As a programmer, your text editor is your most powerful tool for working more productively. You probably rely on key bindings, syntax highlighting, macros, and other features to speed your coding. But if you're not using an IDE - an Integrated Development Environment - you might as well be programming with mittens on.

In addition to incorporating powerful text editors, IDEs incorporate class and object browsers, hooks to svn/git and other version control systems, source-level debuggers, and more. By actually running your code inside your editor, you have much greater insight into what your code is doing, where it's going wrong, and how to get back on track fast.

In this presentation, we'll introduce the concepts and tools of IDEs, and take a tour of some of the most popular among PHP developers, including Eclipse (including Zend Studio, PDT, and Aptana variations), NetBeans, and PHPEd. Whether you develop on Windows, Linux, or OSX, adopting an IDE will undoubtedly improve your workflow and efficiency.

So come out to the first Philly PHP Meetup of 2010 and learn how one of these IDEs can make your coding more efficient and more enjoyable. There'll be pizza, sodas, and plenty of PHP to go around.