POLL: Which IDE do you use to develop PHP?

[Erwin Moller]

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[tnhoe]

"Erwin Moller"

Dream Weaver and phpdev

Regards
Hoe

[lunatech]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

If it is my code, I use Emacs with some well placed var_dumps.

If someone else's code that I have to maintain (and it has HTML/PHP
mixed in), I use Anjuta.

Yes, debugging support is something that would make things easier. But
I usually survive by putting error_reporting(E_ALL).
Regards
Raj Shekhar

[helloworld]

> What do you expect from an IDE?

Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)
I prefer debugging while running on the target system too (ie the
webhost) rather than locally (even though I sometimes test locally
using Apache first).

Syntax highlightning?

Yes. For documentation, I've put a direct shortcut to the php.net
search engine, so I get all in need in one line.

I don't need more :-)

[bogomil.shopov]

Hi Erwin
My favorite is Maguma WorkBench. I think that this is the best decision
for a PHP IDE.

Regards
Bogomil
http://purplerain.org

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[Justin Koivisto]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

Up until about 2 days ago, I was using UltraEdit for all my PHP/HTML
work. Now I've started using Zend Studio to see if will make things any
easier for me. I do like the fact that as you are typing the function
protocols pop up and if you forget a semicolon, there is a visual hint
for you.

--
Justin Koivisto - ju****@koivi.com
http://www.koivi.com

[Drazen Gemic]

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 18:32:00 +0800, tnhoe wrote:

"Erwin Moller"

Dream Weaver and phpdev

Regards
Hoe

Bluefish

--
There is no god.
Religion is just a dirty form of politics.

[Geoff Berrow]

I noticed that Message-ID: <41**********************@news.xs4all.nl>
from Erwin Moller contained the following:

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

notepad2

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[ron.g.chaplin]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group, Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

I use Quanta 3.3.0
Built-in docs for PHP
quick-key function complete
Highlighting (about 30 diff code styles)
Alot more.
Only 1 drawback I have found so far.
FTP Setup is something left to be desired.I am thus required to
maintain 2 copies of my site code. Not that this is a bad thing as far
as backups are concerned, just wish I could ftp straight from Quanta is
all.

Ron Chaplin
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
T73 Software & Design
www.t73-softdesign.com
To provide custom and quality
software, designs and services,
to our customers, at an affordable rate,
with minimal delay.

[Tony Marston]

I use PHPEdit from http://www.waterproof.fr/. It's free for personal use. It
is a full-fledged IDE with a debugger.

--
Tony Marston

http://www.tonymarston.net


"Erwin Moller"
<si******************************************@spam yourself.com> wrote in
message news:41**********************@news.xs4all.nl...

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[Pedro Graca]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

I think my setup is not very popular.

I use GNU screen, vim, bash, and (sometimes) ELinks.
I prefer to make all my functions (I still don't do OOP) work for
command-line use and add the HTML at the highest possible level (usually
the scripts that are "callable" from the user's browser). So my
functions use a lot of arrays and I use print_r() to debug them.

Syntax highlighting is on, but I only consciously notice with when I
forget to close quotes around some text.

--
Mail to my "From:" address is readable by all at http://www.dodgeit.com/
== ** ## !! ------------------------------------------------ !! ## ** ==
TEXT-ONLY mail to the whole "Reply-To:" address ("My Name" <my@address>)
may bypass my spam filter. If it does, I may reply from another address!

[News Me]

vim and the apache error log.

NM

[Jan Pieter Kunst]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use BBEdit 8.0 (commercial text editor) on Mac OS X.
<http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml>.

I also have Apache/PHP/MySQL running locally on my machine, the web
serving part is an exact copy of the production webserver, apart from
error_reporting and stuff like that.

BBEdit is not an IDE as such, but I find that a few well-placed
print_r()'s and var_dump()'s are good enough for me.

JP

--
Sorry, <de*****@cauce.org> is a spam trap.
Real e-mail address unavailable. 5000+ spams per month.

[Sugapablo]

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 11:11:56 -0800, News Me wrote:

vim and the apache error log.

I've gone a little more "cutting edge" lately and have been using gvim.

--
[ Sugapablo ]
[ http://www.sugapablo.com <--music ]
[ http://www.sugapablo.net <--personal ]
[ su*******@12jabber.com <--jabber IM ]

[News Me]

Sugapablo wrote:

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 11:11:56 -0800, News Me wrote:

vim and the apache error log.

I've gone a little more "cutting edge" lately and have been using gvim.

Actually I lied. I'm using gvim!

--
convert uppercase WORDS to single keystrokes to reply

[Sean]

On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 10:49:18 +0100, Erwin Moller
<si******************************************@spam yourself.com>
reverently intoned upon the aether:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

I use Adobe GoLive. Albeit, all I use it for is so that I have a
syntax highlighting text editor that knows most web languages.

For debugging, I rolled my own logging architecture and _always_
check return values and put in else clauses. Then errors email me,
and unimplemented features log themselves. Depending on the type of
log message more or less data is dumped.

Hence, I use an editor with pretty colors and debug on a server.

enjoy,

Sean
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends."

- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Photo Archive @ http://www.tearnet.com/Sean
Last Updated 29 Sept. 2004

[Al. C]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

I wrote about 200,000 lines of PHP for Jaya123 with nedit (we're a Linux
house). We debug using "echo." There is probably a better way to create code
but when you do it with just a text editor you REALLY LEARN the language
well.

Good thread. I think we'd like to move to a "more robust" platform. But again,
you really LEARN with plain text.

Al Canton, President
__________________________________________________ ________
Adams-Blake Company, Inc.
***
JAYA123 - the web-based total-office system for the
small biz. Order entry, billing, bookkeeping, etc. for $14.95
a month. Perfect for the small business or start-up.
See demo at: http://www.jaya123.com
***

[jimt]

BBEdit 8 for me as well.
jimt

In article <41**********************@news.xs4all.nl>, Jan Pieter Kunst
<de*****@cauce.org> wrote:

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use BBEdit 8.0 (commercial text editor) on Mac OS X.
<http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml>.

I also have Apache/PHP/MySQL running locally on my machine, the web
serving part is an exact copy of the production webserver, apart from
error_reporting and stuff like that.

BBEdit is not an IDE as such, but I find that a few well-placed
print_r()'s and var_dump()'s are good enough for me.

JP

[TheLobster at Gmail dot Com]

I work in both FreeBSD and Windows....

Windows:
Zend Studio for full development

Notepad for small hacks and modifications to code
FreeBSD:
vi in bash for small changes, hacks, cli stuff
xemacs or kate in kde for development

[George]

Hi,

I use JEdit (http://jedit.sf.net).

It is free, works both on my Linux and Windows boxes and has a ton of
plugins including FTP, Secure FTP and CVS.

The Secure FTP plug-in is one of the main reasons why I started using
it, but ever since I did, I love it!

George

[Henk Verhoeven]

Edit with UltraEdit or Eclipse, save locally or through Samba, run on
Apache with php4 (Linux) or 5 (windows), test UI through IE6 and
FireFox, search with phpPeanuts hypercode browsers. Als use pnt/unit,
debug info and skin generation from phpPeanuts framework.

Greetings,

Henk Verhoeven,
www.phpPeanuts.org, www.metaclass.nl.

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[Bent Stigsen]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,
(chorus:) Hi Erwin
I mostly use SciTE (Scintilla), but also got Crimson and HTML-kit which
I use occasionaly.

I favour SciTE because it is very lightweight, but at the same time
extreemely versatile. (http://www.scintilla.org/)

What do you expect from an IDE?
fast, good(*) text editing, syntax highlighting, project management.

(*): "good", beyond just copy/paste/search/replace features (e.g.
macrolanguage, wordcompletion, codetemplates, ...). Whatever makes life
easier.
Debugging?
(personal rant) Analyse complex segments beforehand, and do your
errorhandling and a debugger is rarely (if ever) needed.

Admittedly there have been occasions, where I wished I had one.
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

I do the same. But if I had an IDE with debugging capabilities I would
probably use and appreciate it.
/Bent

[Roy W. Andersen]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Hi. Thanks for this thread :)

I always love threads like this, because it gives me a lot of
alternatives for my never-ending search for a new editor. I've been
using Homesite for ages, which is the only one I've felt comfortable
with, mostly due to it's vastly underrated highlighting for PHP. But
it's getting outdated, and newer functions and reserved words aren't
highlighted. And on top of that, it's a Windows only program, and since
I spend as much time in Linux as I do in Windows, I'd like to have a
crossplatform editor (or at the very least an editor with versions for
both platforms).

So - I'm using Homesite, which is more a HTML editor than a PHP editor,
but it has very nice highlighting which is all I require. Debugging is
achieved through my superefficient ultra-advanced debugging-functions:

function print_a($x) {
echo "<pre>";
print_r($x);
echo "</pre>";
}
function print_x($x) {
print_a($x);
exit();
}

:D

I have a server on my LAN, so I have all my projects on that server and
connect through SMB or FTP/SFTP, so I have no need for any debugging
within the editor itself.

But yea, great thread, and lots of great tips. I've started to get a bit
comfortable with jEdit after seeing it mentioned in this thread - only
thing I don't like about it is the toolbar icons ;)

I also downloaded and tried PHPEdit, and one great thing about that is
the possibility to define a separate colour for variables within
strings, which can be very handy at times. But the lack of a
Linux-version means I won't be using that, but still a very nice editor
for Windows, and free for non-commercial use isn't half bad, though I do
prefer opensource. Being unemployed means I can't afford to buy any
editor, but there are so many free ones out there it really isn't a
problem. Once I can get someone to start paying me to develop I'll
probably get my hands on Zend Studio, but for now I'll be moving to jEdit :)

Roy W. Andersen
--
ra at broadpark dot no / http://roy.netgoth.org/

"Hey! What kind of party is this? There's no booze
and only one hooker!" - Bender, Futurama

[Richards Noah \(IFR LIT MET\)]

"Erwin Moller"
<si******************************************@spam yourself.com> wrote in
message news:41**********************@news.xs4all.nl...

