FTP: It’s Critical
One piece of software you won’t forget you’re using is a good FTP program. Most PHP programmers don’t sit on a remote server typing into a command-line editor like vi or emacs
Typing in a command-line editor is actually exactly how I work. But then, I’m a dinosaur, a throwback to days when you had to watch commercials to see primetime TV, and you’d miss emails
because your pocket didn’t buzz every time your boss whisked you a command through the ether.
Today, for most of you, a good text editor and a good graphical FTP client are much better choices. Seriously, my addiction owns me, and I so badly want to :wq! it.
Chapter 1 will point you at several great editors, and the fancier ones will have FTP built right in. But a program like Cyberduck (www.cyberduck.ch) is great, too. You can write a script, throw it online, and test it all with a few mouse clicks. So go ahead and get that FTP program downloaded, configured for your web server, and fired up. You’re gonna need it.