For Those That Edit Html/php/java

[ksigmtsu]

I didn't know about this wonderful visual editing suite until recently, so I thought I'd share it with those that don't know about it.

Netbeans Welcome to NetBeans is a visual editing program (not a wysiwyg editor like dreamweaver) made for hand editing html, php, java, javascript, c++, and other languages. What makes it unique, it provides visual debugging assistance, shows errors in syntax, and creates backup files when updating files. It also syncs with the ftp of your server internally, so when you edit instead of editing the file, then going to ftp the updates, and make a backup, you just edit the file and save, it makes a .old of the last edit, connects to the ftp, and sends the file.

It can do way more things than I can use it for. To top it off, its a free download.

The most painful part is installing all your sites, because it will go download every file in them and build the tree, but that can take a while.

 

[LuckyFace]

well, looks like another helpful 'all in 1' tool here.. could save some time,
especially the ftp thing

 

[VolAgent]

well, looks like another helpful 'all in 1' tool here.. could save some time,
especially the ftp thing

Do you ever have anything intelligent to say?

 

[Guest]

Integrated development tools are great if you are writing code for a specific platform such as M$ dot net or Apple iOS. You really MUST have them because they generate so much of the necessary "grunt work" code for you in order to get a visual interface from the device.

However, if you are writing for the web via HTML, often a plain old "smart" text editor works well. I use TextWrangler for that (runs on Mac... here are a bunch for Windows.)

Don't ever write PHP or Javascript or HTML using a word processor. Always use a text editor.

Al

 

[ksigmtsu]

Netbeans is great for php java and html because it warns for all syntax errors in the line count and file tree.

Reduces syntax errors to near 0. Logic errors still happen tho, of course.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It also runs on windows, mac, linux, and solarus. Its a java program, so any os that can parse java can run it.

 

[Guest]

Netbeans is great for php java and html because it warns for all syntax errors in the line count and file tree.

Reduces syntax errors to near 0. Logic errors still happen tho, of course.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It also runs on windows, mac, linux, and solarus. Its a java program, so any os that can parse java can run it.

Netbeans has been around forever. I think Novell developed it. I'm told Eclipse (originated by IBM I believe) is a better IDE (integrated development environment.) Check it out.

Both of them had a reputation of being a nightmare to install... and full of bugs. Probably easier now.

An IDE does have syntax correction and auto-completion which is nice for a platform that is truly object oriented (OO) like Java or dot net or Objective-C. However, PHP is pseudo-OO and HTML is not OO at all. Many coders who (eventually) learn the language find IDEs just get in their way and slow them down when doing PHP or HTML.

I wrote 200,000 lines of PHP using a plain old text editor like Notepad. It was that or fight with the install and buggyness of the IDEs at the time. After a while you learn the functions and their parms so that the code will flow. However, had there been an IDE that I liked I probably would have used one.

These days the IDE has morphed into what is called Code Frameworks. Take a look at things like Cake and Code Igniter for PHP. There many others.

Sometimes the tool becomes more difficult to learn than the problem you are trying to solve with it!!!

 

[ksigmtsu]

Not sure who the original dev team was, oracle has it now. I see what youre saying about ides being sometimes harder to use, this one in particular does make things easier for me.

 

[Alston]

Netbeans Welcome to NetBeans is a visual editing program (not a wysiwyg editor like dreamweaver)

Dreamweaver isn't just a WYSIWYG editor. It also has a decent visual editing program. You just have to click on the right tab. You can also split the screen so that you can see both the WYSIWYG and the code at the same time.

God bless anyone who regularly codes hundreds of lines of code with Notepad.

I have done it, but if you miss a semicolon or forget to close a bracket in the middle of your code, debugging can be time consuming.

I like Dreamweaver. It doesn't code for you by any means, but it makes it easier to indent parts of your code, hide parts of your code and ftp your documents. It can also change the font color of comments and make suggestions.

The only thing I don't like is the price and the fact that you can't search upwards in the document. (I can't believe that you have always been able to search up or down in Notepad and Dreamweaver hasn't incorporated that into CS5.)

Dreamweaver is a little cheaper if you can get the education discount. My wife is in the school system, so I didn't pay full price.

 

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

I use Textmate (Mac only). It gives me all of the good stuff of an IDE while keeping the simplicity of a text editor.

TextMate

 

[csi_patrick]

Think I will stick with my trusted Notepad++. Does everything I need it to do, and has slick code hi-lighting.