Anti-Moronic

Makes a very important point. You will have trouble finding 'advanced php' books because php itself is not that advanced of a programming language. I sometimes find myself switching off from time to time when I'm programming in php because it's so damn easy when you 'know' it. The only challenge now is keeping on top of modern web technologies. Programming in general: the rabbit hole goes very deep. Hurts my head. Oh, I'd also second that pragmatic programmer. This is one of THE best programming books I've ever read. You can see other recomendations here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-single-most-influential-book-every-programmer-should-read Code Complete and Pragmatic Programmer! For php: Php 5 Objects Patterns and Practice by that matt guy.

To be honest we can't go wrong with notepad++. Ultra fast, simple and has quite a few plugins to extend basic functionality. I can't offer an unbiased opinion as I have only used a few editors - DW, notepad++ and Zend Studio 7,8. I can't stand DW and I work with ZS on my main projects but mainly due to using Zend Framework so it all integrates very nicely. That, with project specific settings and sessions etc AND the incredibly customizable template code insertions makes it a breeze to develop in. I might move onto DW again if the next trial version impresses me.