PHP is one of the most popular and widespread programming languages. This article contains the most useful tools for a PHP developer.
1. PHPStorm
This is an integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP from JetBrains. The editor has many useful features, it is great for working with PHP, HTML and JS, it has automatic refactoring tools for PHP and JS, as well as an autocomplete function. In addition, it can work with SQL and databases.
The editor is paid, but has a 30-day trial period. There are special offers: free use for students and teachers, as well as for developers of open source projects.
2. XAMPP
It is a free tool that is lightweight and easy to install and use. XAMPP is an Apache distribution that includes Perl and MariaDB in addition to PHP. This means that it is perfect for those who work with this DBMS (previously the distribution came with MySQL). Open source.
3. Eclipse PDT
It is an integrated development environment that is freely distributed and suitable for developing modular cross-platform applications. Eclipse was originally used to develop Java projects, but a special PDT plugin allows you to enable PHP support. Eclipse has all the features you need for development, such as PHP profiling, syntax highlighting, and unit testing. The only drawback is the resource-intensive environment, which makes it difficult to use in small projects.
4. ScriptCase
ScriptCase RAD (rapid application development) allows you to render a web application in just a few minutes. It is a web-based platform and can be installed on a server on the Internet. It provides a platform for developers to use a graphical shell to generate code that is accessible directly from the browser. Of the minuses, the service is paid (from $ 349 per year), but after installation there is a 20-day test period.
5. phpDesigner
phpDesigner is a powerful processing environment. It has everything for creating and debugging dynamic web projects, including a tool for cleaning and improving PHP code. Also, this IDE has built-in editors for HTML5, CSS3 and JS code. Thanks to its intuitive interface, phpDesigner can be used even by newbies in development. The product is commercial but has a test period of 21 days.
