Best PHP IDEs that every PHP Developer Must Know

Are you new to the PHP language? If you are, then you must know that PHP IDE is the foremost tool to do PHP programming. Numerous PHP IDEs are available nowadays in the market out of which some are a free and open source, whereas some of them are paid. But it is important to understand about every IDE and then choosing the best IDE out of them. It is true that PHP programming can be done in simple editors like notepad, but it is good to do programming in IDEs to reach to exciting levels.

Some of the PHP IDEs that every PHP Programmer must know:

• NetBeans:
  • NetBeans is the most popular and open source integrated environment for PHP development. More than that, it also supports various languages like English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, etc. Earlier, NetBeans used to be slow and was only restricted to the Java development, but now the lighter version of NetBeans also supports the development of PHP. It stands out of the all other PHP IDEs and supports various famous PHP frameworks like Doctrine framework, Zend framework, Symfony2 and various other frameworks. Some of the features of NetBeans that stand it out of the box among other IDEs are smart code completion, refactoring, getter setter generation, quick fixes, code templates, and hints.
• Sublime Text 3:
  • Sublime Text3 is also one of the powerful development tools for PHP developers that are lightweight, but rich with lots of amazing features and supports only Windows, Linux, and OSX. Sublime works via packages and plugins. Some of the packages that this tool include are xDebug Client, package control, and Sublime PHP companion. To ease the PHP development with Sublime Text 3, use more of add-on packages in Sublime.
• PHPStorm:
  • This IDE is basically full-featured and equipped with features that make it easy to do PHP development at a quick pace. This IDE has been developed by JetBrains company that has been serving many developers for last 15years and considered as the most efficient company in development tools. This IDE also supports many PHP frameworks like Zend framework, Yii, Laravel, Wordpress, etc. No web development can be completed without the involvement of front end technologies, so PHPStorm also provides various front-end technologies like HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, etc.
• Eclipse PDT:
  • Eclipse PHP Development Tools is also one of the PHP IDE that costs nothing. Eclipse is a highly used development tool used by various PHP development companies and other development companies. It might look like a complex task to start working with Eclipse in begin with, but once you become familiar with it, it will be worth spending time on it. It has a large community of developers as every passionate developer is familiar with this IDE. In order to use the tool robustly, make sure that your system configuration is robust and works efficiently. Eclipse comes with a full package for developers that includes XML Editor, Mylyn, PHP Language support, and Git client. It can be used by Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux users.
• VIM:
  • VIM is an open source text editor designed for the development of PHP that can be downloaded freely. It is also popular among the various developer communities and is more advanced than the other basic text editors. Earlier, Facebook engineers used to do PHP coding on VIM. Although VIM might look like a text editor, but it is not less than a full featured PHP development environment. Those developers who love to do coding with the keyboard, then VIM is the best PHP IDE to use. PHP Development company may use this IDE as it is free of cost and comes with advanced features.

It is important for every PHP programmer to know about the various best PHP IDEs that fulfill their needs and offers them comfort while coding the website.

Summary:

It is the responsibility of every programmer to have knowledge about various latest tools that allow them to stay updated with the latest technologies. To develop a full-fledged PHP website, every developer must know about the latest and best PHP development IDEs.