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Zend Studio: Worth the Money?
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:29 am
by CPA050507
Hi,
I've been dabbling with PHP at home for a few years now, but we're about to start gearing up with it here at work.
I've had really bad luck lately buying software and books that either didn't fit my needs or simply weren't worth the money.
I've been seeing a lot about Zend on the web lately, and am considering buying either the standard or professional edition.
Are there any users here who have experience with this product?
Is it worth the investment?
Thanks,
CPA
Re: Zend Studio: Worth the Money?
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:37 am
by chrys
CPA050507 wrote:Hi,
I've been dabbling with PHP at home for a few years now, but we're about to start gearing up with it here at work.
I've had really bad luck lately buying software and books that either didn't fit my needs or simply weren't worth the money.
I've been seeing a lot about Zend on the web lately, and am considering buying either the standard or professional edition.
Are there any users here who have experience with this product?
Is it worth the investment?
Thanks,
CPA
A lot of people recommend it. I am going to download it at some point.
Re: Zend Studio: Worth the Money?
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:19 pm
by MikeCoughlin
CPA050507 wrote:I've had really bad luck lately buying software and books that either didn't fit my needs or simply weren't worth the money.
Purchasing luck stems from investigation (the due dilligence) ... reading existing reviews - on review sites and Amazon etc.
As a starting point, here's a worthwhile PHP IDE review site:
http://www.php-editors.com/review/
/Mike
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:31 pm
by CPA050507
Thanks.
The reviews seem to be in extreme "love it/hate it" camps.
I especially want to do a PHP/Flash thing here at work, and I'm already having troubles with the AMFPHP (though it works fine at home on on the homepage).
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:33 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Given it's power it's very worth the license fee.
I've not used it on windows but in linux it's very impressive. It has way more features than I realistically use but it's nice to know they are there. If you haven't used it try the free trial and get a feel for it.
One drawback is that if you don't have half-decent specs on your machine it is a bit slow since it's written in Java

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:36 pm
by CPA050507
So you're using it, D11?
Are you using version 4 or 3?
I've got some pretty beefy equipment here, so I'm not worried about the speed.
Actually...if speed is the only complaint, I'm starting to think it's worth looking into.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:40 pm
by Chris Corbyn
CPA050507 wrote:So you're using it, D11?
Are you using version 4 or 3?
I've got some pretty beefy equipment here, so I'm not worried about the speed.
Actually...if speed is the only complaint, I'm starting to think it's worth looking into.
I used it for a good while but now, because we don't use it at work and I don't swap and change much, I just use Kate in KDE.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:42 pm
by CPA050507
Kate in KDE.
Good to know.
Just loaded Fedora on my secondary home unit.
I never knew it existed. I'll check it out.
Cheers.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:50 pm
by Chris Corbyn
CPA050507 wrote:Kate in KDE.
Good to know.
Just loaded Fedora on my secondary home unit.
I never knew it existed. I'll check it out.
Cheers.
It's actually built in to the KDE package. The newest versions are getting very good if all you want is highlighting/CVS etc...
Zend does other things such as function completion, open/save files over FTP, Debugging...
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:17 pm
by CPA050507
The help with the debugging part is what I'm really looking for.
Thanks.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:18 pm
by redmonkey
I think editors and IDEs are very much a personal preference thing, Zend has a free time limited trial version, best download, and have a play with it and see what you think personally, afterall, it will be you that will be working with it.
Personally, I don't like it, it has a few 'nice touches' but that is about it for me.
My current IDE of choice for Perl, PHP etc.. is Komodo, it just seems to agree with me more.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:18 pm
by CPA050507
Komodo. I'll check it out. Thank you.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:33 pm
by infolock
I originally went from being a Notepad guy to Homesite. Then Macromedia Dreamweaver. Now I use Zend and I must say, it's the best I've ever used .. EVER.
There are so many different things you can do with it, I can't even begin to list them. If I start, I'd have to go on for days, and I don't have that much time. But take my word for it, it's awsome. Zend puts a developer in the enviornment that he needs to be in when developing php applications. The debugger works, but I wouldn't say it's exactly perfect. But it's close enough to save you 99% of your debugging time.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:37 pm
by CPA050507
Thanks.
Do you use the standard version or the professional?
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:42 pm
by feyd
funny.. the developers I know personally dislike Zend Studio.. we only use it here when absolutely necessary (which is rare).. so I can't recommend it considering the price and perceived functionality is brings..