[thelist] PHP editor

[Maximillian Schwanekamp]

Jay Blanchard wrote:
> http://www.thelinuxconsultancy.co.uk/phpeditors.php

That list is a bit outdated.  PHP Editors[0] has a more up-to-date list, 
though the reviews there are often about as worthwhile as the member 
reviews on Amazon ("my IDE rocks, the other guys suck!").  Still, there 
are some good reviews too, and it's a good resource.

AFAIK there are three flavors of PHP editors - the simple text-editors 
(simplistic but often highly extensible), HTML tag editors with PHP 
support, and full IDEs.  The cost for each is generally in that order. 
If you're used to Visual Studio, you may be more comfortable using a 
"full" IDE.  No doubt some on this list will swear by VIM...  :)

PHP Editors doesn't make that division, but after your try some you may 
agree on that.  I myself used simple-but-quick Textpad[1] with PHP 
syntax highlighting for quite a while, but now I mostly use phpExpert[2] 
for quick, light-duty work (it's a tag editor with debugging and simple 
support for OOP).  I use Waterproof phpEdit[3] for "real" work.  I found 
phpEdit superior to the competitors from Zend and NuSpehere, and the 
price was easier to deal with.  It pays off big time to read the 
documentation on it, though!  phpEdit may feel slow at first (cf the 
reviews on PHP Editors), but it has so many short cuts and timesaving 
features that in the end it is very quick.  E.g. easily-extendable 
keyboard shortcuts (e.g. type fi and for($i=0;$i<[cursor];$i++){ }), 
code insight (even on user-defined functions), realtime debugging, etc.

Good luck!

[0] http://www.php-editors.com/
[1] http://www.textpad.com/
[2] http://www.ankord.com/phpxedit.html
[3] http://www.waterproof.fr/

-- 
Maximillian Von Schwanekamp
http://www.neptunewebworks.com/