[ale] PHP IDE's

[John Wells]

Greg,

I faced your same dilemma months ago (if Ale had archives anymore, you
could view that thread...sigh).  Anyway, I decided on Zend after
evaluating each of those you've mentioned.  Nusphere didn't seem to add
enough features for the extra cost, and I was initially impressed with
Zend's capabilities.

I'm still pleased with my Zend investment, but it's certainly not the best
IDE I've used.  Problems I've noticed with Zend so far are:
- CVS support, while there, is lacking.  Should improve in upcoming versions.
- Auto-complete can't parse certain "advanced" class operations.
- Project support is flimsy.  While it works, it's nowhere near as
effective as it could/should be.
- Simple niceties I'm used to with editors (macros, etc.) aren't available.
- Documentation is weak.
- Responses from Zend in the forums or to support tickets sometimes takes
awhile.

That said, Zend is a very good effort at a PHP ide.
Points where it excels:
- Debugging (and remote debugging) support is awesome.
- Auto-complete is for the most part very, very nice.
- Overall features are well thought out.
- Very simple install.  Minimal dependencies on other products.
I use it on a nightly basis in my current project and it works well for me.

IIRC, here's what I didn't like about the others:

Komodo:
- didn't support function lists or class browsers (i.e., side panel that
lists methods/functions in a file or project, and panel that does the same
for classes).
- Overpriced IMO.

Nusphere:
- Install was a pain.
- Ugly interface on Linux.
- Auto-complete, etc. not on par with Zend.
- Waaaay overpriced.

Maguma:
- Only works on Windows.
- Could never get debugging/remote debugging working.
- Requests for support from the company were never replied to...even after
I mentioned that I was going to purchase the full version.

What I really want is something with jEdit's general editing capabilities
and Zend's deep support for PHP parsing and debugging.  That just doesn't
exist currently.

If you need any more info, please let me know.

John

Greg said:
> I am currently shopping around for php IDE's.  I know that there are
> four main ones that I have found so far - Maguma, Zend, Komodo, and
> NuSphere. NuSphere seems the easiest to use, but it is also the most
> expensive.  I need something that has the following qualities:
>
> 1. Easy to switch between a web server view and the coding view.
> 2. Can handle & keep track of classes and such.
> 3. Easy to operate and setup.  I don't want to spend more time trying to
> figure out stuff and fix problems than coding.
> 4. Nice if you could store code snippets and such.
>



_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale