Please help pick an editor from a list

[jaswinder_rana]

Hi,

I have the option to get ONE of the following IDEs. I haven’t use those before so I am not sure which one is better. By looking at those, it seems few are for different purposes and that makes it even harder. Can you please help me pick one?

• RadPHP XE2 from Embarcadero
• Zend Studio from Zend
• VS.PHP from JCX Software
• CodeLobster Professional from CodeLobster Software

And no, this is not to start a debate. I just need to pick one and get a license for it.

Thanks for your help

[system]

Phpstorm.

[cpradio]

@jaswinder_rana

Hi,

I have the option to get ONE of the following IDEs. I haven’t use those before so I am not sure which one is better. By looking at those, it seems few are for different purposes and that makes it even harder. Can you please help me pick one?

• RadPHP XE2 from Embarcadero
• Zend Studio from Zend
• VS.PHP from JCX Software
• CodeLobster Professional from CodeLobster Software

And no, this is not to start a debate. I just need to pick one and get a license for it.

Thanks for your help

The only ones that I’ve actually heard of are Zend Studio and VS.PHP on your list. If you do .NET work and use Visual Studio, then I highly recommend VS.PHP, at least it will keep all of your development within the same IDE.

Otherwise, I’d argue, it should be a choice of your preference (I’m assuming these each of Trial periods, take them for a run and see what you like and dislike about each). Personally, I don’t use any of the above, but my requirements were likely different than yours (I needed it to run on Linux and Windows, for example).

Sorry I can’t be of much more help.

[jaswinder_rana]

Thanks aaarrrggh. Unfortunately, I can only select from the ones listed above (someone getting it for me).

cpradio, I don’t do .Net development. I might use Java on the side but not .Net (for now). I guess that means other 3 stay in line.

Reading about it, I thought of Zend studio. But RadPHP XE2 has its own ground as they claim that they can convert PHP apps to iPhone apps. Has anyone used it? If it does what they say it does then that might be a good option.

Personally, I use notepad++ for PHP. But sometimes I wished I had a debugger for issues (but just for issues).

[system]

@jaswinder_rana

Thanks aaarrrggh. Unfortunately, I can only select from the ones listed above (someone getting it for me).

cpradio, I don’t do .Net development. I might use Java on the side but not .Net (for now). I guess that means other 3 stay in line.

Reading about it, I thought of Zend studio. But RadPHP XE2 has its own ground as they claim that they can convert PHP apps to iPhone apps. Has anyone used it? If it does what they say it does then that might be a good option.

Personally, I use notepad++ for PHP. But sometimes I wished I had a debugger for issues (but just for issues).

I’d just ignore the claim that they can convert php apps into iphone apps - almost certainly not the case. At least not with a lot of pain.

Phpstorm is the best editor I know. Other than that, I’d recommend netbeans, which is actually free.

Zend Studio is probably your best bet out of that list, but I’d say netbeans is actually better than Zend Studio.

Don’t use notepad++ - it’s a text editor, not an ide.

[jaswinder_rana]

Thanks. So, Zend Studio it is from the list.

I use Notepad++ to edit files. I have never used an IDE for PHP and I like it that way. But I thought maybe I should try one.

[cpradio]

@aaarrrggh

I’d just ignore the claim that they can convert php apps into iphone apps - almost certainly not the case. At least not with a lot of pain.

Phpstorm is the best editor I know. Other than that, I’d recommend netbeans, which is actually free.

Zend Studio is probably your best bet out of that list, but I’d say netbeans is actually better than Zend Studio.

Don’t use notepad++ - it’s a text editor, not an ide.

I completely agree with everything stated. I’ve been using phpStorm for several months (because it can run on both Windows and Linux), love it! However, since it isn’t on the list, Zend Studio would likely be my top pick (Zend works closely with PHP, so the support will always be there for you, I can’t say that for the others).

Notepad++ is fine as an editor, but if you are looking for an IDE that will provide intellisense, debug support, profiling, etc, it doesn’t fit the task.

[jaswinder_rana]

Thanks. So second vote and Rad is out. Zend Studio it is.

But as you both have used and agree that phpStorm is best then I think I’ll give that a try too.

and yeah, debugging is one thing that seems to be pushing me to use an IDE. using print statements is all good but I quite like adding break points and see what is going on there. It’ll be my first time with any IDE so lets see how it goes.

Thanks for all the help and answers. Much appreciated.

[cpradio]

@jaswinder_rana

Thanks. So second vote and Rad is out. Zend Studio it is.

I think from an enterprise/company standpoint, this is a wise decision.

@jaswinder_rana

But as you both have used and agree that phpStorm is best then I think I’ll give that a try too.

I also think this would be wise. It truly is a great product and I primarily bought it to test how much quicker I could perform my work for my latest project, and I was astounded that I was done 50% faster than I anticipated. I like to think that is because it had such great integration with xDebug, Profiling, and provided good feedback during coding/designing the system that allowed me to find and correct issues sooner than later (I have no doubts Zend can do this too, unfortunately, Zend Studio was outside of my budget).

Best of luck, I really think you will find the IDE will help you out a lot. I know it was one of the things I wished PHP had many years ago, and today there are hundreds of them out there now (which is good, it forces competition and each company to add features that make they stand out).

[system]

@jaswinder_rana

Thanks. So second vote and Rad is out. Zend Studio it is.

But as you both have used and agree that phpStorm is best then I think I’ll give that a try too.

and yeah, debugging is one thing that seems to be pushing me to use an IDE. using print statements is all good but I quite like adding break points and see what is going on there. It’ll be my first time with any IDE so lets see how it goes.

Thanks for all the help and answers. Much appreciated.

Have a quick look at this video: http://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/demos/remote_debugging/remote_debugging.html

Cheers

*Edit: This video actually shows remote debugging. I do it locally - same thing though - he’ll show you the xdebug stuff in phpstorm.

[jaswinder_rana]

Thanks for the debugging link. I had just download trial and was trying to debug my local Drupal app but its not working. So, I’ll follow that video and hopefully can get it to work.

Now to get the license for that.

[system]

Yeah, you may need to install xdebug first

Edit: link: http://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/webhelp/configuring-xdebug.html