Free Online Source Code Editor for PHP and More
What’s Wrong with Notepad or Textpad for Script Edits?
Well, there is nothing really wrong with using any plain text editor to write and edit PHP code. However, if you do this, you probably know why it is not the easiest way to get things done.
- Plain text editors do not give you line numbers. When your syntax check says you have an unexpected ; on line 32, it can be hard to figure out what line 32 is.
- If you have nested code, like brackets that need to be paired, it can be very easy to lose track of them. If you haven’t kept everything perfectly aligned, it can use up a lot of time to comb back through your code to find out where you messed up.
- It is also easy to make a typo and spell a function name wrong, or to mismatch quotes.
- With a plain text editor like notepad, everything will be displayed with the same text face. Nothing will be bolded or highlighted or printed in a different color.
Get a Free Source Code Editor
A source code editor like this one: Free download of Notepad++ does a lot of things for a coder! It provides line numbers that will be the same as the line numbers your syntax checker produces. It also helps you line up your brackets with a thin verticle line and the ability to “minus” out of a block of code.
In addition, functions, constants, and variables will be highlighted with different faces so it makes it much easier to spot errors. Notepad++ is free to download, and it is very simple to use. Besides, PHP, it also supports HTML plus many of other programming languages.
If simple code debugging is taking up a lot of your time, and you are still using a plain text editor, you really don’t have any reason to delay getting a PHP source code editor.
If you are a beginner, you will find yourself able to spot errors faster with time, but a source code editor can make your task easier if you are a newbie or an old hand with PHP.