Best 5 tools for PHP developers in 2022

PHP supports a wide range of tools that makes web development hassle-free and smooth for the developers. Here are the best 5 tools every PHP developer in Australia and around the world must use in 2022. 

 

One thing that these pandemic days have made businesses realise is that every business essentially needs to have a solid presence on the internet if it wants to achieve the desired goals. And if you are one of those business owners who still doesn’t have a website or web app built then it's time to look for reliable and experienced resources to get it done as soon as possible. However, when it comes to web development, there’s no better choice than PHP technology. 

 

PHP is a general-purpose, open-source, server-side programming language that supports a wide range of tools, IDEs, and frameworks to make the development process simpler and faster. But choosing the right tools from the list of the latest ones is important to leverage advanced features and create a better web solution. 

 

Here’s the list of the best 5 tools every PHP developer in Australia and around the world must use in 2022. 

 

Cloud9:

Cloud9 is one of the best PHP development tools. It is open-source in nature and is one of the IDE or Integrated Development Environments that supports a plethora of programming languages and coding technologies apart from PHP like JavaScript, Python, C++, C, and more. Using this tool, PHP developers can begin coding immediately using the pre-configured coding environment and build websites or web apps with features like browser compatibility testing, live preview, and more. Using the Cloud9 tool, programmers can collaborate with the other team members using its collaborative coding features. This is one of the most popular and advanced PHP development tools that is used to create and execute serverless websites and debug the same remotely by enabling developers to code directly in their browsers. Features of Cloud9:

• Built-in image editor
• Code reformatting
• Tabbed file management
• Integrated debugger
• Real-time language analysis 
• Platforms supported are Linux, Windows, Solaris, and Mac OS. 

 

Codelobster:

This is another amazing PHP development IDE that makes coding an efficient task for developers. Codelobster supports almost all the PHP frameworks like Symfony, CodeIgniter, Laravel, CakePHP, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento. With this tool, you won’t have to remember the names of the attributes, functions, tags, and arguments as it helps to implement all these with its autocomplete features for CSS< PHP, HTML, and JavaScript. With the built-in PHP debugger of Codelobster, you can also validate the codes easily and quickly. Codelobster supports most CMS s like Drupal, Magento, WordPress, and Joomla. Features of Codelobster:

• SQL manager
• Autocompleting of DOM elements, keywords, and their properties
• Function parameters display
• Syntax highlighting
• Code validator
• Platforms supported - Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Windows, Mac OS, Mint, and Fedora. 

 

Sublime text:

With the custom UI toolkit, this PHP development tool proves to be one of the most developer-friendly IDEs in 2022. Sublime text is a cross-platform and highly customizable source code editor that natively supports many markup and programming languages. Features of Sublime text are:

• Distract-free mode
• Plugin API
• Instant project switch
• Better command palette
• Split Editing 
• Platforms supported are Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. 

 

Eclipse:

Eclipse is a complete web development tool that gives the liberty to choose from the wide range of plugins that simplify the PHP codes, proving to be another very developer-friendly tool. It also helps developers easily customise and extend the IDE to meet the project requirements and client preferences. Furthermore, Eclipse supports both non-GUI and GUI web applications and is an ideal tool for large-scale web development projects as well. Apart from just PHP, the tool supports plenty of other programming languages like Perl, Ruby, C, C++, COBOL, Haskel, JavaScript, Ada, ABAP, Java, Julia, Fortran, Python, Lasso, Scala, Erland, Scheme, Groovy, Clojure, and many more. Features of Eclipse:

• Code templates
• Code navigation
• Code formatting
• Syntax highlighting
• Content assist
• Platforms supported are Solaris, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. 

 

Aptana Studio:

Aptana Studio is an open-source IDE or tool that is used for integration with several server-side and client-side web development technologies like Ruby on Rails, PHP, HTML, Python, and more. The tool supports a CLI or Command-line interface and debuggers for making it easy for the developers to debug websites or web apps. Aptana Studio allows developers to develop and thereafter test the websites or web apps in a unified environment. It comes with FTP, SFTP, and IDE customisations and includes a broad range of amazing features for increasing the developer’s productivity. Features of Aptana Studio:

• IDE customisation
• Git integration and in-built terminal
• Supports the latest HTML specification
• Set breakpoints, inspect variables, and control execution
• Collaboration with peers through the pull, push, and merge actions
• Platforms supported are Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and Plugin for Eclipse. 

 

Each tool mentioned here above in this article is packed with some amazing features that ensure make web development a seamless task for the developers. However, these are not the only tools available in the market and there are many more that developers can use as per their project requirements. 

Jonathan Paul is a highly experienced and proficient PHP developer in Australia, associated with one of the leading PHP development companies, PHPProgrammers. The author has written this article to list out the best 5 tools PHP developers must use for competitive and effortless web development in 2022.