Komodo Edit 4.0 is produced by ActiveState who also produce other commercial software for the linux platform although the pricing is somewhat over the original parameters that I stated for the reviews. This version their free reduced feature multi language editor is not only feature rich but also free. It’s big brother has a lot more feature but at a retail cost of $295.00 (€221) seems quite a lot but it has the advantage of a liberal licensing and can run on mac, windows and linux so you can use it where ever you need to.

So what are the main feature for a PHP developer:

• Autocompletion
• Templates
• Syntax highlighting
• Code Snippets
• Code Folding
• Macros
• Project explorer
• VI emulator
• Emacs keybinding
• Code folding

This is an excellent editor in that it allows you to do a lot without opening your wallet, the first thing that I really like about this editor is the the visualization of the code after all this is what we are writing. Its crisp and smooth and you have many options to customize the highlighting color end background etc.

Autocompletion
The autocompletion is great and is what is missing in a number of the other editors I have tried and can really help keep you productive.

Templates
The templates are very helpful when building project for the web especially when using a framework such as CodeIgniter or CakePHP.

Code Snippets
Although functional and customizable this function is not really what I expected. You can create snippets that are saved for re-use but rather than be able to call them simply using the keyboard. They are stored in one of the toolbox it fells like this added feature is more of an after thought. If you create a large number of snippets you will then have trouble finding them using the mouse which sort of defeats the object of have snippets are you can probably type them just as fast if they are short. This is one feature that needs to be addressed so that all snippets can be accessed using the keyboard easily like other apps such as Textmate

Edit (June 2 2007) This functionality can be created using the triggers see Komodo key binding triggers similar to Textmate although not in the actual build (although it should be) is an essential triggers to maximize the potential of this functionality.

Macros
Unless your using very complex task of over five or six steps macros are not very useful they just repeat what you’ve done.

Navigation
The navigation between files and withing projects is excellent with the possibility to have virtual and normal (live) folder structures. One feature that is lacking is the inability to navigate within files from function to function but this is available in the free editor’s big brother.

Summary
Overall this editor is very good with lots of feature that I haven’t covered so if you’re still looking for an editor try this one out you may like it and decide to purchase the full version but in my opinion some of the features such as code snippets don’t warrant paying the $295.00 (€221) fee. This free version is not only feature rich but gives you that professional developing experience for more advanced feature see the commercial version.

Update (Jun 2 2007)

After Troy and Jeff from Active State pointed me in the right direction there are methods to enable the code snippets to be inserted using the triggers see his post for the Komodo key binding triggers similar to Textmate this great extra functionality really adds to the productive experience.