Cheap NuSphere PHPEd Advantage (Software) (Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95, Sun Solaris, Windows 2000, Linux) Price

PHPEd is NuSphere's answer to the slick IDEs of the big publishers. Designed to work with several languages--HTML, JavaScript, SQL, and especially PHP--the environment works well. Its easy-to-understand interface simplifies the creation of Web applications with HTML and JavaScript on the client side, PHP as the scripting language in the middle, and a MySQL database at the back end.

PHPEd's editor has prime importance. It's clever and uncluttered, and makes three key improvements on the capabilities of a basic editor: syntax highlighting, variable listing, and real-time syntax help. This last feature is especially helpful, as each time you enter a function name the editor will unobtrusively open up a small reference window that contains a one-line syntax guide for the function. You see what the mandatory and optional arguments are, what data types the arguments must be, and what data type the function returns.

The editor is nice, but its features alone probably won't motivate many programmers to pay for PHPEd. Integrated FTP for management of remote files is nice, too, but similarly, not enough to make someone buy. What might tip the balance is the first key appeal of this IDE, its debugger. With the PHPEd debugger you can add variables to a watch list and monitor their values as they change during step-by-step execution of a PHP script. You can also hover your mouse pointer over a variable name during stepped execution and see its value in a pop-up window. In addition to step-by-step execution, PHPEd allows you to establish breakpoints in your code.

The second big attraction of this kit is its ability to integrate closely with MySQL databases. Once you open a connection to a MySQL database from within PHPEd (the database can be local or on a remote server), you can easily browse the contents of the database as you formulate your programming strategy. Then, when you're ready to start writing PHP code that actually manipulates the database, you can test your SQL sentences in a convenient window.

PHPEd is not the extent of this package, however. It ships with a set of Web servers and language interpreters that together make up the back end for which PHPEd will help you write applications:

• PHP 4.0.6. Naturally, this kit comes with a PHP interpreter. This is the actual run-time environment that reads, validates, and executes PHP scripts (those written in PHPEd and elsewhere). As a server-side scripting language, PHP is similar in function to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) and Sun's JavaServer Pages (JSP). It's particularly potent when paired with a MySQL database.
• MySQL 3.23.41. An open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) that's widely used, meticulously maintained, and easily manipulated with PHP. It supports standard SQL-92, and should be familiar to anyone who has done SQL work.
• Perl 5.6.1. Perl, like PHP, can be used to generate Web pages based on form submissions and query results. Its text-manipulation facilities are probably better than PHP's, but the question of which you use is largely a matter of personal taste.
• Apache 1.3.20. The Apache Web server makes your applications available to all browsers by responding to HTTP requests. This kit ships with the mod_perl module for running Perl scripts and the mod_ssl module for providing Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption of communications.

As is typical of NuSphere products, PHPEd Advantage comes with a set of commercially available books instead of a custom-produced manual. It's a good strategy that keeps NuSphere from having to reinvent the wheel, particularly considering that the books are all generally respected ones:

• PHP Pocket Reference
• Apache Pocket Reference
• Perl 5 Pocket Reference, Third Edition
• MySQL/PHP Database Applications

The "advantage" in this product's name refers to a subscription service that comes in addition to the CD-ROM. Every quarter for a year, NuSphere ships its registered users an update disk that contains the latest versions of the four packages. You get support, too: Web and e-mail support for a year.

Overall, PHPEd Advantage does its job well. It establishes a solid back-end environment for Web development, and provides a good IDE for writing software. The whole solution is reasonably priced. It's a great choice if you work with PHP and MySQL. --David Wall

PLATFORM:	Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95, Sun Solaris, Windows 2000, Linux
CATEGORY:	Software
MANUFACTURER:	NuSphere
MEDIA:	CD-ROM
UPC:	803332003004