Your application is for example for processing data from one or more databases? For storing and retrieving information, PHP and MySQL are the perfect tools. PHP is a server-side scripting language designed primarily for web development , and is used all over the world .
The versatile PHP platform also provides various user-friendly extensions that can be applied in the creation of various interfaces and apps and allows developers to create applications and provide widespread access.
Visual Studio Code
It is an open-source editor developed by Microsoft which supports debugging, embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring to run on all platforms be it Windows, Linux, or Mac OS. The developers can change the editor’s theme, keyboard shortcuts, and highly customizable preferences.
Features of Visual Studio Code
- Visual Studio Code enables auto completing, syntax highlighting, and code navigation.
- Color theme picker.
- Built-in Emmet support.
- Smart code completion
- Built-in integration of Git and GitHub.
- Extensibility
- Integrated terminal.
- Live share
NetBeans IDE
Netbeans is a free and open-source integrated development environment that comes with all the tools developers need to create large-scale web applications. It supports almost all programming languages like C, C++, PHP, JavaScript, Groovy, Ruby, and others. But, among all, it runs under the Java platform and so the developers need to install JAVA before running this editor.
Features of NetBeans IDE
- NetBeans IDE can easily see the PHP class structure.
- Automatically completes the brackets of the code.
- Highlights PHP keywords and variables.
- Enables formatting a piece of code with the use of a keyboard shortcut.
- Offers ready-to-made templates for creating the code script.
- Provides parameter hints.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is one of the leading text editors out there for PHP developers. However, it isn’t a quite IDE, with the installation of certain plugins/package; you can make it a suitable editor for developing PHP applications. This cross-platform source code editor natively supports several programming as well as markup languages. With its feature-rich functionalities and extraordinary designs, it makes the developer community consider the text editor as the best IDE for PHP development. Being leading customizable text editor with custom UI toolkit, it enables you to climb across the symbols, words or lines using appropriate key shortcuts. Moreover, you can make changes to any lines of your code.
Sublime Text Features
- Split editing
- Instant Project Switch
- Better command palette
- Distraction free mode
- Plugin API
Sublime Text Specialties:
- Languages supported: All popular languages
- Platforms supported: Windows, Mac OS and Linux
- Visit: Sublime Text
Brackets
Brackets were created by Adobe Systems, licensed under MIT as an open-source editor written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript which primarily focus on web development. Currently, it is maintained on GitHub with the support of other open-source developers. The developers can use the brackets for live editing functionality in HTML, CSS, and JS.
Features of Brackets
- Horizontal and vertical split view
- Inline Editing
- Lightweight
- Support for CSS preprocessors
- Custom themes
- Live preview with the use of real-time connection
Eclipse PDT
Eclipse is the most popular and widely used IDE which also has an open-source PHP development kit. Eclipse is regarded as the best PHP editor to run large-scale projects, but it also requires installing JAVA for getting work done. It is a cross-platform IDE that allows running code on multiple platforms like Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Features of Eclipse PDT
- Eclipse PDT offers a ready-made code template.
- Supports code refactoring
- Automatically validates syntax
- Can work on Linux, OS X, and Windows.
- Enables managing the project remotely
Atom
It is an open-source and source code editor which runs on all platforms by providing support for plug-ins written in Node.js and GitControl. Atom is a desktop application built using web technologies that extend packages including free software licenses. It is based on a framework named Electron that enables cross-platform desktop applications using Chromium and Node.js.
Features of Atom
- Offers customizable UI with more than 3,000 themes
- Extensibility
- Advanced tool
- Syntax highlighting The appropriate selection of editors and IDEs has become crucial for the developers as they spend a lot of time when it comes to choosing software. A good programming environment comes up with syntax checking, code correction, auto-completion, and auto-addition at max to offer a complete package of code intelligence. Every year, many new code editors are launched, and so the developers of different programming languages get a little confused on which one to go for?
- Smart autocompletion
- Integrated package manager
- Real-time code collaboration
- Easy-to-access command palette
Notepad++
It is a free and open-source code editor supporting several languages, licensed by GPL and running in the MS Windows environment. Notepad++ is based on a powerful editing component called Scintilla, written in C++, and utilizes pure Win32 API and STL to ensure a higher execution speed and smaller program size.
Features of Notepad++
- Notepad++ enables zooming in and out of the screen.
