Visual Studio 2010 versions

For people who are confused about the Visual Studio versions, here’s a nice chart to compare the features of different VS 2010 versions:

Web skills for PHP developers

1. PHP Framework
   CakePHP
   Zend Framework
   Symfony
2. Custom CMS themes
   WordPress
   Drupal
3. CMS Customization and plugin development
4. PHP Template
   Smarty
5. javascript framework
   jQuery
   script.aculo.us
   Prototype
6. Widget Development
   for iGoogle, yahoo, myspace, youtube
7. E-commerce integration
   for Amazon, Paypal, Google checkout

Eclipse PDT+XDebug

1. install eclipse http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
2. install apache+php or xampp;
3. install xdebug version http://www.xdebug.org/
   1. download xdebug that matches the PHP
   2. copy the .dll file to the php ext directory, e.g. c:\xampp\php\ext\
   3. edit php.ini e.g. c:\xampp\apache\bin\php.ini
      1. comment everything in “[zend]“
      2. add
         [xdebug]
         xdebug.remote_enable=1
         xdebug.remote_host=”localhost”
         xdebug.remote_port=9000
         xdebug.remote_handler=”dbgp”
         zend_extension_ts=”C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug-2.0.0-5.2.2.dll”
   4. restart apache
   5. test Xdebug by checking phpinfo()
4. install Eclipse PDT
   1. Help > Software Updates… > Available Software > Manage Sites…
   2. Add… > add the DLTK 1.0 interim site: http://download.eclipse.org/technology/dltk/updates-dev/1.0/
   3. Add… > add the PDT 2.0 interim site: http://download.eclipse.org/tools/pdt/updates/2.0/
   4. Enable the Ganymede Update site (if not already enabled): download.eclipse.org/releases/ganymede/
   5. Expand the DLTK site and select the Dynamic Languages Toolkit – Core Frameworks or Dynamic Languages Toolkit – Core Frameworks SDK Feature
   6. Expand the PDT Update Site and select the PDT or PDT SDK Feature
   7. Install…
5. Run debug in eclipse
   1. Change to PHP Debug Perspective: Window->Open Perspective->PHP Debug
   2. Run ->Debug Configurations-> select PHP Web Page or PHP Script -> click “New” button -> give a name and select a start file -> click “Debug”
   3. Ctrl-Shift-B: set breakpoint; F5: step in; F6: step out; F8: run;
6. Window->Preferences
   • General->Web Browser: select the browser you’d like to use
   • PHP->Debug: select XDebug as your PHP Debugger