Eclipse vs NetBeans vs PhpStorm

12 years ago

Hello.
I am a great fan of Netbeans IDE, especially that I can work with a similar editor from my Windows & Linux box.

Major features:
Great PHP editor
Smart autosuggest
Error checking without false-positives
HTML, CSS autocompletion with relationship
GIT integration
Integrated History tab and local history (per file)

However, I hate the External Changes scanner (with hogs the CPU, especially when I have large projects) and also the memory usage (usually, between 1 and 2 GB).

Also, I use Eclipse for Java development, but that is only when I'm playing with android apps.

Thanks

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CyberSEO

12 years ago

Was using Eclipse PDT for a rather long time, but the 7th version of NetBeans feels more attractive to me.

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avjy27

12 years ago

netbeans is good............

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Byron Stuart

12 years ago

Sorry don't know anything about PhpStorm but I tried Eclipse a few years back and I just could not make any sense of it. Maybe it's just the way my brain is organized but to me Eclipse was almost completely counter intuitive, I had great difficulty understanding how to do most things in Eclipse.

On the other hand I find NetBeans quite logical and pretty easy to use. It's got a nice interface and it is constantly being updated and improved. If I could just work out how to integrate it with XAMPP then it would be even more powerful.

Thanks
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Brandon Tanner

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Byron Stuart

On the other hand I find NetBeans quite logical and pretty easy to use. It's got a nice interface and it is constantly being updated and improved. If I could just work out how to integrate it with XAMPP then it would be even more powerful.

I use Netbeans with XAMPP quite often and they work perfectly together. Here's how to set it up...

Installing and configuring PHP, Apache, and MySQL for PHP development in Windows

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GMF1

12 years ago

Also a NetBeans user. It just works. Tried Eclipse once, but it was just a clusterf***.
For quick editing, I usually use Notepad++.

Thanks

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Sodaware

12 years ago

I've used Aptana Studio (Aptana) in the past. It's based on Eclipse, so it's a little heavyweight. Netbeans is pretty good too. Nowadays I prefer Emacs - it's much quicker to start, although I miss the code hinting that Aptana & Netbeans provide.

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mojojuju

12 years ago

< Obligatory mention of vi goes here >

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genanovlis

12 years ago

For every occasional there is an awesome editor.

Once upon a time in a time long long away, I would program everything using pico and notepad (the successor, some geeks might know as nano). Notepad for my local code editing, and pico across the world of the net. As time went on I realized pico just couldn't do everything i needed. It could from line to line easily, it didn't have any complicated commands in it... But it was limited. Then I switched to vi, I realized it was quite a bit more powerful, though still not what I needed.

I then moved onto my love of vim, I discovered syntax hiliting! Oh how beautiful that was, I could even put my code into nice foldable blocks! It included quick regexp match changing, I could easily change the color scheme of it and write macros. One of the great things about vim is that it was even ported to windows, so on & more. For the longest time, I was happy with vim. It settled my needs of editing code in C, in php, javascript, you name it, it handled it.. So what could move me to another editor? Was simple, my days move more & more to web development & less of C & C++ development that needed to be over the shell. I no longer developed in the shell of a server 24/7. I tried notepad++, though honestly if I was going to use notepad++ on windows gvim was still a better match for me.

What did I need, what would improve my editing experience even more? Was it built in hex color picking? Could it of been an RCS system built into the editor itself, or would it of been built in php documentation to the editor and auto-completion and matching of functions? Or was it all of the above? Thats it, I wanted all of those feature & believe it or not, an editor I long since hated satisfied those needs for awhile, Dreamweaver. However, even dreamweaver had its flaw in it that I needed another editor for from time to time. I needed to be able to connect Xdebug to my remote server to do some php debugging at times. And no, Dreamweaver could not handle that. But what could? Netbeans! However, netbeans never felt completely right for me beyond that built in support of remote debugging using php XDebug.

Bottom line, lately I think I've fallen in love. PHPStorm feels right for me, it supports XDebug, the only thing it can't do for me is have the built in php documentation that dreamweaver supports. However, honestly.. I never used that much anyways, and the fact it allows me to handle git built in, that overrules DreamWeaver and the fact they only support one RCS system being subversion.

So whats my verdict of all these years of using editors? Well Now I'm on a Mac, so I'm constantly between 3. MacVim for quick edits (or vim when I'm in the shell), DreamWeaver (as most my projects are still in DW), and for al my git based projects I'm Using phpstorm.

Thanks

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wayfarer

12 years ago

I use Eclipse, because I need both PHP and Python support. I used to be a Netbeans affectionado, but the Python support in the newest Netbeans sucks. If you need a wide variety of support, Eclipse is one of the best choices you can make. If you won't stray far from the PHP/MySQL/HTML/CSS/JS world, your choice of editor isn't as important.

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HowardBeck

12 years ago

Basically,I'm using Dreamweaver in my PHP code.Dreamweaver is provide so many help for crating coding in PHP.This is best tool form other tools.

