaver 2004 for HTML auto-formatting, I got used to it back in the day, and cannot find something that can do a comparable job for HTML.

For Java, I use Easy Eclipse with a bunch of web developer add-ons, and for perl, sadly VIM...

Thanks Vali for sharing your idea.

NetBeans: Since other features are good except it's identation problem, I think i should not go for it. (Heard that NetBeans are providing patch for the problem in 6.8.1)
Zend Studio 7.x: Unless Zend improves the performance speed, i won't go for it either.

PHPDesigner ?

[ionix5891]

im using Zend 5.5

since they switched to Eclipse, the new Zend studio has become very slow, and noticably hinders my coding

and i have a quadcore cpu with piles of ram

[seoprostar]

In my opinion Netbeans is better than zend because its performance and price.

Price : Zend is paid software where Netbeans is free.

Performance : In case of Zend,I found it very slower in startup and takes much memory to be operated too. In comparison, free and light weight Netbeans is much better.

[pgb101]

One thing to note about Zend/PDT is anti virus software can really bug it down on windows. Don't know how this is different from Netbeans but a scanning exclusion on the folder helps a lot. Though unfortunately not all scanners offer this feature.

I have just downloaded Netbeans and ran it through some auto completion tests, most know the /* @var Class $instance */ method but there are a few far more useful ones( @return being one of them and doc typing the member). Those methods are not always that well documented.

I use PDT for work which is the free version of Zend for this comparison.

results are in the comments

//Start of test.php
<?php
// Completion of getInstance works the same in both PDT and Netbeans
 $ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest = ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest::getInstance();


 // Completion works succesfully using the @return to provide type hinting
 // in both PDT and netbeans
 $ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest->getInstance();
?>

//Start of ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest.php
<?php
class ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest {
    static private $instance;

    public function __construct() {
        
    }

    /**
     * // @return  works in both PDT and Netbeans for completion
     * @return ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest
     */
    static public function getInstance(){
        //$this->instance cannot be auto completed if static in Netbeans ????? Interesting
        if( is_null($this->instance ) ){
            $this->instance = new ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest();
        }
        return $this->instance;
    }


    public function test(){
    }
}
?>

//Start of Dummy.php
<?php
class Dummy {
    
    public function __construct() {
        
    }


    public function DummyTest(){
    }
}
?>


//Start of ReturnDocTypeSingletonTest.php
<?php
class ParameterDocTypeTest {

    private $dummyMemberSetByTypeHintedMethod;
    /**
     * @var Dummy
     */
    private $dummyMemberSetByDocTypeHintedMethod;

    public function __construct( ) {
    }

    public function MemberVariableAutoCompleteTests() {
        // picks up that $dummyMember is a Dummy type hint on setter
        $this->dummyMemberSetByTypeHintedConstructor->DummyTest();

        // completion does not work when doctype is used to describe parameter
        //, doc typing has to be used on the member declaration
        // No biggy as this is always done anyway
        $this->dummyMemberSetByDocTypeHintedMethod->DummyTest();
    }


    public function TypeHintingAutoCompletionTest( Dummy $dummy1 ) {
        // completion works as standard in both PDT and Netbeans
        $dummy1->DummyTest();
        $this->dummyMemberSetByTypeHintedMethod = $dummy1;
    }

    /**
     * @param Dummy $dummy2
     */
    public function ParamDocAutoCompletionTest( $dummy2 ) {
        // completion works as standard in both PDT and Netbeans
        $dummy2->DummyTest();
        $this->dummyMemberSetByDocTypeHintedMethod = $dummy2;
    }
}
?>

//start of TestInterface
<?php
interface TestInterface {
    public function interfaceMethod( $interfaceMethodValue );
}
?>


//Start of ParentInheritenceTest.php
<?php
abstract class ParentInheritenceTest implements TestInterface {
    /**
     * @var Dummy
     */
    protected $dummy;

    protected $dummySetByTypeHintedMethod;


    public function __construct( Dummy $dummy ) {
        $this->dummySetByTypeHintedMethod = $dummy;
    }

    abstract protected function abstractTest( Dummy $param) {

    }
}
?>


//Start of ChildInheritenceTest.php
<?php
class ChildInheritenceTest extends ParentInheritenceTest {

    public function __construct() {
        // Doc typing in parent allows completion in both Netbeans/PDT2.1. Now in PDT 2.0 this was broken from PDT 1 and
        // then fixed for 2.1( actually PDT 2.0 was pretty broken in many auto complete
        // areas( inline was flakey as well ) as they are not really documented, got them off the Zend forums years ago )
        // The best place to found out PDT functionality is in the bug logs when people complain
        // X feature is missing.
        $this->dummy->DummyTest();

        //This does not auto complete without doc typing the member in Netbeans and if I remember right PDT
        //This works in the parent without doc typing though. Again no biggy though
        $this->dummySetByTypeHintedMethod->DummyTest();
    }

    //This is nice, auto implementation of abstract methods in Netbeans
    protected function abstractTest(Dummy $param) {
    }

    //Even nicer, auto implementation of interface methods in Netbeans
    public function interfaceMethod($interfaceMethodValue) {
    }
}
?>

Netbeans auto completion has proved very capable( there was a time only Zend and nusphere PHP Ed would of done it). Though one of the reasons for moving for me would be multiline tabs and this was removed in Netbeans. I end up swearing at Eclipse vehementley most of the day as my screen is too small( I would buy one but company policy ). Eclipses tab policy goes mentalist after about 6 files and plays a game of hide the random one.

