Which IDE is for me?

Question

Hey everyone,

I'm currently using PSPAD as my main editor, but I'm looking to get something more full featured. I code in PHP, but occasionally modify HTML and CSS code too.

I am looking for:

1. Directly editing a file over FTP - must sync / commit changes on save - NOT manual file transfer / update. This is a must for me.

2. Adjust contextual menus based on the language I am working in - For example, in PSPAD, when you are working in a block of PHP and you press Ctrl+Enter, you get a drop down of PHP references, and when your cursor is in a block of CSS, you get CSS references. Something similar would be really handy.

3. Autocomplete - for variable names, classes etc.

4. Easy access to PHP function reference - arguments, textual explanation.

5. Rich editor features - colors, bracket highlighting, code collapsing.

6. Free or relatively low cost (I am a student - to give you an idea of what I mean by low cost :D)

I'd love to hear any recommendations people have. Thank you!

Answer 1

Have you tried Komodo Edit?

Answer 2

I use Netbeans for PHP, JavaScript, CSS, XML development, just awesome.

Answer 3

Emacs

• seamlessly open remote files over almost any protocol by specifying the filename as /protocol:some_remote_machine:file

• Modes are available for any task imaginable (and probably some more), and they provide all the other functionality you mention. Have a look at the manual for php-mode.

Answer 4

Eclipse PDT should meet all of your requirements, plus there are plugins for most other functions you may need.

Answer 5

Thanks everyone - I will try these out. I was unaware of Modes in Emacs. I've always been a vim guy, but maybe this will give me a reason to switch.....

@lally - I think Coda is great, but I do nearly all of my development in Windows now.

Any other suggestions?

Answer 6

PIDA embeds Vim or Emacs or others. It will allow you to leverage your Vim skills, but in a more friendly graphical IDE.

Answer 7

I've used netBeans and EclipsePDT, both are very useful and has all the features you asked for, However PDT has a very large community with hundreds of plugins.

Answer 8

I completely forgot to talk about NotePad++

Answer 9

NySphere PHPED is by far the best one there, i've tried dozen of other editors for php and returned to PHPed. It is not free, but you can get student license (you need to email them ).

Answer 10

Alright, so the reviews are in. Here has been my experience thus far with the menitoned IDE's.

Eclipse PDT - For the life of me, I couldnt figure out how to FTP into a remote server in this program. I have tried an SFTP plugin, and still don't have a clue as to where to get started.

As mentioned, this is a must for me, and already I'm turned off by it (Eclipse fans - Am I missing something? Im sure this is a great editor I just can't figure out how to get around)

Komodo Edit - seemed to have the features I requested, but very slow and unstable. It was laggy and crashed multiple times when I tried to work on some code. (I'm on a Core 2 Duo / 4GB if you are wondering). Also, there was no EASY way to browse a remote folder. There was a way to open one remote file at a time, but with no keyboard shortcut. When open remote file was clicked, it came to a crawl when it loaded up the list of FTP accounts in the list, which made the process of editing multiple or new files annoying. The autocomplete, code folding and colors worked well though.

Netbeans - Same FTP problems as Eclipse. Why is it such a hard thing to have a remote file browser where I can just see a list of files and choose which ones I want to edit?

Again - Netbeans folks - help me out, I'm sure im not doing something right here.

Notepad++ - really enjoyed this tool, but it was too similar to PSPAD. I need something a little bit more than what is in this package.

Emacs - yet to try, but thank you for the suggestion. A programming professor of mine once told me there is a great divide between emacs and vi folks, and maybe deep down im just not ready to jump ship. :)

NySphere PHPED - This one is probably my favorite so far. It has an easy FTP window, colouring, folding, etc. One thing I noticed however, was that it doesnt completely cover all the functions for autocomplete. For example, a simple key of "requ" should bring up require and require once and it seems to not appear. Maybe I have some settings issue here as well?

Other than that it seems pretty sweet, and I like the code explorer at the side to show me all of the functions and arguments for each.

One that wasn't mentioned - Aptana Studio. This one is pretty sweet, and has most if not all of the requested features. The only thing that bugs me is it is a major resource hog. It looks like it runs the JVM, and uses a ton of memory.

I thank you all for the discussion so far, and as always have open ears to any more comments / suggestions.

Answer 11

try aptana it is the best i think

Answer 12

If you're running on the Windows platform, The Zeus IDE can do seamless ftp/sftp editing.

Answer 13

I use PHP Designer. It has everything needed, at least for my needs. Auto-completion, code explorer, project explorer, ftp integration ,SVN integration, the works!

http://www.mpsoftware.dk/phpdesigner.php

Answer 14

A coworker uses Aptana and seems to like it. FYI, I believe that is is built on the Eclipse Engine, so that's why it runs the JVM or whatever it needs in order to work. That might also be why it hogs resources, although I have heard good things about it.

Answer 15

I agree with Antonio, PHP Designer 6 is the way to go. It's a little expensive, but the product is out-of-this-world! The only feature it lacks is code-collapsing.

If you don't wish to pay, there is the free 2007 Personal edition on their download pages.

Answer 16

Eclipse PDT and Aptana, sometimes if also design is needed (CSS, HTML) WeBuilder from Blumentals (has also a debugging feature with Xdebug). I remember that this syncronizing with FTP ist available with the syncmanager from Aptana (but I don't use this feature, so I cannot give some hints about usage).

[Edit] I remember testing PhpDesigner some times ago: PhpDesigner has no remote debugging feature! You cannot debug PHP on a webserver. But Aptana PHP, Eclipse PDT, WeBuilder, Zend PHP... allow this.

Answer 17

I use SSHFS to mount the directory on the server I want to edit, and then edit them with vim. Since SSHFS just mounts the remote directory, it'd be easy to use any editor you want.

Be warned that if you have a large checkout, you'll probably want to do Subversion commands directly on the server, since that involves a lot of file accesses and can be slow over SSHFS.