Top 10 PHP Development Tools For Efficient PHP Developers in 2021

PHP is an open-source server-side scripting coding language used for building dynamic websites and web applications. As 79% of total websites, different projects, and systems are built with PHP technology, it remains one of the most popular programming languages globally. It’s applied to create such well-known sites, services, and networks as:

• Facebook.com;
• Microsoft.com;
• Wikipedia.org;
• Wordpress.com;
• Vk.com;
• Zoom.us;
• Xinhuanet.com, and many more.

If you use PHP to develop web apps and sites, check our top 10 development tools to increase the efficiency of coding and make the work of PHP developers easier.

Top 10 PHP Development Tools

Today there are a lot of development tools available for accelerating the web app development process in a secure manner, including:

• IDE (Integrated Development Environment);
• Frameworks:
• Cloud tools;
• Data science tools;
• Source control tools;
• Prototyping Tools;
• DevOps Tools;
• UML Tools.

Such tools help developers not only to build feature-rich innovative projects but to test, debug, maintain designing, fix, and support websites/web apps. Below you’ll find 10 software development tools that allow engineers to streamline and automate some tasks to improve their efficiency and performance.

1. PHPStorm

It’s not by accident that this PHP tool developed and promoted by JetBrains opens the chart. It’s a lightweight, smooth, and extremely fast IDE that works with key PHP frameworks, including but not limited to Laravel, Zend Framework, Symfony, Yii, CakePHP, and supports popular Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal, Magento, etc.

In addition to code refactoring, unit testing, and debugging, PHPStorm provides live editing support for major frontend technologies (CSS, HTML5, JavaScript, TypeScript, Sass, CoffeeScript, Stylus, Less, etc.). Being the leader in the integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP technology, it equips software engineers with good integration capabilities for databases, remote deployment, command-line tools, version control systems, composer, rest client, and many more.

The key features

• Code-rearranging;
• Code completion;
• Debugging (works with Zend Debugger and Xdebug locally and remotely);
• Zero-configuration;
• Support for Native ZenCoding;
• Support extension with a lot of handy plugins like VimEditor.

Besides PHP, IDE supports such coding languages as JavaScript, Visual Basic, C, C++, and C#. PHPStorm also runs on such popular platforms as Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X.

Being free to students and teachers, PHPStorm comes with a license price. Such large brands like Yahoo, Wikipedia, Salesforce, Expedia, Cisco, and others possess the IDE’s licenses.

2. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free and open-source code editor created by Microsoft for such platforms as Windows, macOS, and Linux. Besides PHP, it can be used with a variety of programming languages, including Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, Go, Node.js, T-SQL, C#, .NET Core, HTML, CSS, SCSS, Less, JSON, TypeScript, Markdown, PowerShell, and more.

Here are some of the best features of VS Code:

• Smart code completion with IntelliSense;
• Built-in Emmet support;
• Linting;
• Debugging;
• Refactoring;
• Syntax highlighting;
• Snippets;
• Intelligent code completion (autocomplete);
• Code navigation;
• Extensibility (developers are allowed to create their own extension);
• Embedded Git and GitHub integration;
• Integrated terminal;
• Live share for pair programming;
• Full customization from color theme picker and key bindings to integrations and functionality.

3. Docker

The tool takes away repetitive, mundane configuration tasks and can be used throughout the development lifecycle. Docker is a set of PaaS (platform as a service) products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers that can run on all major platforms including Linux, Windows, or macOS.

Docker can package an app and all its dependencies in containers that are isolated from one another so that you can:

• Have isolated environments between projects;
• Test code with different versions;
• Do both these things with a small footprint.

Containers that have all the virtualization capabilities and use fewer resources than virtual machines make Docker much more lightweight than the traditional virtual machines. Docker allows development teams to:

• Deliver multiple apps hassle-free;
• Run all the apps the same way on all the environments (design, testing, staging, production);
• Deploy the apps in different languages and separate containers independently;
• Reduce the risk of conflict between languages/libraries/frameworks.

