PHP Development Tools

dev tools besides text editors

[firefly2442]

Besides text editors, what tools do people use to speed up PHP development time? Currently, I'm writing all the code in a standard text editor but it seems like development is pretty slow because of this.

[eeek]

I use vim (a text editor) and ctags. Haven't seen much need for anything else.

[dreamcatcher]

I don`t think there are any tools for speeding up your PHP code. You can get text editors with all the PHP functions built in, but I don`t see much advantage to that. If your text editor has a templates option, then keeping regularly used code snippets on file can be a good idea. That way you don`t have to keep repeating yourself.

Having a local server installed is a must if you develop in PHP. That certainly speeds up the development.

dc

[RonPK]

You might try using an IDE. I find function completion very useful, especially for custom functions defined elsewhere in the project. Many come with debugging services, which can be useful especially in larger projects.

[firefly2442]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions. Yeah, I'm not really looking to speed up the running of the PHP code but my own development in terms of coding it. I already run it on a local server which is good. Are there any good free IDE programs out there? Has anyone tried PHPEclipse? Thanks.

[coopster]

I use Eclipse exclusively and love it. The learning curve can be a bit intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it you will really appreciate the power of the open source tool.

[jatar_k]

I am being forced to use jedit, yes it's a text editor but it also seems to be more than that

I am somewhat underhwelmed as yet

[jatar_k]

I decided to retire jedit and will give eclipse a shot today