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

What do you expect from an IDE?
Debugging?
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some
smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

Syntax highlightning?
Anything else?

I use Eclipse 2.1 with PHP-plugin.
Reason: It is for free and works fine.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

Textpad in Windows, emacs in Linux/Unix.

[Mxsmanic]

Visual InterDev 1.0 (just the text editor), Notepad, or--most
recently--UltraEdit.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

[Brandon Blackmoor]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.

I use TextPad. IDEs just get in the way.

bblackmoor
2005-01-12

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Erwin Moller wrote:

Hi group,

Just curious what IDEs are popular nowadays.
I use PHPEdit <http://www.waterproof.fr/products/PHPEdit/>.
Previously used DreamWeaver about 1% time. Now, having setup own form
generation tools and migrated to CSS container based designs, no need
to go for DW.
What do you expect from an IDE?
Mostly auto completion of PHP's functions and user functions. Also,
parameter hinting. Since I use lots of classes--mostly by include(), I
would expect auto completion of object names, methods, properties and
their parameters.

I would also expect smart quoting like "" for " and smart quoting
inside another quotes like "\"" for "". Paranthesis completion, etc.
All these features are available with PHPEdit.

One colorful feature I expect is OptiPerl's Box coding
<http://www.xarka.com/optiperl/features.html>--which none of the PHP
editors provide now.
Debugging?
Not much. There are less chances that I will make mistakes with
these features.
Do you use your IDE for debugging, or do you work like me? (Just use some smart-placed var_dump() to dive into possible problems?)

I save it and then run it in browser. Most of the time it will work.
But, in rare cases my custom error handler will spits out the error in
the browser with some valid information like type of error, error
context, line of error by highlighting and backtrace, etc.

So, my developing environment is
XP/TortoiseSVN/XAMPP/PHPEdit/Notepad(for Unicode)/Firefox/Immediate
Window (a PHP script which eval's submitted script)

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com/

[Mxsmanic]

Sean writes:

I use Adobe GoLive. Albeit, all I use it for is so that I have a
syntax highlighting text editor that knows most web languages.

The same reason I've used Visual InterDev. But I discovered a few days
ago that highlighting text editors do exist, and I picked UltraEdit,
which seems to work very well (and also has a simple FTP capability that
is very handy).

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

[Mxsmanic]

It's interesting that almost everyone responding to this poll is using
nothing more than a text editor (or a fancy text editor at most).
Someone must be buying all those bloated IDEs out there; if it's not
hardcore Web developers, who is it?

I've always preferred to keep things simple, and it reassures me that
I'm not alone in this. HTML and its breathren were designed to be easy
to write and maintain with simple tools, so I've never understood why
anyone would drop hundreds of dollars on bloated front ends that hide
the real code (and may even make it inaccessible), complicate both
development and maintenance, and bloat the final Web pages so that they
execute a hundred times more slowly than if they were written in
Notepad.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

[lunatech]

he********@500mghosting.com wrote:

Yes. For documentation, I've put a direct shortcut to the php.net
search engine, so I get all in need in one line.

If you are using a Linux for your dev work, you can mirror the PHP
manual on your PC itself. Create a virtual host and you have the
manual at your tips. Have a look at http://www.php.net/mirroring.php

--

Raj Shekhar
System Administrator, programmer and slacker
home : http://rajshekhar.net
blog : http://rajshekhar.net/blog/
work : http://netphotograph.com

[Jerry Gitomer]

Mxsmanic wrote:

It's interesting that almost everyone responding to this poll is using
nothing more than a text editor (or a fancy text editor at most).
Someone must be buying all those bloated IDEs out there; if it's not
hardcore Web developers, who is it?

I've always preferred to keep things simple, and it reassures me that
I'm not alone in this. HTML and its breathren were designed to be easy
to write and maintain with simple tools, so I've never understood why
anyone would drop hundreds of dollars on bloated front ends that hide
the real code (and may even make it inaccessible), complicate both
development and maintenance, and bloat the final Web pages so that they
execute a hundred times more slowly than if they were written in
Notepad.

I agree that it is best to keep things simple. I do my
development using vim on Linux and run my code on XP, Linux, and
Solaris.

I find that it is quicker and easier to cut and paste and global
edits using vi then to use a point and click, drag and drop
editor.

I know that lots of people use the bloated tools and I suspect
that it is either because it was easy to find an "IDE for
Idiots" or a "Learn IDE in 24 hours" book somewhere for whatever
IDE they are using or because they don't know how to program and
don't want to know.

Jerry