Top 5 PHP IDEs for sustainable web development
If you are looking for the best PHP IDE then you have arrived to the best webpage which provides a brief to some of the best PHP IDE’s available right now in the market and of course you are smart enough to make a choice based on your web development requirements and adaptability to the software.
What is the need to use a IDE?
For some of you not well versed with coding, why do we require a IDE? The apt answer to this is that the use of a IDE eliminates the magnitude of efforts that goes in web development. An editor aware of PHP can help you focus your efforts on the real job. (Web development). Some of the below mentioned IDEs are extremely popular and used by hundreds of thousands of PHP coders and programmers around the globe. It is necessary to have a reasonably good development environment as we all know that PHP is the most popular programming language in the world because it is open source and it has efficient tools for developer productivity and there is no one size fits all kind of an environment.
PHP Storm
PHP Storm is the first on our list of the five best PHP editors. It supports all basic operating systems like Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. It also smart coding, error checking is done in a jiffy, appropriate code ending and easy navigation. It helps the programmer to develop the code, ensures full debugging and also perform unit-tests. This IDE works well for JavaScript, HTML and PHP alike. What is the best part of PHP Storm IDE? Its code ending completes functions, classes, variables and used names for fields based on their particular type. Overall PHP Storm provides a rich, qualitative environment for PHP coders.
Zend Studio
The next one on our list is Zend Studio which is one of the most comprehensive PHP IDE there is. A good PHP IDE requires efficient PHP and Javascript debugging, remote server options and team collaboration among other functionalities. Zend Studio being a powerful too though can make a hole in your pocket because it is quite expensive compared to other IDEs, infact it is the most expensive IDE available. There is a free version of Zend Studio available but it does provide all the premium features. If you are on a shoestring budget, Zend Studio is strictly not an option you should consider.
Eclipse PDT
Eclipse again is a IDE which is supported by Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The ability to let developers choose their preferred language, platform and vendor environment makes Eclipse a good buy among the top five IDEs available. It provides access to wide range of plugins and development tools. The IDE allows developers to construct, integrate and use software tools. The installation of Eclipse PDT is a bit tricky and involves all necessary tools to elaborate. A developer can easily use Xdebug or Zend debugger for debugging on this IDE.
Netbeans
You hardly get anything for free, let alone a fully functional IDE with ease of use and provides the help and support required by the developers and Netbeans is one of those rare IDEs which is one of the best, yet free IDE. The elaboration is performed by the Netbeans community and Netbeans Org which is maintained well by Oracle. One of the best part to use Netbeans is that it saves time by dividing screen into several parts for editing which reduces overall development time and hence reduces cost of development. Netbeans is supported by Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Software developers are gifted a library of free source codes by the Netbeans community. Netbeans IDE 7.0 is the latest IDE supporting Oracle Database, WebLogic, HTML 5 and GlassFish 3.1
Sublime Text
The last but not the least among the top five editors is Sublime Text which is a cross platform source and text code editor. It is available with a Python API (Application Programming Interface). Sublime Text is a paid software just like Zend but not as much costly as the previous one. They are lenient enough to provide free softwate licences and are built and managed by their community. The only thing which lacks in Sublime Text is the graphical setting dialogues and usually it is managed by editing the text files.
The above mentioned five PHP editors are what you are looking for. Most of you would agree with us and we would love to interact and discuss with the people who do not agree with us and we keep this an open thread for discussion by inviting you to comment below if you feel that there are other editors which could make it to this list.
Keval Padia is the founder & CEO of Nimblechapps, a fast-growing mobile app development company. The current innovation and updates of the field lures him to express his views and thoughts on certain topics.