MacOS X PHP Editors

September 7, 2008 | 20:44

Are ten a penny. And ever since TextWrangler doesn’t seem to do the job properly and I’m no real fan of vi (I use it every now and then for quick fixes), I’m in desperate need of a good PHP editor for my Mac. And here are the candidates:

  • BBEdit / TextWrangler
  • Coda
  • XCode
  • Dreamweaver
  • skEdit
  • WebScripter
  • Eclipse / PHPEclipse
  • TextMate
  • Aptana Studio
  • jEdit
  • SubEthaEdit
  • TacoHTMLEdit
  • Smultron

BBEdit is just too expensive. 129 bucks for an editor is pretty heavy, although it features autocompletion, suggests variables while typing, but it doesn’t recognize self written funtions and classes. In combination with that price tag not the best choice.
TextWrangler is BBEdit’s little brother, freeware and does not feature autocompletion, function suggestion, but highlights PHP functions.

Not as pricy as BBEdit, Coda seems to be real good alternative. Autocompletion, but doesn’t suggest variables, especially not global ones like $_POST or $_SESSION.

XCode is actual an Objective C IDE, designed for creating Mac OS X apps, and therefore unsuitable for programming in PHP, no autocompletion, no nothing - by default. XCode can in fact be modified to understand PHP, but I want a native solution.

Dreamweaver, in my opinion, is more a tool to create HTML than anything else. Although it features a good PHP IDE, it feels overloaded and bloated with features no mortal will ever use and in combination with a pricetag of 400 bucks not the best choice either.

skEdit is a lightweight editor for many languages, features autocompletion, suggests self written functions, and everything else you could possibly want from an IDE, seems like a good choice.

WebScripter looks and feels like BBEdit, with half the price.

I used to work with Eclipse back in 2004, and it features everything from autocompletion to SVN checkout, the lot. Eclipse is anything else than lightweight, and can’t handle PHP proper by default, so you’ll need the plugin PHPEclipse, which is also freeware. Not a lightweight IDE, but the all-in-one device suitable for all purposes.

TextMate is featherlight editor, speaks a lot of languages, and features autocompletion.

Aptana Studio starts with a slow download, continues with a slow Installation and an starts even slower. It doesn’t recognize PHP by default, but Aptana has a plugin ready for you. not the best choice.

jEdit is a Java application, looks like one and feels not made for Mac. Features a lot of functions but no autocompletion.

SubEthaEdit is a good editor for many languages, features online collaborating with others, misses autocompletion.

TacoHTMLEdit is a neat editor, features autocompletion, was freeware and now costs 25 bucks.

Smultron is a better TextWrangler, features autocompletion, suggests variables (globals too), good choice.

So many editors and I tried to test them all. And it seems that there is only one freeware editor that features autocompletion, is lightweight and high-performance, and its name is Smultron!

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