Posted by Sanders Kaufman on 09/21/07 15:41

"The Natural Philosopher" <a@b.c> wrote in message
news:1190388311.7316.0@proxy02.news.clara.net...
> abhisek wrote:
>> Use notepad++. It's great. Also dreamweaver is a great app for codin
>>
> Dreamwaver is very good for 'artistic' layout of HTML, but its useless
> when you have to put PHP in there,
>
> FWIW I use Smultron on the Mac, and ConTEXT on the PC for writing code in.
>
> Both are smart editors that use highlights and color to emphasise the
> elements of the language they think you are writing in, and both are free.
>
> On Linux there is always bloody EMACS, which persists, like Sendmail,
> because it has always been there..and people get suckered into it..

Those are fine general purpose utilities, but they're really only useful to
folks who already are expert in their field.

For a beginner - or someone in transition :) - nothing beats having an
editor with "code-completion" - like Zend.
It's also great because it has context sensitive help.
This is especially true if you work alone, and can't just turn around and
tap an expert on the shoulder.

For example, I never remember the proper usage for all the mysql commands.
But by simply typing "mysql" a whole list of 'em pops up, and I can select
which one I want. Then, if I'm not sure how to USE the damn thing, I just
right click on the word I want to know about and select the go-to-help
option. My web browser pops up, goes to the help site, and automatically
gives me the full documentation on the command.

Come to think of it - that's even *better* than having to annoy an "expert"
with dumb questions.

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