Over the last seven years I’ve tried out almost every single tool available for my code editing work. I’ve tried open source tools, free tools, commercial applications, and they none of them meet my expectations.

I wanted to quickly mention the top three I’ve been able to use the longest and still document why they’re not what I want them to be.

Coda

I’ve tried out the excellent editor from Panic - it has two killer features: ftp upload buttons next to filenames that are stored locally and sharing via bonjour over the network. Coda is pretty basic and lightweight, but for hardcore php developer it lacks tools I find helpful.

I’ve heard that Coda is working on subversion integration which will be nice, but what I really need is improved php support. If they wanted to give me better code analysis, php variable/function exploring functions, syntax error highlighting, etc, I would enjoy it much more.

Coda is unlikely to every meet all of those expectations because it’s more of an everything editor and will probably never have specific language features like that.

Zend Studio 5

I’ve used this tool the most but there are a few items it lacks that I really would like to have. First off, while it can edit files over ftp directly, I would like it to have an ftp upload like Coda does. Zend 5 has no subversion support. I’m really driven crazy by some basic file quirks on Mac that I’ve been unable to resolve.

Zend 6 has a lot more features that would be very useful but unfortunately, it’s a worse program for me than Zend 5.

Zend 6

Immediately I’m shown how awful and clunky the new project/file management system is. There are too many ways to create and store projects. Many of the default ways now store my code somewhere I don’t want it, and confused the heck out of me when trying to edit files.

It also decided to keep all of these hidden files in my folders which had I left them would have been checked into my subversion repo. I immediately dismisses Komodo from Aptana because of this same issue - my project files were being stored in with my code.

I’m having similar problems with zend 6 on mac - files will not open properly when I just double click on them or right click and select “open with”.

Also, the preferences are a thousand times more confusing - I can change syntax colors in two or three different places for the same code type.

Why can’t anyone fix these issues? Who would release a tool that can’t properly open files? Why does Zend have to make a product that’s actually worse than it’s predecessor? I’ve tried a thousand others but I’ll keep looking. Any suggestions?

It’s been a few years since I’ve released the first version of Bugzilla Changelog, and over those years many folks have been asking if I ever intend on making it open source. While essentially open anyway as it was a Perl script, I’m now accepting patches and new work from anyone else interested.

Those of you who have submitted patches over the years should be pretty excited. I’ll be tracking project updates, requests, fixes, etc, through sourceforge.

View Bugzilla Changelog at SourceForge.net.

I see huge potential for Flex and Air applications with some of my core clients, as well as a way to attract new clients. As time goes on I’ll be discussing new applications we’ve got going in Flex, but I wanted to start with a very basic application.

This basic application displays a chart with download statistics for applications I’ve released over the years on Botsko.net. I’ll be adding on to this basic example so that I have a better showcase of flex work. For example, I plan on adding some advanced data parameters including changing the year, seeing data points on the chart, and some improved visuals.

This application totals about 300k including the php code that produces the xml for the data. That number can be reduced further with optimizations, and by removing some extra support-related files.

While Flex can be used to build some amazing applications, it’s also going to be extremely handy when used within an existing web page. I’m excited to see where we end up when using Flex.

Take a look:

http://experiments.botsko.net/tests/flex/chart2/

The Bugzilla Changelog application has been updated to work with bugzilla 3.0. Please try it out and let me know if you have any issues.

Download Bugzilla Changelog 1.2.

Seventy-percent of my work day is spent in a code editor. For years I tried out every single application listed until I finally discovered PSPad. One of the requirements I needed was a ’save all’ option to save all currently open files, and the ability to search & replace in files - open files, or files in a directory.

Now, I have the problem of being split between two apps. For years I’ve also used Zend Studio, and now that I finally have a computer that can handle it’s resource requirements, I can’t decide which app to use. Zend Studio has amazing code completion, even completing classes/functions/variables from other places in the project. It increases productivity and dramatically reduces my trips to the php.net documentation to lookup the exact syntax of a function.

I’ve forced myself to use it exclusively for several weeks now and I’m finally getting used to it. PSPad had the ability to search and replace in files on disk, while Zend Studio only replaces text strings in open files. PSPad also had a toolbar button to toggle word-wrapping. When editing text I frequently need word-wrapping, but when I’m programming I usually turn it off. Zend allows me to toggle it, but only after getting to its location in the preference pane first.