PhpStorm 1.0 and WebStorm 1.0 have been released by JetBrains. Pricing is about where I had hoped it would be – and even better until September 1, 2010.

For PhpStorm

• Commercial license until September 1, $149, $199 after
• Personal license until September 1, $49, $99 after
• Freebies are available for classroom and open source project use

For WebStorm

• Commercial license until September 1, $99, $149 after
• Personal license until September 1, $39, $69 after
• Freebies are available for classroom and open source project use

Both IDEs are available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux and both have 45-day trial downloads available.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with JetBrains in any way and have no financial interest in the company or its products. I have been using the PhpStorm beta for several months.

I’ve been trying to decide how to replace/ refurbish my aging self-built home workstation (XP, 4 GB RAM, 2.13Ghz Core 2 Duo processor). I have all the software I need for a software and web development powerhouse, so I need a platform to really take advantage of the toolkit.

With those thoughts in the back of my mind, I came across an article on Tech Republic entitled “Dust off that dinosaur computer”. Naturally, that got me thinking about – not my next, but my first computer (ca. 1983).

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Got an idea for a new programming language? Thinking about implementing one on a new platform? It may be easier than you think. Early in my teaching career, I got interested in the problems that confront – and sometimes discourage – novice programmers. One of the problems that beginners had (and probably continue to have) is that they focus more on syntax than on semantics. That is, they get so hung up on how to express something in, say, C or Java (syntax) that they neglect to ensure that what they are trying to express actually makes sense (semantics).

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Tableizer is a free online tool for converting spreadsheet data to an HTML table. I tried it out on some Excel data I had for making a divider used on woodworking projects to lay out dimensions based on the Golden Ratio.

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I’ve been using Palm devices since the original 3Com Palm Pilot debuted in 1996. My fifth and final Palm device (thee PDAs and two phones) was my blue Verizon Centro. It was a great phone. I had it loaded with dozens of applications that I had been using for several years. It synced with the Palm Desktop, which had been continually upgraded since that original Palm Pilot.

But the Centro was just a phone with a lot of local apps. Email didn’t work very well; neither did the clunky browser; the screen was too small anyway. It connected to the Internet with all the speed and convenience  of a 1200-baud modem. So I waited patiently for the Palm Pre to become available on Verizon. But by the time it arrived, it was too late; the Droid had gotten there ahead of it. So after some indecision (Pre or Droid, Droid or Pre), I ordered a Droid from the Verizon web site and vowed to activate it immediately upon delivery.

The transition turned out to be almost as challenging as replacing a desktop PC. All those Palm OS apps would have to be replaced or done without. Fourteen years of accumulated PIM data – calendar, contacts, and dozens of memos – would have to be migrated, as would my Palm-compatible security vault with 140 password and account entries. The Palm Desktop itself would be useless and the days of a single click keeping handheld and PC in sync would be past.

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Like most developers, I’m a fan of free development tools – Eclipse, Aptana Studio, and Notepad++, for example. I do own UltraEdit, which I bought a few years ago and have upgraded occasionally. But I think I’m hooked on an IDE that is going to cost me some money: Jetbrains’ PHPStorm.

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