A part of the success of fast and enjoyable development is to use a good IDE that provides the tools you need in order to be efficient. Today we will gonna talk about what is the best IDE for Laravel and Vue.
What are the reasons you might need the IDE for Laravel and Vue?
First of all, let’s talk what are the reasons for wanting to use an IDE for the Laravel and Vue project. Without a doubt, anything could be used for programming, even the good old Notepad. But let’s be real, using a plain text editor is very inconvenient. Even though it is enough for writing a simple uncomplex program, if working with a serious heavy project, it is definitely not a good choice. So here are the reasons you might need an IDE:
- You are working with a team and you are using version control and build tools. Usually, you will often need to push or pull code from a remote repository. How does the IDE help? It has integrated version control tools, so you don’t have the burden to install it on your own. And even if so, you can install it pretty easily from a plugin store of the IDE.
- You want an editor that has code formatting and other functions that will make your code more readable and will make the development easier. You might not want to have a lot of additional tools, but the main purpose of the IDE is to make the process of coding more enjoyable with a good text editor.
- You do want to be able to debug your code more easily. And IDE provides the functionality needed for this.
In other words, there are two use cases – either you need the tools that usually will take some time to install manually, one by one, or, everything you need is a good application for writing code. And a “good application for writing a code” usually has a syntax highlighter, code formatter, auto-completion function.
Best IDE for Laravel and Vue
As we aren’t going to write a purely Vue.js code, we need more powerful tools that we might use. The best case is to have an IDE that is suited both for Laravel and Vue. And there are few of those IDEs that are a good fit. Let’s talk about them.
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is an editor for source code, that is released by Microsoft. The editor is suitable for different platforms. The code of the editor is released under the MIT license, so it is a free product that makes a great fit for the list of best Laravel and Vue.js IDEs.
An IDE is handy in a way that it lets you use Laravel. For this, all you need to do is to install the Laravel Extension pack. And there are different Vue extensions for Visual Studio Code, such as Vetur, that will increase the pace of the development. There are many different extensions that can be found on the marketplace:
PhpStorm
PhpStorm is another IDE that is widely used for the development with PHP. It provides a full spectrum of various development tools. As the IDE is created by a JetBrains company, it is possible that you already had used some of the company’s products. So you will be familiar with how everything works when you will be working with PhpStorm. It is a great integrated development environment that probably the biggest disadvantage of it is that it is paid. However, you can get a free 30 days trial.
Even though it is an IDE that is specifically for PHP, it can be used for more than development with PHP. The biggest advantage of the PhpStorm is that it provides the tools needed for PHP development. And as the Laravel is a PHP framework, it is a naturally good fit to develop with Laravel on PhpStorm.
WebStorm
WebStorm is another JetBrains product that is focused on web development with JavaScript and TypeScript. Like any other JetBrains IDE, it provides plenty of useful tools. However, it is also not a free IDE, but it offers a free trial. If you are thinking of starting using WebStorm for Vue and Laravel, it is a nice choice.
This IDE is focused on JavaScript, so that’s a better fit for Vue.js than Php. However, there aren’t any dramatic differences between one and another. And it is still a great choice for using both, Laravel and Vue.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a great text editor that has many great features, such as split editing or project switch. But as you can install additional plugins, it can be done much more than that. It has a command palette – a feature that will help you to navigate between different commands. However, this is a paid product, so if you are searching for a free product, you should look after other great editors.
Atom
And one of the “other great editors”, is Atom. Unlike the Sublime Text, the editor is free. But that doesn’t matter that it is worse than the paid alternatives. It has many great features, packages for the editor could be installed, and it is cross-platform. So it is a great editor that you could customize according to your needs. The editor is not for the Laravel and Vue specifically, but these technologies, like any others, can be used with Atom.
And what’s good about this editor, is that it is open source.
In conclusion
If you are just starting to code, my advice is to choose a code editor that doesn’t have many fancy features. In this way, you will learn your basics. IDE can make your life way easier, but at the beginning of learning, you shouldn’t be searching for an easy path. Only when you are proficient, you should choose the best IDE for Laravel and Vue.