The implementing abstract methods etc in Netbeans is really really nice, usually that can be pretty laborious. Need to have a look at the PL/SQL stuff. I would use Netbeans personally for now but to use it professionally I would have to do a lot more research as I'd have to convince everyone to switch. Switching from PHP Eclipse was fun enough.

[smadeira]

I used to use Zend (v4 I think.) Tried the Eclipse version and didn't like the lack of speed, crashes, etc. I moved to NetBeans. It isn't perfect but it is free and it works for me. My projects aren't huge so haven't had any issues in terms of scalability. Debugger works for me just fine.

I have nothing to complain about since it is free and works.

[JREAM]

I've never used Zend Studio but I've used Netbeans.
I prefer Netbeans over Eclipse PDT, mainly for speed and GUI reasons though. I haven't gotten too far into the tools they offer though.

I only use Netbeans once and a while, I mostlyuse Notepad++ with a handful of plugins (Explorer, Function List, XBrackets, etc), It's a lot like gEdit on Linux.But if I had to go to an IDE I would probably try getting used to Netbeans more.

My gripe with most IDE's is they aren't that easy to color theme. I know there are extra themes and you can customize them fairly easily, but I get frustrated tinkering around with it from PC to PC. Since I prefer writing on a dark background with specific colors :P

[important]

While both of them are fine choices for many different reasons, my personal preference is PDT which is based on eclipse too and was programmed by the same developers who coded the Zend Studio for eclipse.

What's more, it's free ..

[daveyd004]

Although zend studio will cost you more, I prefer you should go for zend rather than netbeans. I have used netbeans and it truly sucks. I know it is free but if you google for user ranking, I am sure you will find zend studio at the top.

[materix]

I have tried most of them. Nothing beats PHPEd from NuSphere when it comes to stability.

[Loomy]

After years and years of using Zend 4, 5 and 5.5 (and loving every moment of it), I eventually ended up with Netbeans and apart from the occasional trying out new releases of Zend Studio, I haven't looked back.

[xzyfer]

it's great to see all these suggestions.

I have used a majority of these IDEs but in my experience nothing holds a flame to NuShere's PhpED, as far as performance and reliability.

It also takes care of any mark up validation, and integrates shell clients right into the IDE, so i no longer need putty or terminals open.

However it does currently lack the built in unit testing abilities of Eclipse based IDEs but with the built in shells it really isn't necessary.

[nabeel]

I've used them all, Zend, Netbeans, PhpEd, I always come back to vs.php. Works perfect for everything I've needed it to do, and the developer is very responsive to any support. Integrated debugging and all.. check it out And now you don't need Visual Studio at all to install or use it

http://www.jcxsoftware.com/

[Stormrider]

I used to use Zend and really loved it (can't remember the version), but I stay WELL clear of anything based on Eclipse now - buggy and slow as hell.

I'm currently using PHPEd, which has all the features of Zend i really loved, plus some more.

[PHPycho]

Thanks all of you for sharing your idea.
Hope to see some more participants

[Lemon Juice]

It looks like I'm in minority because I use jEdit. As a free program it is very powerful but takes some time to configure it and add proper plugins in order to turn it into a PHP IDE. It's not a full-featured IDE but it can find methods and classes within a project, show class structures and underline php errors. Very nice and customizable syntax highlighting (the supported programming language list is HUGE), some code completion (however nothing fancy), remote FTP/SFTP editing, integrated SVN, code templates, word-wrap, multiple and rectangular selection, code folding, pretty good auto-indentation, multiple string/word highlighting, file diffs, customizable keyboard shortcuts for virtually any command, customizable context menus, layout (docking) and toolbars, split-screen view, full-screen view, multiple window view, live text search, line markers, back/forward code navigation. And when you need something very specific you can record or program your own macro to automate any task you need. These are the features I use mostly but there are many other plugins to do many more things. And despite being written in java, jEdit runs pretty fast and starts up fast even with large projects. It has some minor bugs but nothing to be worried about and I never lost any data even when I was using development versions.

Some time ago I tried Eclipse but not long enough to be able to say much about it. I was very quickly put off by extremely slow startup and operation. And I wondered how can a serious editor lack word-wrap? At least I couldn't find it there at the moment.