PhpStorm

If you ask a dozen developers why they make use of an integrated development environment (IDE), they may give you a dozen answers, but the subtext will likely be the same. IDEs allow programmers to spend less time doing the tedious work, notice minor errors before they become catastrophic mistakes, and integrate more easily with outside sources like Git. PhpStorm is one of the better PHP-based IDEs around. Yes, the developers behind this platform understand the fundamentals of the language intimately, but they also seem to understand the methodology of the coders who make their livings writing in PHP, and that's reflected in the design and features of PhpStorm. If you're a coder, you're going to spend a majority of your time in the code editor, and the quality of this editor will likely have a major effect on your attitudes towards the IDE. Fortunately, the editor here is exceedingly well designed. PhpStorm is always updated in step with new versions of PHP to include all the features you expect from the language's latest release. This commitment to staying fresh is reflected in the code completion and code formatting features which are regularly updated to stay in line with new changes to etiquette and syntax that comes with each release. PHPStorm's code formatting system allows you to choose the formatting style that you prefer. Whether you pick Zend, Drupal, or Symfony2, PhpStorm will work hard to make sure all of your scripts are compliant. Meanwhile, code completion automatically finishes out classes, variable names, and keywords for you. Other quality of life features include the ability to create classes you've forgotten to outline after the testing phase has already been set and inline function and method refactoring. Once it comes time to make sure that your code runs like you expected, you can comfortably fall back on PhpStorm's debugging and testing tools. You can remotely debug your PHP code through your server to make sure your back end design works as smoothly as it should, and unit tests that you've developed within the PhpStorm interface can be saved for later and run whenever you desire. While PHP alone may be able to efficiently cover your back end needs, chances are whatever your project entails is going to need some front end components as well. PhpStorm offers an editor for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making it easy to create a full stack system with unified utilities throughout. This front end editor is DOM based and supports the specifics of many of the most popular browsers around. Testing and editing don't happen in a vacuum. You can edit your code while your content is displayed and then see the results change in real time. PhpStorm won't just recognize errors and alert them to you, it will fill you in on the most likely source of and solution to the problem at hand.

One of the best IDE you will find. I've been working with PHPStorm for about 6 years now and still love this powerful development environment. This tool saves me a lot of time and frustration. I really feel like the developers know what they are doing. Every invested Euro is well invested here!