There are 100s of LAMP Development Tools Available Today.
But if you are just getting into developing web apps using Linux-Apache-MySQL-php – or any variation on the theme – which tools should you choose as your go-to arsenal?
I’ve been developing LAMP stack apps for about 7 years now. These days, I teach and supervise as much as I code. But I’m a pretty experienced engineer.
Listed below are my favorites utilities and apps for newbie LAMP developers. They all have a bit of a learning curve that pays off later, when you burn the oil all night.
Five Gotta-Have LAMP Dev Tools
In order to develop LAMP/MAMP/XAMPP apps you’ll need at least five types of tools in your kit. These include:
- A local development environment (LDE)
- An integrated development environment (IDE)
- Database tools
- Internet file transfer tools
- Virtualization tools
This isn’t the definitive list of tools you’ll need, but you need to start somewhere and this is where I would begin.
Local Development Environment (LDE)
The LDE is where we build our own code and test it before working with the team on releases.
I prefer XAMPP on Windows or MAMP for OS X (Pro version – highly recommended).
Every good LDE will also have version control, and Git is the only choice, in my opinion. For visual control of Git, I use Tower, Versions Subversion for my repositories.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Sublime Text 2, is the best IDE around. It works on Windows, Mac and UNIX systems.
Database Tools
These break down into two categories/choices:
- Web-hosted tools like SQL Buddy or phpMyAdmin.
- Desktop tools: use MySQL Workbench.
Virtualization Tools for Testing
After you near completion of your project, you’re going to need to test the apps in multiple browsers and devices before signing off on unit testing. To do this, I use VMWare Fusion. But my colleagues also swear by Parallel’s Desktop.
FTP Clients
There are only two ftp clients remaining that everyone uses these days, and they are
- Panic’s Transmit for OSX
- WS FTP for Windows.
