On February 11th, my PHPStorm license was expired, which means I have been using PHPStorm for 1 year to accompany me to work. I still remember when it was still using PHPStorm 8 until now the latest version 10 and it looks like version 11 will come out 1-2 months.
Previously I used sublime text and tried to atom, but at that time the atom was still very buggy, I was rather pessimistic about applications based on HTML, CSS, and JS and then package it into a desktop application. Until finally due to productivity considerations I switched to IDE, netbeans and aptana not exactly in terms of appearance and performance (rather slow, typical java-based desktop applications) and the choice at that time was PHPStorm. I decided to try the trial for 30 days, which was then interested in continuing to the full version.
When it comes to IDE issues, usually many will say that IDE is slow and heavy. Actually it is natural because the task is not just as a text editor, but many other features. And compared to other IDEs, PHPStorm for web development is still lighter and faster. It's not as light as sublime text or atom when starting up, but it's worthed compared to the features offered.
if you buy PHPStorm, get Webstorm package too 😀
PHPStorm has some basic features of an IDE such as: FTP client, GIT client, database client, and there are also controls for vagrant, composer, npmjs, gulp and grunt as well. Then there are compilers for sass, less and typescript. This feature alone is enough to help me do many things enough from just one application.
Other features like auto formatter, this feature is a bit cheating, making my code neat and according to the standard so it won't be random again. Then there is the function extractor feature that makes my function slimmer and re-usable. Then there is also a code refactor, helping me when changing the name of a variable, function, class or even a one-time file without worrying that someone forgot to replace or conflict. The most often used is also the built-in terminal emulator, a feature that I always look for first when trying out a texteditor or IDE, and there are still many features to make writing code easier.
The most lacking in PHPStorm is in terms of appearance, although it is better than other Java-based applications, but it can't be sleek like sublime or atomic. A little stiff and the theme available is very limited. If the problem is severe and a little slower, this is in my opinion a risk worthed for taking. I am considering buying an SSD so that this slow problem will be resolved properly.
And after 1 year, I still can't release or switch to another IDE or text editor, so I peeked out at the PHPStorm license update page, and yuhu because I had used PHPStorm before, then for an update license I would be hit by almost 50% discount! And that's not enough there, I will also get a 1 year free license bonus the following year!
If you just buy it now, you will be charged $ 89 which feels $ 10 cheaper than when I bought it a year ago.
My advice, if you already use PHP (or users of modern frontend tools) as a hobby and main job, it's really recommended to use PHPStorm for everyday coding. Interested in trying?
