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How does Eclipse PDT compare to NetBeans for PHP development?

I just bought a new computer with Windows 7 and I'm starting to set up a development environment for PHP. Has anyone used both IDEs lately and could make a quick comparison? If you know what major frameworks are supported, that would be great too.

Sajad Bahmani
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Derek
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    There are a lot of posts on stackoverflow comparison Netbean with Eclipse. http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=netbean+eclipse+comparison – Yada Dec 14 '09 at 19:46
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    But not in the context of PHP development. – Derek Dec 14 '09 at 19:49

7 Answers7

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Yes, I switched from Eclipse to Netbeans for PHP development quite recently. And I have to admit - I like NetBeans better. It seems to me more lightweight and stable. It certainly loads faster. And code completion seems to be much better than in Eclipse - it doesn't fail so often, and you can insert hint-comments wherever you wish to specify the types of your variables. Also NetBeans IDE is much simpler than Eclipse. It's probably not as powerful (and it could definately use a few more configuration options), but on the other hand, Eclipse was downright intimidating with its complex system.

Put it this way - if you come from a Windows background (like me), go for NetBeans. If you're a Linux/Unix fan, you'll feel right at home with Eclipse.

Vilx-
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    I think work with Netbeans in Linux/Unix yummy. – Sajad Bahmani Dec 14 '09 at 20:02
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    I don't mean that you can't use NetBeans on Linux or Eclipse on Windows. It's just that NetBeans is closer to the Windows mindset, while Eclipse has more of Linux mentality. – Vilx- Dec 14 '09 at 20:03
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    I would disagree with the Eclipse/Linux mentality. I like netbeans in both linux and windows.. I never liked Eclipse, and I've been a longtime primary user of Linux. – monksy Dec 14 '09 at 20:14
  • Php development in Netbeans is the best the thing I've come across 2 years ago when I was looking for a decent IDE for a large scale php project. Go for it – CoolStraw Apr 18 '11 at 10:07
  • What versions were you comparing and what PHP plugin were you using? – Casebash Sep 22 '11 at 01:07
  • This was answered two years ago. I don't remember what the top versions were back then, but I used the latest. I think it might have been Eclipse: Galileo vs NetBeans 6.7, but I'm not sure. – Vilx- Sep 22 '11 at 07:45
  • I'm using Windows 7. I found Eclipse to be very functional, but it was slow and clunky, and suffers from a (dealbreaker) bug where typing within a PHP region on a large file is DOG SLOW (like 1 character per second). Searches online found others with the problem and no solution (other than "make your file smaller", which is a sad response). Anyhow, I then tried Netbeans and am SO SO SO happy with it. It's fast, works great, and I've yet to find any issues with it! Very happy. – Travitron May 06 '12 at 11:41
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I switched to NetBeans after version 7.0 has been released. It's faster, more lightweight and code completion is better. Its easier to configure and looks like everithing just works, in Eclipse you need to deal with complex configuration, and I wanted to focus on coding. But they are both good.

I compared them, you can read more on http://dev.umpirsky.com/eclipse-vs-netbeans-for-php-development/

umpirsky
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Eclipse PHP (PDT) does not come with a working debugger out-of-the-box. You have to download and install at least 2 or 3 other fussy open-source components to make that work. I've never tried NetBeans, but, if you need debugging (stepping through code) and you don't have several days to work through the environment setup hell of Eclipse, that might be the way to go.

Alex R
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I use Eclipse first and work friendly with this .Next I use Netbeans for Java and I use it completely in java and uninstall Eclipse . Next time that I need work with PHP I use Netbeans for this goal and I understood Netbeans code completion better than Eclipse also code highlighting but build , compile,debug and run are better in Eclipse and I think Netbeans increase feature and functionality in future .

Sajad Bahmani
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Advantage of eclipse is that I can code in PHP and perl in the same project.

Fernando André
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I downloaded NetBeans IDE 6.9.1, just to compare against eclipse PDT 2.2.0 to edit PHP projects on CVS.

Eclipse can appear complex and difficult to setup, however, by downloading eclipse PDT all-in-one it is easiest to unzip it and start using it.

I'm surprised about how fast and light weighted NetBeans is, you can realize how fast it is immediately.

I still like eclipse on the way how it does and shows stuff, but NetBeans has a crispy design.

They both are really good options regardless of Linux or Windows OS.

Jorge Merino - jmerinoh
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Frankly - I don't know which is better or worse; I've worked with Eclipse ... it was required by the College I attend for the JAVA course -it worked great for that and I quickly understood how to manipulate the project to store "everything" related to the class, including PDF files and Word Documents.

When it comes to PHP -well, I can't seem to get XDebug to function with Eclipse. Not even sure I know why at this point. I installed NetBeans and had no problems interfacing with XDebug for PHP ... so I'm torn. There are aspects that I like about both of these applications -and things I don't like, mostly cosmetic things. Like where they write their project data -and about renaming or moving project data ... I've had a bugger of a time with Eclipse -and not as much trouble with 'Beans.

Robert J. Sherman
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