Mar

2

Why I Cancelled My Mozy.com Subscription

March 2, 2009 - 2:11pm | 4 comments

Mozy is an online backup solution that has grown in popularity recently. My wife and I have a lot of pictures, music, and generally important files on our computers that we know need to get backed up in a reliable and secure fashion. Mozy seemed like a natural choice.

»
Tags:

Mar

19

Disappointed with Zend

March 19, 2009 - 2:10pm | 2 comments

Every few months as I sit at my desk and code away, I can't help but wonder to myself, "Is there anything better out there?" I'm not being metaphysical or introspective -- I'm talking about my integrated development environment (IDE). Most coders I've met are the same way: we find a tool we like, use it for a while, but usually end up wanting something more or different. Perhaps discontent is a core part of human nature, but every few months I go looking for better tools.

»
Tags:

Mar

20

Review: NuSphere PhpED 5.6

March 20, 2009 - 11:07am | 5 comments

As I explained in my previous post, I've been on the hunt for a new PHP IDE. During past searches for this type of tool, I've always taken a glance at NuSphere's PhpED and usually went away screaming rather quickly because of how clunky, ugly, and just plain annoying the interface was (keep reading, though, they fixed this!). My last look at PhpED was verison 5.2 quite some time ago -- it was a good improvement over previous PhpED versions, but it couldn't compete with the Eclipse-based options (at least in the terms that mattered to me).

Which brings me to an important note: what I look for in an IDE is probably not exactly what another coder will look for in an IDE. From what I've experienced, choice of tools for most coders is 50% features/capabilities and 90% preference (oh hai, math!). For me, here is a list of features that are important:

»
Tags: