I really like Eclipse as a Java IDE, I do! :D

However I’m getting really tired of having a different IDE for each language I am working with, no matter how cool those IDEs might be. Different display conventions, different keyboard shortcuts, different project browsing… :(

Microsoft sure has this right with their Visual Studio where you use an as-uniform-as-can-be IDE no matter what language you use: C++, C#, VB… Hum well, the problem is that it’s a) quite expensive (unless you’re completely commited to .NET and have an MSDN subscription anyway) and b) best suited to Microsoft supported languages. Java and PHP poorly qualify for this… :-/

The really nice thing that I found out today is that Eclipse is actually really beggining to become a common IDE even outside of the Java world! B)

As a matter of fact, I found no less than TWO very promising extensions for PHP:

Both of these are open source and have the minimal you could expect: PHP syntax coloring. TruStudio also supports Python and integrates a complete debugger interface. However I prefer PHPEclipse because it already has code completion where TruStudio only has contextual help.

Anyhow, it’s very difficult to choose between both implementations so far since they both have pros and cons. You have to try them out both. Installation and removal are straightforward (just unzip or delete folders from the plugins directory). You’ll also find out that you cannot use both at the same time (one PHP editor will disable the other one).

Those products will surely be very nice to use when they mature… but in the meantime they just add to the mess of finding the right IDE that does everything you need and does it right…

Comments from long ago:

Comment from: Kochise

Try Crimson Editor, you can even create your own syntax file : http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

It’s nice, fast, effective, and free ;)

Kochise

2003-11-17 11-08

Comment from: Erick Sasse - Tecnofilia

Eclipse para PHPEclipse para PHP, Eclipse para todo mundo!…

2003-11-17 11-15

Comment from: François PLANQUE

It’s nice, fast, effective, and free… but it’s still not an IDE. No code completion, no code outlining…

2003-11-17 11-17

Comment from: dAniel

I’ll make another suggestion: jEdit!

just wanted sth better than Ultraedit and it suits my needs very well.. there are a lot of Plugins, for different purposes and all is free.

I’m using 4.2pre6 since about two weeks now.

Unfortunately there is no PHP code completion - or I did not find it, as I did not search for that..

It requires Java Runtime and is very portable due to that.. but not as slow as I assumed..

Worth a try for sure!

2003-11-23 23-33

Comment from: ViMan

Let’s burn all these stuff !!!

Be a man ! Use Vi !!!

B)

2004-06-09 18-05

Comment from: Emi Leiser

I’m also interested in PHP plugins under Eclipse and keep an eye on both PHPEclipse and TruStudio. A few months ago I would say that PHPEclipse is better, but now it seems to have no chance against TruStudio. I’m waiting impatiently of trustudio 1.0 final or at least RC release, when all the features will be available.

2004-07-27 20-47