- GUI is customizable with this editor.
- Possible macro recording and playback.
- Highlights the syntax like HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and more.
Aptana Studio PHP Editor
Developed by Aptana Inc, it is a leading open-source HTML editor which also supports PHP Framework. It is also developed on the Eclipse platform as many people are not aware of it. It comes with in-built support for Smarty and Debugger exclusively for PHP developers that are considered very stable and powerful which support all the operating systems like Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.
Features of Aptana Studio PHP Editor
- Aptana comes with annotations for syntax error
- Supports CSS and DOM
- Comes with built-in PHP Server
- Auto Indexing and Code Formatting
- Supports PHP Debugger
PHP Logging – Loggly
PHP logging analysis can provide the real-time insights you need. Within a distributed environment, a substantial number of PHP logs may be generated by a multitude of sources— so having a PHP logging tool is critical. With SolarWinds Loggly®, all your PHP logs are centralized, unifying PHP monitoring and analysis. Loggly’s cloud-based system provides the following features, each of which contribute to the overall efficiency of the program:
• Agentless architecture, which allows you to use PHP syslog to transfer logs to Loggly
• Archives for past PHP logs, maintained according to your specified timeframes
• Advanced filters and search functionalities for rapid troubleshooting
• Surround search utility for visibility into logs from before and after problematic events
• Live tail feature for real-time tracking of events
PHP Development Environment: XAMPP
XAMPP is an offline PHP development environment where programmers can test their work as if they were actually using a web server. With this tool, developers can perfect PHP code within a local test server and then migrate it to a live server, ensuring fewer performance problems upon deployment. Its main features are as follows:
• Open-source
• Vast support network and online community
• CMS components can be installed onto it by using Bitnami
• Versions are regularly updated and available to all
• Windows-, Mac-, and Linux-compatible
A big benefit of XAMPP is it’s entirely free, quick, and easy to install. During the installation process, you can choose which components you want to include (i.e., Perl, PHP, etc.).
PHP Web Development IDE: Aptana Studio
Aptana Studio is an open-source PHP web development IDE program that’s compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux. It has a built-in PHP server, making for easy integration with other PHP programs. This means you can create and test PHP applications, all within a single environment. The PHP web development features are complemented by its PHP debugging tool, which can help you get to the root of a problem quickly. Here are some of the main features of Aptana:
• The deployment Wizard, which can execute multiple protocols (FTP, FTPS, Capistrano, and more)
• The debugger lets you inspect variables, control execution, and establish breakpoints
• Scripting custom commands allows you to set up your environment according to your specific wants and needs
In addition, Aptana has a built-in command-line terminal, which provides quick access to command execution.
PHPDebugbar
PHPDebugbar is a PHP debugger that can run with any project and display data from a broad range of web apps. This PHP development tool includes two parts, namely: mainDebugBar object & data collectors and the render. A StandardDebugBar includes a pre-configured built-in set of collectors.
Along with PHP, you can also catch JavaScript and HTML bugs as well. In addition, PHPDebugbar can inspect CSS element, monitor network, and check your JavaScript code. By offering more features that developers expect, it becomes a quite impressive open source solution. It can be the best option for profiling of data from any web applications. It allows you to create your own collect or effortlessly for easy integration.
PHPDebugbar Feature
- Monitor network traffic
- Handles AJAX requests
- Log & debug directly to Debugbar
- Fast & easy to use interface
- Preview config& application config
PHPDebugbar Specialties:
- Languages supported: PHP, Ruby, .Net and Java
- PHP versions supported: PHP 5.5 & above
- Visit: PHPDebugbar
Codelobster
This PHP edition is easily accessible from CodeLobster Software and also maintains the Windows platform. The code editor installs the debugger automatically and helps to configure it by having the ability to deploy projects on your local web server or remote server by FTP. The developers can use the plug-ins to operate with famous CMS and frameworks like Facebook, CakePHP, Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Smarty, Jquery, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Yii.
Features of Codelobster
- Autocomplete for different methods of Magento
- Tooltips for Magento context, methodologies, and dynamic help.
- Higher capacity to create projects automatedly
Conclusion
So far, since the last century, two programming languages have gained immense popularity. They are PHP and MySQL. For the beginners, these are the easiest software to get started with for building dynamic website applications. Though there are hundreds of programming languages there are thousands of applications being built using these two programming languages.