Rapid PHP 2010

As my final web development tool I have Rapid PHP 2010 which I got for a pretty hefty discount off Bits Du Jour. I do quite a bit of editing to both HTML and PHP files and wanted an editor that designed exclusively to handle multiple language types. Ironically, Rapid PHP looks and works in very similar fashion to Notepad++. Notepad++ handles dozens of file formats and has a slew of tools for cleaning up code, checking syntax and getting your code sorted. Not to mention it’s free.

So how does Rapid PHP compare? Ironically they’re very similar. Rapid PHP is an excellent editor with a lot of tools to help get the coding done. You can create code libraries, you get a preview window to see how your code work, you can create projects with multiple web files and it has several verification tools to keep things in order. For example, if you forget the closing tag or don’t start the syntax off correctly Rapid PHP will let you know. It also has editors for SQL, CSS and Javascript. It is extremely multi-functional. Plus it also works as just a regular text editor.

But the big question is, is Rapid PHP worth it when Notepad++ is free? That is actually a tough question. Quite honestly, Notepad++ is one hell of a text editor. And quite frankly, for my needs Notepad++ works just as well and handles my simple coding needs. I edit WordPress files quite frequently and Notepad++ does an admirable job. I got Rapid PHP for around $17 and think that was a good price to pay. It offers a lot of features and the Code Library and Preview options are very handy. It does lack some drag and drop functionality so that is a bit frustrating.

If I had to do it all over again and didn’t get Rapid PHP on sale, I think I would just stick with Notepad++. Rapid PHP is a great editor, there is no doubt about that and I use it quite a bit, but for casual coding or just to make some updates to WordPress or make an adjustment to an HTML page, Notepad++ will certainly handle the job. I certainly don’t regret Rapid PHP, but then again, it might just be a bit of overkill at the moment. But I do like that it has an editor at the ready regardless of what language my project is in.

It’s kind of funny when you think about it, I really don’t do that much coding yet I have some of the most powerful and robust web editors out there. Between all these tools there is very little I wouldn’t be able to build.

You can check out Rapid PHP 2010 at: http://www.blumentals.net/rapidphp/

You can check out Notepad++ at: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/