There are many tools available for developing web applications, but if you use Linux, the situation is dramatically changed. There are only few compared to other platforms.
First of all, I will only write about the tools that i use / have used, so that you can’t be upset if I haven’t mentioned great tool that you use. 😀
As any good IDE, it should contain at least the following features:
* Code highlight
* Code completion
* FTP support
* SVN support
* Some sort of “quick view” that will list all classes, methods, constants(,…) in a file
And as a commonly needed bonus:
* JavaScript support with at least code highlight and code completion
Personally, on Linux platform I used Eclipse for PHP, as primary IDE. It has almost everything you can imagine and could look for in IDE. If maybe something isn’t included in package, it can be downloaded / installed through included feature “Install new software”. To make a long story short – anything you wish you can find in software that has been developing for more than 6 years now (I really couldn’t find the exact date), and that overcomed all the “child diseases”.
On the other hand there’s new player in IDE world on Linux, it’s the PhpStorm (currently in version 1.0). I’ve been using it for a week now, and as somewhat experienced user, I find it much better than Eclipse. It’s just amasing how responsive it is. On all includes, no matter how deep, auto completion works flawlessly. And not only that – it has the best Javascript IDE I have ever seen already included. Work with huge amount of files (10000+) is quite pleasant as nobody would expect. It has only one flaw – it’s not free, it costs $149 for corporate license and $49, but in my opinion, it worths more than that.
Aptana Studio is the third tool that I’d like to mention, although I haven’t used it, I hear its great.
I didn’t go into depths of how and why, but I thought I’d rather give my view on the matter.
If anyone have an opinion, feel free to leave a comment.
