Item: PhpStorm
Rating: 10
Author: Mark Davoli

Overall Satisfaction with PhpStorm

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

PhpStorm is the preferred IDE for my development team. We use it to build our websites, leveraging it's fantastic feature set and AI features to speed and ease the development of our small and large scale projects. It makes managing projects in git significantly easier along with things like code completion, error handling, validation, etc.

Pros and Cons

Pros

git version control in software is superior to any other product
resolving merge conflicts is a breeze in comparison to other tools and is built in
switching between different projects in a simple interface makes managing multiple sites significantly easier
latest AI integrations make working with modern AI significantly easier

Cons

Some of the newest GitHub copilot features lag behind what's being done in vs code and would be nice if more of the newer features were brought over though this has greatly improved recently
Interface can be a little overwhelming for newcomers
Some features like rainbow brackets should be native rather than addon

Return on Investment

Recent AI advancements have saved us time to build by integrating it direct with the IDE allowing build to deployment to happen at a more rapid pace than previously possible
Integrated AI commit message generation saves time and effort from team members shorting time writing documentation allowing more time spent in development
Integrated git development causes less friction across team with version control and merge conflict resolution shortening development work flows

Usability

It's a great product that's easy to use for a seasoned developer, held back from reaching a 10 rating simply because it can be a bit overwhelming for newcomers or more junior developers. A lot can be thrown at you at once and if you aren't familiar there can be a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it is when the strengths of the application really shine.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Visual Studio Code

A few of my team members started on vs code but after switching to PhpStorm they never looked back. Many of vs code features require adding in add on after addon to get at or near the included feature set of PHP storm that includes it out of the box. Plus PhpStorm allows so many more features beyond those expected and most of the time, it just works.

Key Insights

Do you think PhpStorm delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with PhpStorm's feature set?

Yes

Did PhpStorm live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of PhpStorm go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy PhpStorm again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Storylane, Atlassian Jira, GitHub

Likelihood to Recommend

Any developer that wants to level up their game and move beyond the free tools available should consider using PhptStorm or other Jetbrains IDE. They are ideal for developers where version control is important and provide most of the vital features developers need out of the box compared to free alternatives.

Comments

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PhpStorm is the ideal IDE for any serious PHP or WordPress developer