Review - NuSphere's PHPEd

PHPEd At A Glance

Pros:

• Tightly integrated support and functionality for MySQL databases
• Great built-in debugging and stepping features, which makes debugging your PHP scripts a breeze
• Auto-complete function name suggestions and function parameter listings
• Built-in FTP manager for opening remote files quickly and easily
• Installs and automatically configures Apache, PHP and MySQL

Cons:

• A tad on the expensive (and ironic) side for an IDE that supports a scripting language released under the GPL
• When I ran PHPEd on my Windows 2000 machine it crashed 4 times over the 6 hours that I was testing it

Conclusion

Who's it for?

PHPEd is a great IDE for quickly and easily creating PHP scripts that incorporate MySQL data basing functionality. If you're looking for an IDE that will allow several developers to easily work on one project together, or even a tool just to help you get things done quicker, then PHPEd is definitely for you.

I would recommend it to anyone who has around 3-6 months experience with PHP and MySQL, and is looking for a way to combine the advanced functionality of phpMyAdmin, a slick debugger and a handy IDE into one complete package.

Overall Rating

Overall, I give PHPEd eight stars out of ten.

Pricing

PHPEd comes in two flavors: PHPEd, which retails for USD $299, and PHPEd Advantage, which retails for USD $495.

For more information on PHPEd or to purchase, visit the site.