Eclipse PDT vs. NetBeans for PHP development [closed] Eclipse PDT vs. NetBeans for PHP development [closed] php php

Eclipse PDT vs. NetBeans for PHP development [closed]


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.


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/


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.