Everybody has their own IDE of choice with Sublime Text seemingly the most popular at the moment. A good IDE should be solid, stable software with full features and UX which leaves you, the coder, freedom to concentrate on the job in hand.
My personal favourite is phpDesigner 8. Although this is proprietary software, it has all the features needed for PHP and JavaScript devs. Included in the package is debugging, code beutifying and auto-completion. What I most like about it is that it comes complete in one install package and there is no need for modification.
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phpDesigner is for Windows but it is easy to install on Linux or a Mac if you use a Windows emulator like Wine.
Eclipse has been around for several years and is a particular favourite with Java programmers. It is also possible to customise Eclipse for use with PHP and JavaScript.
I just set up a version up on my desktop but I had a lot of problems along the way. Like a typical open source project, the online documentation is poor. Here is how I installed it.
Firstly, download the latest version of Eclipse here. Make sure you download the JavaScript devs version.
Now you will need to install the Aptana plugin. Visit the Aptana website and follow the instructions.
Next, you'll need to add some more plugins.
Go to this article here and at the bottom download the attachment. Follow the instructions in the article about how to install the file.
My advice would be to deal with one plugin at a time rather than all together at once. Beware, some take a long time to download and install. Once you have installed all the addons go to “help” > “check for updates” in the Eclipse menu. Again, this may take some time so go make yourself a cup of tea.
After you have achieved all of the above you now have Eclipse modified for PHP and JavaScript development installed on your OS.