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GMF1 12 years ago

Originally Posted by HowardBeck

This is best tool form other tools.

Doubt it :p.
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anna14

12 years ago

NetBeans IDE is best for php developers

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jaasmit

12 years ago

Netbean is the best. This tool is enriched with so many features that is very handy and also makes it very simple to do whatever you want to do in php.

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Soren

12 years ago

Definitely Netbeans! Why? Because it's sexy, and it makes WP even sexier ;-)

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roxitsc

12 years ago

I actually use Aptana Studio 3.

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um1001 12 years ago
I often use Eclipse when coding PHP. Not that it particularly matters too much with PHP. The main reason I use it is I'm used to the IDE because it's practically a requirement for efficient Java coding (although some people can get along with IntelliJ or Netbeans...I find both of them to be awful for Java development).

Eclipse is a beast to learn but very nice once you get used to it. Almost as good as Visual Studio.

But without question, my favorite IDE is Visual Studio. It's just lovely to code in. It's also nice for javascript/JQuery and CSS now.

Here's the list of languages I know and what I code them with:
- Java - Eclipse (usually on my Mac)
- Python - vi (in a Linux environment)
- PHP - Eclipse (usually on my Mac)
- .NET (C#) - Visual Studio 2012
- Perl - vi (in a Linux environment)
I've tried Netbeans many times during it's lifetime but it always ends up letting me down for one reason or another. I'm sure it would work for general coding though.

By the way, if you want a copy of Visual Studio 2010 or 2012 and have a .edu email account, you can snag a free copy of software that is normally very expensive at DreamSpark.

edit - in case you couldn't tell, I have several computers
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sonia06

12 years ago

I don't bother with an IDE, I preffer a text editor . an IDE makes you lazy . without an IDE, you are forced to master the language

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um1001 12 years ago

Originally Posted by sonia06

I don't bother with an IDE, I preffer a text editor . an IDE makes you lazy . without an IDE, you are forced to master the language

I think I understand the point you're making: hand-coding forces you to learn the ins and outs of a language.

I think it's a broad statement though, as it really depends on a few factors: your willingness to truly understand the stuff an IDE is doing for you, the environment the language runs in (e.g., as a web application or on the command line or as a compiled executable), etc.

Hand-coding can make sense for some tasks but not others. For example, trying to make Windows desktop apps by hand would be a real pain. Same goes for complex graphics, etc. The libraries and integration with the IDE just make sense.

There is definitely something to be said for fully understanding the code but there's also no real reason to waste a ton of time reinventing the wheel or going all "hardcore" just for the sake of it.
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-- Jack Morrison / um1001
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sonia06

12 years ago

I agree working with an IDE is much more productive ( who doesn't ! )
but at least admit not using It is much more fun, I really feel the joy of programming without IDE

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mmrumii

12 years ago

My vote goes to netbeans
I prefer this one.

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najincanajwa

12 years ago

Eclipse is my choice, but because I didn't use other IDEs . Eclipse serves all my needs very well

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locke815

12 years ago

I would recommend Eclipse between this 3 but i personally use Dreamweaver to code PHP.

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bplaza

12 years ago

Eclipse.
We can debug the code. Also for Java developers, it is easy to work.

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codefish

11 years ago

I don't think that the IDE makes you lazy when developing in php. If you make a Java or C++ GUI application, yes, the IDE generates lot of code and you might really not understand all of it, but php?!?
And how do you debug with simple text editor - echo(...)?!?
What about typo errors?

Netbeans is easier to use and configure than Eclipse, but if you code for Android or Adobe Air, then it is better to use Eclipse if you don't want to learn 2 IDEs

Thanks

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Mike Ogbin

11 years ago

I use Dreamweaver CS6 for html, css, php and mysql, also interested in Fluid grid system that contains.

Also use NetBeans and Eclipse for PHP

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ocaswiz

11 years ago

It depends on what do you need. I need
- syntax highlighting
- code suggestion
- dark code theme

so I'm fine with eclipse. When developing wordpress, I just need to import the whole wordpress folder and it will autocomplete all wp functions. Seems cool enough for me. I have never tried netbeans before.

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admin@subashseo.com

11 years ago

Net beans are good to use and am also using that only.

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activeseo

11 years ago

PHPstorm is what I'm using, so much easier to write, realtime debug is just awesome.

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umrbd

11 years ago

If you are talking about PHP than I don't think that their is anything comparable with netbeans. With great user interface, fully powered auto suggest feature, option to include libraries, ease of managing projects, connecting with different services netbeans makes you to code.

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rawdev

11 years ago

I've been using Sublime Text 2 lately. I've used many of the above mentioned, a lot of them feel so slow. Sublime Text 2, with a couple of plugins (google search 'sublime text 2 php'). Free to try, you'll love the speed.

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neverlastn

11 years ago

PHPStorm by far. It's the only one that will index your code that quickly. Really awesome productivity tool. Eclipse + Netbeans are free... They are really cool. I prefer NetBeans to Eclipse because it's faster.