type of indentation, naming conventions, use of whitespace, bracket placement, etc. Well written code should use a consistent coding standard, i.e. Unlike some of the following extensions there is no need to install anything extra as long as you have PHP installed, but you can easily customise the rules it runs. It will also help you identify overcomplicated expressions and suboptimal code. PHP Mess Detector will analyse your code as you type and flag potential bugs and unused code.

This extension is a great way of monitoring your code and trying to keep it lean and bug free. If you don’t install any other extension from this post, at least make sure you add this one to your editor. At the time of writing it has an impressive 5 out of 5 rating. I’ve been using this extension for a while now and have been really impressed by what it offers. PHP Intelephense will massively improve your efficiency by offering intelligent code completion, workspace wide definition support, parameter help for function calls and a whole lot more. This is the must have extension for PHP development and goes a long way to making Visual Studio Code feel more like a traditional IDE. So here are my favourite extensions for improving productivity when writing PHP code. Now that I am increasingly choosing to load up VS Code instead I thought it was time to share my essential Visual Studio Code extensions for PHP developers.

You can even trigger a terminal directly from within VS Code which is great for when you need to do something on the command-line without breaking out of the editor I find this really helps with my workflow.Ī few years ago I wrote about the Sublime Text plugins I considered essential for PHP developers. The automation it offers with code completion as well as it’s superb git and debugging integration is a real winner. I have been a long time user of Sublime Text, but VS Code has gradually won me over. Personally I was a little skeptical when I first learnt of Microsoft’s latest editor. It’s available for Mac, Windows and Linux and best of all it’s free. Visual Studio Code is hot stuff right now and is quickly becoming the editor of choice for developers worldwide.

Free php for visual studio