Which Eclipse version to install on Linux for PHP development

Question

I have Slackware 12.1 and wish to try out Eclipse for PHP/HTML/JavaScript development. However, it seems I'm facing myriad of possible options and I'd hate to miss the best thing and give up on Eclipse (I'm currently using Geany, but I'm missing some stuff like , for example, auto-complete for JavaScript)

I'm currently looking into just installing All-in-one PDT package version 1.0.3 from here:

http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/downloads/

However, that seems to be Eclipse 3.3. There's also Slackware package for 3.4 here:

http://repository.slacky.eu/slackware-12.1/development/eclipse/3.4/

But it says it a "Classic" version. I'm not sure how hard would be to add PHP, HTML, JavaScript support for it.

Note: I don't plan to run PHP through Eclipse's integrated web server or anything like that. I just want a powerful editor.

P.S. Also, recommendations for something better than Eclipse that is for Linux and free are also welcome. I already used Kate, SciTE, Geany, Emacs, Vi and Bluefish, so those are not interesting.

Important: whatever you recommend, please explain reasons why. Don't rush to be the fastest gun in the west, as I'll downvote such answers that only say "use this"

Answer 1

Aptana is a good choice, dedicated Eclipse clone for web development.

I personally use Krusader's editor, which is crippled version of Kate (KWrite). Fast, nice code highlight, and many useful shortcuts (like Ctrl D to comment selection language wise).

Answer 2

I would recommend to use Eclipse 3.3 with PHP Development Tools. The All-in-one package should work fine. The great thing about using Eclipse as a PHP IDE is that you have great integration for Zend Debugger/XDebug and you can use common Eclipse Extensions like Mylyn or Subclipse also for PHP.

Eclipse 3.4 isn't useful for PHP Development at the moment because the final version of PDT 2.0 got delayed.

You could also take a look at Aptana or the current Netbeans 6.5 Milestone which both support PHP. Until PDT 2.0 they both provide better JavaScript Support than the current Eclipse 3.3 based PDT. Aptana is also based upon Eclipse.

Answer 3

I second Aptana wholeheartedly. Since it is based very closely off of Eclipse, if you ever decide to do coding that Aptana will not cover, you are still used to the general interface of Eclipse.

I don't want to say it is cut down, because it is not. It just has what you need for the languages and technologies you will be using it for. You can still add other plugins to it as well for SVN, CVS, etc. The interface is a bit less crowded as well.

I don't do a whole lot of javascript coding, but man, that is where is stands out from the crowd. It does a fantastic job with Javascript.

Also, you don't have to use Aptana's built in Jetty server to run PHP; you can just tell it where you local Apache server is.

Answer 4

I'm still using Eclipse 3.3.2 and PDT 1.0.3, and I'm pretty happy with it. I tried upgrading to Eclipse 3.4, using a few recent builds of PDT 2.0, but it was buggy. It would hang for a long time in certain situations (like when I was copying text in a PHP editor). And it would keep re-parsing all my code every time I re-launched Eclipse, which took forever. These issues will probably get fixed eventually, but I'd hold on unless you really want Eclipse 3.4.

Answer 5

If you want auto-complete for JavaScript, in that case you should to use some plug-in for Eclipse such as Aptana Studio, but Aptana is more than auto-compete tool for javascript, it has included a lot of unnecessary things that you don't need for regular development. I have the same problem to find the right solution for JavaScript in Eclipse, Aptana was ok, but I hate the additional features that Aptana includes, I didn't find any good tool which could be added to Eclipse, for JavaScript :( For script languages such as JSP, Eclipse is like a song...nice,sweet and smooth...;)

Answer 6

Javascript with PDT Eclipse and the plugin jseclipse makes all your problems go away! :) With jseclipse the regular "Goto function with F3 keyboard press" works.