Tyler
June 21st, 2007, 21:52
I've been using jEdit for a long time now. Couldn't be happier with it either. But there comes a point when a text editor can only do so much. I've come to realize that I'm ready for an IDE.
I searched around for quite a bit. I wasn't ready to spend $300 on something, so that narrowed down my choices drastically. I narrowed it down to Zend (I could get a nice discount because of a friend) and PHP Designer 2007.
I tried PHP Designer first, since Zend's site downloaded at <10 KB/S. I loved PHP Designer, there were a few quirks that I didn't like, including their upgrade policy and a few issues with the software itself. But I loved it, it certainly made coding easier.
Zend, was an entirely different story. I didn't see what warranted me to spend over 3x as much of what I would on PHP Designer. As soon as I load it up, the code window is tiny with all that crap they stick around it. I couldn't get the onclick function help to work correctly. Autocomplete was terribly slow, and even coding wasn't as pleasant when the builtin functions kicked in. The syntax highlighting was also unique to Zend. Everything I used previously used a different color scheme entirely. The builtin browser was a nice feature, and would certainly come in handy. I really wanted to love Zend, I really did. I know most professionals use it, and with that nice discount, I really wanted to purchase it, but I couldn't find a reason to...
Currently I am using PHP Designer and still trying to get use to it. I'll be using the trial until it expires, and most likely will be purchasing it.
So what do y'all use for coding? If you haven't used an IDE before, try it, I think you'll like the experience. :)
I searched around for quite a bit. I wasn't ready to spend $300 on something, so that narrowed down my choices drastically. I narrowed it down to Zend (I could get a nice discount because of a friend) and PHP Designer 2007.
I tried PHP Designer first, since Zend's site downloaded at <10 KB/S. I loved PHP Designer, there were a few quirks that I didn't like, including their upgrade policy and a few issues with the software itself. But I loved it, it certainly made coding easier.
Zend, was an entirely different story. I didn't see what warranted me to spend over 3x as much of what I would on PHP Designer. As soon as I load it up, the code window is tiny with all that crap they stick around it. I couldn't get the onclick function help to work correctly. Autocomplete was terribly slow, and even coding wasn't as pleasant when the builtin functions kicked in. The syntax highlighting was also unique to Zend. Everything I used previously used a different color scheme entirely. The builtin browser was a nice feature, and would certainly come in handy. I really wanted to love Zend, I really did. I know most professionals use it, and with that nice discount, I really wanted to purchase it, but I couldn't find a reason to...
Currently I am using PHP Designer and still trying to get use to it. I'll be using the trial until it expires, and most likely will be purchasing it.
So what do y'all use for coding? If you haven't used an IDE before, try it, I think you'll like the experience. :)