Integrated Development Environment or what is popularly known as IDE among programmers is an amazing software application that that speeds up the process of development with its compilers, interpreters, code editor and completion tools. Having an IDE accelerates your development activities and most of the IDE’s on the internet come at a premium price ranging from $100-$500. If you are not inclined to invest that amount of money on getting an IDE, CodeLobster is one free PHP development IDE that you must definitely consider.
Introducing CodeLobster PHP Edition
CodeLobster PHP edition is a free IDE for Windows and it offers multi-functional portable IDE framework that supports PHP/HTML/JAVASCRIPT/CSS and much more. With its auto-complete features for HTML/JAVACRIPT/CSS and PHP, you can easily simplify your development process. Code validation is also pretty simple in CodeLobster, as it automatically configures files in accordance to your system and your settings.
CodeLobster supports many major Content management systems like Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, codeIgniter and much more.
Features of CodeLobster PHP Edition
Although we will be primarily looking at the free, lite and pro versions of CodeLobster, we won’t be covering the exhaustive list of CodeLobster’s features, but only the ones that are worth mentioning across all of them.
HTML/CSS/JAVASCRIPT/PHP Editor
CodeLobster comes with all the standard code editing abilities with the basic free version. It comes with a code editor for PHP/HTML/CSS and JavaScript. The HTML/CSS toolbar and code inspector makes it easy for developers to find their HTML styling elements which are buried deep inside the page. The HTML/CSS code folding allows collapsible code.
PHP debugger
CodeLobster comes with an advanced PHP debugger that makes it easy for developers to debug applications in the development stages. By simply heading to (Tools -> Preferences -> Debugger), you can debug your PHP code for error.
HTML/CSS/Advanced PHP Auto-complete
Auto-complete is a great feature for developers to expedite their development activities. CodeLobster’s auto-complete makes it easy for developers to auto-complete tags, attributes, keywords, style properties and values for HTML/CSS and JavaScript. For PHP, it features and advanced PHP auto-complete feature that includes a wide set of code competition listings. Many classes, variables, functions and keywords are supported for auto-complete in CodeLobster.
Option for extending with plugins
If you ever choose to upgrade from a free to pro version, you will be presented with many plugins for Joomla, WordPress, Jquery and codeigniter. The function definitions are added to the IDE, making auto-complete valid on these networks too. The plugins make the IDE aware of the frameworks you are currently working on based on your inputs.
SQL manager with lite version
Both the lite and the pro version come with SQL manager built-in that makes creating and managing database easier. SQL auto completion, structure and data editing are possible with SQL manager on CodeLobster.
Pricing details of CodeLobster PHP edition
The software comes in three versions:
Free –The free version comes with almost everything that you would expect from a professional IDE.
Lite – The light version costs $39.95 and it includes SQL manager, code validator and some more features.
Pro –The Pro version comes in at $119.95 and it includes everything in the Lite version, plus it includes few ready-to-use premium plugins for Drupal, jQuery, WordPress, etc.
Conclusion
If you particularly not looking for some expensive software for your development activities, CodeLobster is a great alternative to take full advantage of an integrated development environment. You would have no qualms with its free version as it features support that one wouldn’t expect out-of-the-box from free software.
You can simply get started with a great IDE experience for free with CodeLobster.
Our Rating – 4.5 out of 5
Pros
free, easy to use, great features, nice syntax highlighting, preview feature. could become number one ide software
Cons
i love the program but it keeps crashing once in a while. rare but still does. may be once in a month.
I’m use Notepad++ and it’s enough to keep all of PHP code in updates.
I had worked in joomla, wordpress and drupal content management systems and also having knowledge in HTML, CSS, JS and PHP. So i able to understand what you are conveying which will be easy for every one to understand.