

They aren't traditional IDEs, but they can fit the bill beautifully when customised correctly. Remember our Swiss army knife analogy from earlier? I think it's even more applicable here! Sublime Text 3, Coda 2, and Atom are excellent examples of these types of IDEs. So why include them at all in our list? Well, these particular editors have become extremely popular for web development and have strong user communities behind them which have driven forward an entire array of packages, extensions, and add-ons that actually go a long way to transforming them from just editors into very usable IDEs. You may have noticed that some of the 'IDEs' we'll be covering in this tutorial aren't really IDEs at all, at first glance, but are editors masquerading as IDEs. The more features from the above list that are built in to an application, or available as an add-on, the closer it comes to being an IDE.

And if you asked a dozen different developers for their must-have IDE features, you'd likely get widely varying responses. There aren't any hard and fast rules as to what defines an IDE exactly.
#PHPSTORM VS CODA 2 FULL#
These project settings can include references to external software libraries, editor setup, version control, and debugging preferences.ĭeciding which IDE to use is very subjective as it really depends on the features you're looking for, but some of the features you might expect to find in a full IDE could include: Even if an editor is capable of editing more than one file, it may not support creating a project file that encompasses an entire folder full of files, together with settings specific to that project.
#PHPSTORM VS CODA 2 CODE#
Unlike most editors, an IDE usually has support for full projects rather than being able to deal with individual source code files. Look at it as a Swiss army knife of software development! Everything you need is just there, on hand, to help you get the job done. An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, build automation tools and a debugger.īreaking this down, this basically means an IDE is a programming environment you can use to develop software without having to leave the interface. What's an IDE Anyway?Īccording to Wikipedia, an IDE is defined as: An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. But first, let's find out what exactly what we mean by an IDE. Soon we'll take a closer look at each one of our five IDEs in turn, to see how they can help you develop WordPress based projects. In this article, I'll hopefully help make this choice a little easier by covering five of the top web development IDEs currently available. Too much choice can initially seem like a disadvantage. If you're new to coding in WordPress then it can be a little daunting deciding which IDEs to take a look at. What have you got to lose? If it results in a workflow boost then it's definitely worth your while! However, it may well pay off trying out an alternative once in a while. If you're used to using the same IDE for every project and it works for you then you may see no reason to use an alternative. Which IDE you end up using for a particular project is largely a personal choice. This abundance of choice is great as it means you're almost certain to find one that suits the way you work and includes just the right set of features you're looking for. Some are pretty basic by default, while others do almost everything you want right out of the box. (We'll come to the distinction between an IDE and an editor shortly.) There's certainly no shortage of choice these days, with literally dozens of different editors/IDEs available. I've been developing with WordPress for around ten years now and, during that time, have used my fair share of Integrated Development Environments (IDEs).
