14 DAY TRIAL // An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) represents a group of programs that runs from a single graphical user interface, having the purpose to simplify the programmers work in applications development. Regarding web development, there are many IDEs available for creation of various applications types in different web programming languages such as PHP, ASP, Perl and more.
IDEs are usually made for use in combination with a single programming language. But most of IDEs used in web development offer support for more that one web programming language. Every IDE contains mainly a code editor, a debugger and source code (files) management and maintenance tools such as code completion, templates, syntax highlighting and more.
In comparison with a simple source code editor, an IDE for PHP (respectively any other programming language) will simplify your work and will make it more efficient. Zend Studio is an IDE dedicated to PHP project development and management. It provides support for all PHP versions, JavaScript, CSS and HTML for code creation, debugging, version control and provides also access to other tools like Zend Platform, which offers the possibility to improve the applications performance and stability. Besides performance issues control, Zend Platform allows you to interact with remote web servers.
phpDesigner 2008 is another powerful tool for web sites and applications development. It represents a fully customizable IDE that provides a friendly environment both for beginners and advanced users. From the many features offered, I will mention intelligent syntax highlighting (different source code highlighting as a function of programming language), extensive help for PHP functions, simple integration of any PHP framework. There are also other important features of phpDesigner 2008 that were not mentioned here, but generally, it will make easier the mixing of other languages (Ruby, C#, Perl, SQL, Python) in PHP projects development.
Even PHP source code or any other type can be written using a text editor like Notepad or a simple PHP code editor with syntax highlighting, IDEs will show you another perspective in projects deployment and management regarding the achievement of optimal results in the shortest time.