4. PHPUnit

It is a unit testing framework that is an instance of the xUnit architecture. The main goal of this tool is to help developers to reveal the errors in the newly committed code as fast as possible and assert that no code regression has occurred in the codebase. PHPUnit uses assertions to verify that the tested unit is correct and behaves as expected. Therefore, developers can find problems and mistakes early in the development cycle. The test results can be output in different formats like TestDox, JUnit XML, and others.

5. Codeception

Codeception is a multi-featured testing framework that allows writing unit, functional, integration, and acceptance tests in a single, coherent style. All the tests are written in a Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) style — descriptive manner. This means that developers can clearly understand what part of the code is being tested and how it is performed just by taking a look at the test body.

6. PHPStan/Psalm

PHPStan and Psalm are open-source and static analysis tools that can be classified as "Code Review" tools. They are used for improving the quality of the code. Let’s observe the key features.

PHPStan	Psalm
Catches whole classes of bugs; Focuses on finding errors in the code without actually running it; Moves PHP closer to compiled languages.	Identifies both hard-to-spot and obvious bugs in the code that can be missed by a human; Enables developers to take advantage of safe coding patterns; Helps to prevent a lot of type-related runtime errors; Is useful on both small legacy codebases and large ones.

7. XDebug

If you want to improve the performance of your PHP code, reveal the bottlenecks, and increase the development experience, then this extension with a wide range of useful features is what you need to try for sure. XDebug is an extension for PHP that provides debugging and profiling capabilities.

XDebug comes as a PHP extension. It is a tool for profiling and debugging PHP scripts that uses the DBGp debugging protocol and allows developers to quickly localize an error in the code by providing the following information and features:

• Memory allocation;
• Tracing: function and stack traces in error messages, including:
  • The function name, file name, line indications;
  • Full parameter display for user-defined functions;
  • Support for member functions;
• Protection for infinite recursions.

Apart from that, XDebug also delivers:

• PHP scripts’ profiling information;
• Code coverage analysis;
• A debugger front-end so that the developer can debug the scripts interactively.

The extension is also available via the PECL.

8. Bitbucket/GitLab CI/CD

GitLab and Bitbucket can be categorized as Code Collaboration and Version Control tools. Each tool provides a pack of useful features to speed up the development process, making it more efficient. Let’s check what is the main difference between them.

Bitbucket is a PHP development tool that provides software engineers with the ability to:

• Plan projects;
• Collaborate on code;
• Conduct tests;
• Deploy.

And the highlight of the tool is that all is with free private Git repositories. Besides that, Bitbucket has the following features:

• Built-in CI/CD;
• Superior (best-in-class) Jira integration;
• Up to 5 users can be added for free;
• Simple setup;
• Unlimited private repositories, etc.

GitLab is an open-source self-hosted Git management software that can be installed on-premise and connected with LDAP and Active Directory servers for secure authorization and authentication.

The key features of the tool that make it a choice of PHP developers are:

• A single server handling more than 25,000 users;
• Several active servers;
• Git repository management with fine-grained access controls;
• Provides merge requests for enhancing collaboration and performing code reviews;
• Activity feeds and wikis;
• Issue tracking, and many more.

9. Swagger

It’s a Documentation as a Service tool and a dependency-free collection of HTML, Javascript, and CSS assets. Swagger generates interactive OpenAPI documentation for the RESTful API, using doctrine annotations.

The main features of the tool include the following ones:

• Compatibility with the OpenAPI 3.0 specification;
• Command-line interface;
• Ability to extract information from code, existing phpdoc annotations;
• Exceptional error reporting (with hints, context);
• Getting started guide.

Such brands as Clever, triGo GmbH, and Hootsuite are already leveraging the benefits of Swagger.

10. Postman

It is a scalable API testing tool and a complete API development environment. It quickly integrates into the CI/CD pipeline and is used for simplifying API workflow in development and testing.

Here are the main reasons to use Postman for your project:

1. Accessibility: a developer needs to just log in to his/her account to access files anytime, anywhere as long as a Postman app is installed on the PC.
2. Collections: users are allowed to create collections for their Postman API calls with subfolders as well as multiple requests can be created for each collection for organizing the test suites.
3. Collaboration: team members can share files easily because collections and environments can be imported/exported.
4. Environments: developers can not only create different environments but use the same collection for different environments.
5. Tests: test checkpoints can be added to each Postman API calls to ensure test coverage.
6. Automation testing: tests can be run in multiple iterations, saving time for repetitive tests.
7. Debugging: developers can check what data has been retrieved to simplify debug tests.
8. Continuous Integration: development practices are maintained due to the ability of the tool to support continuous integration.

Bottom line

PHP is one of the most all-inclusive programming languages for web development. However, it’s better to use additional PHP development tools to make the process more efficient. Most of these tools are open-source and provide a wide range of features from syntax highlighting to debugging so that developers can create convenient and scalable code. Just choose the tools that work best for your project and help you improve the development process.

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Author's Bio

Bogdan Ivanov is a CTO of DDI development. Bogdan is responsible for building the complete technology strategy within the company. Outlining the company's technological vision, and ensuring that the technological resources are aligned with the company's business needs are his main responsibilities.

Which PHP Framework Do You Think is the Best for Web Development?

Whenever we think of the web development process, we plan to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as the main component of the website development. In order to use them all together for a single website, the PHP frameworks for web development first come to our mind.

But, nowadays, many think that PHP is dead. Contrary to this belief, I would say that it is not dead but it has become the base for different website builders and frameworks that actually helps us in developing dynamic websites.

According to data gathered from the internet, PHP is used by 79% of total websites on the internet. PHP as a web development language is more popular than ASP.NET. Yes, PHP and .NET both are the server-side programming language that competes for each other.

PHP’s utilization percentage has remained constant over the past few years. PHP developers and programmers will frequently flip to a PHP framework to compose their code and develop a website.

Today, in this article, we will discover - What PHP frameworks are? Why they're used? Which is the most famous PHP framework for website development?

What Is a PHP Framework? Why Use PHP Frameworks for Web Development?

A full-stack PHP framework is actually a development platform, which not only helps to create websites but also promotes the creation of mobile applications. A framework provides program coding libraries that have some commonly used functions in it when used properly with design helps you shape a website.

PHP is one of the widely wide-used programming languages round the sector today. Besides, the launch of PHP 7 additionally made the server-side programming language more qualitative, higher, and stronger than ever before.

So, what is the entire factor of using a PHP framework to create websites and other business applications?

Well, look at some of its benefits and functions –

• PHP Frameworks help developers to scale website development systems
• The MVC model ensures rapid development.
• PHP Frameworks are highly secure.
• The principle ‘Don't repeat yourself (DRY)’ ensures minimal code and maximum impact.
• Faster Development, Less Code to Write, Follow Good Coding Practices
• Libraries for Common Tasks, Better Teamwork, Easier to Maintain

"In fact, 79% of the websites on the internet use PHP to developing dynamic websites."

What Are the Best PHP Frameworks in 2020?

In this article, we have listed the top 10 PHP frameworks. Also, you will understand the PHP frameworks comparison in short based upon their functions, features, and content management systems.

At the end of the article, we will tell you the best PHP framework for website development!

"Before the year 2005, some widely used PHP frameworks were PHPlib, Horde, and Pear."

After 2005, everything changed and today we have different PHP frameworks. Those are as follows:

• Laravel: Laravel is the best PHP Framework for Web Artisans developed by Taylor Otwell. Web artisans wish to play with the elements of development that aren’t allowed in doing in CodeIgniter. For example, authentication!
• Symfony: Symfony is the combined effort of PHP language and PHP components to create websites that support the conjunction with almost every database. That’s why Symfony is a popular PHP framework.
• CodeIgniter: CodeIgniter PHP framework is a full-stack framework that lets you build web applications, progressive web apps quickly with minimum configuration and minimal properties.
• Yii (Framework): Yii, means - Yes, It Is! It is a simple and evolutionary website development framework that helps you create websites within minutes. Yii has very well-written documentation the same as Laravel.
• CakePHP: CakePHP framework is said to be the fastest PHP website development where you use little customization and create websites. Stack Overflow, IRC, and Slack are its example.

These are the top 5 PHP frameworks that are mostly used in website development. Other than these 5 there are 5 more - Zend Framework / Laminas Project, Slim, Phalcon, FuelPHP, and Fat-Free Framework.

All these PHP frameworks promote developing a dynamic website, speed development, easy to use, and efficiency is the end result. But, as we said we need to choose the best out of best.

So, here we are -

Choose the Best PHP Framework!

If you are an expert or have experience in using different website builders and CMS (Content Management Systems) like WordPress and Drupal, then among PHP frameworks, your first choice would be Laravel.

Otherwise, if you are a beginner, I would suggest, you use Yii and CodeIgniter as they teach you about the MVC pattern, their documentation is detailed, you will learn to use the database, you will understand to build a simple CMS, and they are easy to install too.

But the best one is Laravel because -

Laravel is the Best Full-stack PHP Framework!

This is due to its following characteristics and features:

• It has an elegant syntax
• Laravel is fast to create a website
• Easily host Laravel source code on GitHub
• Laravel is open-source and follow MVC Pattern
• Laravel supports Database migration, Seeding, Scheduling, queuing, etc.
• Easy to build and manage Laravel-Based apps
• You don’t have to write lots of lines of codes
• It writes simply readable and elegant code; even a non-professional can understand it.
• Laravel is a resource-intensive framework with an in-built testing kit
• Lastly, Laravel has a strong and helpful developer community

All these are the benefits of Laravel which you will not get in other PHP frameworks.

What do you wait for next? Contact a top Laravel web development company nearby you and make a business website and take your business online!

Author Bio

James Burns is the Founder & CEO of CMS Website Services, a globally PHP development services provider in USA. With 10+ years of experience in designing, and development he has all solutions to your IT problems as a tech-business person.

The Things You should know when using Laravel and AWS

You most probably have heard about Laravel, one of the most popular frameworks of PHP. If you’re planning to modernize your PHP Laravel app and go to the next level, then a Laravel application development company could help you. The AWS or Amazon Web Services offers several features to help companies scale in order to support millions of users.

What you need to know about using Laravel and AWS

Allow me to show you how to architect your SaaS or software-as-a-service Laravel app with high-level standards scalability on AWS to understand what’s needed and discuss actions and considerations to acquire resiliency and business value. We opt for AWS cloud because it’s the most mature IaaS, or infrastructure-as-a-service provider, as well as making innovating things much easier. Nonetheless, the practices may be applied to any cloud platform as well.

Value of migrating a Laravel App to AWS

There is indeed great value with AWS cloud adoption, including pre-configured services for faster implementations and lower downtime, minimized IT labor force because of the flexible and repeatable infrastructure. For scaling SaaS Laravel apps, the cloud is a critical environment.

It enables you to decouple the architecture into several pieces, such as cloud storage, integration of different SaaS platform AWS components, automatic scaling, and cloud-native apps among others. Additionally, if you plan on shifting to the AWS cloud, the AWS Migration Checklist could be used to prepare you for the journey.

Laravel for Big-Scale SaaS AWS Architecture

The following diagram illustrates the way that a next-general Laravel app should be architected with the full AWS DevOps components range. Every mentioned piece in this AWS stack is extremely resilient, scalable, and elastic.

AWS load balancing and auto-scaling

Dynamic traffic to begin with comes from the AWS Route53, which routes all Application Load Balancing requests where the AWS ALB loads balance across EC2 instances fleet. Horizontally, the fleet should 'scale' in adherence to the AWS CloudWatch metrics traffic demands.

Amazon S3 and the CloudFront CDN

All the static content, like videos, HMTL, and videos will be hosted on the cloud storage Amazon S3, which has infinite elasticity as well as storage. In the Amazon S3, we compound the AWS CloudFront, for caching the entire static content and minimize the costs of bandwidth. Integrating these components is paramount.

Amazon VPC and Networking

We propose an AWS VPC in the AWS networking level with public and/or private enterprise networks. Adhering to the practices of HIPAA and PCI, there must be a VPN that encapsulates the Laravel app within the private enterprise network of AWS. Take into consideration furthermore to include an AWS VPN connection and an OpenVPN service as well to access several private network environments of Laravel.

AWS RDS Aurora

The database data should be placed on the RDS or the AWS Aurora, and on the AWS ElastiCache as well to manage sessions, and for user data caching. Scalable and elastic, the AWS components help you design an AWS framework that’s well-architected, with the highest level of resilience and error-tolerance.

Route53

Route53, from the viewpoint of the DNS, is required for managing the app domain, routing latency, DNS scalability, and more features for minimizing failures.

Amazon Web Services Lambda

The serverless component may be utilized for backend scripts, as well as synch tasks to minimize load in the cluster of AWS Auto Scaling. The following are the web apps that fit within this architecture:

• Mobile backend apps
• API Laravel apps
• SaaS Laravel apps
• Laravel enterprise apps, such as ERPs, CRMs, and back-office systems
• Any web platform, including Ruby, Node.js, CakePHP, Zend, PHP, Symfony, and Yii
• Front-end apps, such as for instance React, Angular, Vue.js, or any HTML website

The Pros of the AWS Micro-Service Architecture

1. Scalability. Based on the independence of the architecture, scaling the micro-service architecture vertically or horizontally is easy, based on the technology line and on the business.
2. Independence. Every AWS micro-service could be deployed on a separate virtual machine, physical machine, or Docker for a native distributed architecture design.
3. Easy maintenance and upgradability. Every micro-service could be independently updated and maintained, still based on its being independent.
4. Any language. Every micro-service could be developed in adherence to the programming language familiar to the team of developers, and provide APIS according to the RPC or REST protocol.

Conclusion

Hire Laravel developer to know more about the benefits of the AWS architecture. Developers found a life-saving straw and began implementing it right away. Developers are able to generate and manage Laravel environments effectively via the command line tools.

What makes Laravel the most Preferred PHP Framework for Web Development?

Technological evolution has created limitless options that fit the general criteria for web development. This makes it a tough decision for developers during the initial phases of project development.

It is a rather daunting task and in order for businesses to invent applications that are out-of-the-box, they will need to choose a framework that offers a broad spectrum of technical capabilities. Such is the rage of Laravel; a PHP framework that has become the new favorite in the market and holds a promising future. Its selection of customizations and qualities are the best remedies for engaging customers and enhancing the website’s interactivity.

What is Laravel?

Laravel is a popular, modern-technology web application framework that stems from the PHP scripting language. PHP has heavily progressed over the past years to satisfy the demands and requirements of current web developers. Each PHP framework was created with its individual feature pack and implementation but Laravel’s robust and developer-first minded characteristics make it a front-runner next to its contemporaries.

Nowadays, web developers favor Laravel over other PHP frameworks due to its wide range of unambiguous features such as multilingual app development and multiple platform support. This allows businesses to expand their target audience to a global scale and capitalize on business potential. To understand that better, we have described some of the reasons why you would never go back to any other framework after giving Laravel a try.

Authentication

Laravel 5 enables authentication practices that organize logic and simplify the process for developers. This way they have control over accessibility and user identification can be done efficiently. All web application owners seek authentication to ward off any unidentifiable user or restrict unauthorized logins; Laravel development services facilitate control over resources so no unapproved user has access to them.

MVC Support

Another reason behind Laravel’s universal recognition is its Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture that facilitates optimal clarity between logic and presentation. It boosts application performance and enables proper documentation for developing web apps of all sizes.

Object-Oriented Libraries

Laravel’s framework offers object-oriented libraries and other pre-installed options that are not available in other PHP frameworks. One of which is the pre-installed Authentication library. Its variety of advanced features that include, Bcrypt hashing, checking active users, password reset, CSRF (Cross-site Request Forgery) protection, and encryption make it an ideal tool for web development. In addition, it is child’s play when it comes to implementation and configuration.

Modularity

Modularity is when a web application’s components can be split into different modules and recombined to work together for successful functionality. Laravel alone is a framework consisting of different components which makes it perfect for designing modular applications. It provides simple yet effective instructions to create modules and using its modular structure, companies can develop scalable web applications with the utmost ease.

Security

Security is a top priority when it comes to designing web applications and systems for e-businesses and online marketplace. Laravel is composed of several security mechanisms that make the developer’s experience secure and assure all data is protected on the website. It uses hashed passwords that offer secure Bcrypt hashing, so your passwords are never saved in plain text. Similarly, it dodges SQL injections by using prepared statements that allow developers to safely authorize any parameters and prevent any vulnerability.

Database Migration

Laravel makes database migration hassle-free which is what makes it a top pick in PHP framework for website development. This way all migrations can take place conveniently to align the database and the team can easily modify and build the application’s database plan.

Insightful Tutorials

Laracasts is a resourceful feature offered by Laravel for all developers wishing to learn throughout their web development experience. It consists of tutorials – paid and free – all conducted by a professional instructor, who shares his insights and lessons on how to make use of the Laravel framework. Developers with all levels of experience can benefit from these videos and gain an in-depth understanding of the framework to create better programs.

Template Engine

Laravel comes with the templating engine Blade which is easy-to-use, lightweight, and resourceful. Unlike other frameworks, Laravel allows users to work with plain PHP code making it intuitive and unique. It also provides its own set of control structures which include loops and conditional statements that are interlinked with PHP equivalents.

Artisan

Laravel has its custom command-line interface known as Artisan. It is designed to offer numerous built-in commands to facilitate the creation of a Laravel project environment. All in all, it supervises every repetitive or monotonous task in regard to programming with maximum ease to ensure a seamless development process. In simpler words, the development team can rely on this tool to handle such tasks and not have to perform them manually ever again.

Multiple File System

In addition, Laravel is equipped with built-in support for any cloud storage such as Amazon S3 and other local storage options. It allows you to switch between any of the file systems of your choice since the API remains the same but, all three can be used simultaneously as well from different locations.

Testing

During the testing of any application, Laravel automatically runs it through unit test that monitor, detect, and inhibit lapses in the framework. It comes with the PHPUnit to test and debug applications and is run through the built-in command-line interface, Artisan.

The Final Verdict

Time and time again, Laravel has proven itself to be an impressively handy tool for powerful web application development. The above-mentioned features should assist in harnessing Laravel’s capabilities and build an intuitive solution that meets your project requirements. Hopefully, these pointers have helped you in understanding the Laravel framework a little better and why it has exponentially gained popularity over the years.

The icing on the cake is that it provides an opportunity for developers to learn and improvise with various components of it framework, so you can familiarize with its attributes at your own pace. In the end, many new PHP frameworks have arrived but Laravel has fought to stay on top.

Author Bio:

Arslan is an electrical engineer with a passion for writing, designing and anything tech-related. His educational background in the technical field has given him the edge to write on many topics. He occasionally writes blog articles for Dynamologic Solutions.