EasyPHP 17.0

Overview

Due to its minimal learning curve, easy installation, a user-friendly interface, and comprehensive functionality, EasyPHP has become a staple in the world of PHP programming. In this review we'll outline some of the main features of the software, as well as discussing some of the pros, cons, and what's new in the latest version.

Interface

The main function of EasyPHP is to provide an organized environment in which PHP coding can be learned, tested, and applied for development purposes. In addition to EasyPHP's default functionality, there are also a variety of open-source applications available online that can be installed within EasyPHP to enhance the software's interface. For example, you can quickly install applications that allow you to code and test PHP for templates that are compatible with various blogging formats, including WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal. You can also install the Prestashop app in EasyPHP to begin easily coding templates for e-commerce shops. If you're interested in creating your own PHP forum tempalates, installing the phpBB or Phorum app can be very helpful

Pros

• Easy to install

• Small file size makes for a quick download and minimal disk space usage

• Takes just a few minutes to create and view a PHP test file

• Compatible with a plethora of free applications that enhance and add features. Users can also design their own applications to amend the user interface and functionality of EasyPHP.

• When a user commits an error in their PHP coding, a warning/notice will appear that highlights the error and recommends PHP coding standards. This allows beginners and advanced users to become more proficient in their programming, developing clean and consistent PHP code.

Cons

• Although easy to use, this open-source software is somewhat lacking in live support, so you'll need either minimal knowledge in PHP programming, or the willingness to do a bit of research.

• While EasyPHP is ideal for learning how to produce clean code and testing your PHP skills, it's certainly not the most comprehensive software production suite.

What's New in Version 5.3.8.0

The main purpose of the EasyPHP 5.3.8.0 release is to fix two issues found in the previous 5.3.7 release. The first is bug #55439, which returned the error message “(crypt () returns only the salt for MD5).” Version 5.3.8 also fixed bug #55283, which caused timeout handling issues that resulted in hanging mysqlnd SSL connections. Various features have also been added to EasyPHP 5.3.8, including the ability to automatically detect available server ports (without port conflict errors).

Alternatives

Overall, EasyPHP definitely does its job as a PHP programming environment, and there are only a few notable alternatives that should be mentioned - XAMPP, WampServer, and MiniServer. Of these alternatives, XAMPP is the most comprehensive, and is said to be more powerful than EasyPHP. However, EasyPHP is recommended purely for development and learning purposes, and therefore does not contain some of the more advanced features seen within XAMPP.

Conclusion

This software is a compact yet comprehensive WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) package that provides an ideal programming environment for PHP developers.