I just saw another thread asking what software is good for PHP development and it made me think--I've been using dreamweaver fairly exclusively and was wondering if people experienced with PHP think this is a bad idea? Does DW measure up to programs like Zend, etc, or would it be smart to switch?
Hehe, thanks, that's what I'm asking though Do other programs offer increased productivity when compared to DW and with respect to PHP?
Personally I do all my work in pico. I'm productive enough with that. I don't find PHP a difficult language to develop in. Maybe that's why I haven't looked for anything better. I would suggest trying a couple of programs out. I use Eclipse for Java development and I can say it definitely makes me a better programmer. Eclipse works great with PHP, one of the other developers in the office has been pretty happy using it.
Haven't used Zend but for extensive php development I like something that can debug. eclipse with php plugin works for debugging but is Java built-> very slow. I've recently started using WeBuilder can be good and loads fast (google fosi and click on the first link to try it out, cough cough) You need a local server to take full advantage. Works well with ASP too.
vi works well for me. However, Zend's auto code completion is really helpful and time saving when dealing with lots of long variable names and functions. I think it is worth spending money on Zend. They have a free 1 month trial for the latest version.
Nothin really compares to Zend in terms of an IDE. nothin has a chance, however it's so expensive that I don't see how it could ever be a good investment, it's obviously designed for pro's and yet the only decent feature someone could mention was some autocomplete !! I don't use dreamweaver, i have it installed and if I gotta do something complicated with a table then I'll open it up to get the format right instead of messin about however <? ?> never touches the page.
I'm giving Zend Studio a try--I'll update once I've played with it for a few weeks since that's probably how long it will take to really understand what it offers. Thanks for the replies guys
I generally use vim, but for more complex coding I have used Zend. It's a great piece of software with a lot of features. It can point out a lot of minor errors (such as with syntax) without having to run through the PHP. You can do a lot of testing from within the program (though it becomes a bit tricky when you have to add packages to the PHP install). It also keeps track of variables, functions, etc. that you create and suggests them for you. It's been a long time since I used DW, so I'm not sure if this applies, but the way I see it now: DW is designed more for the frontend and Zend is more for the backend.