WampServer + Eclipse = Great!
I just recently got my new laptop (Acer Aspire 8730 for CAD 900!) and it’s excellent despite being a behemoth. Anyhow – I decided to take a new approach to work stuff, so instead of installing AppServ as I’d formally used, I decided to go with WampServer – and I’m glad that I did. WampServer essentially does what AppServ did for me, but I like it more already. It incorporates some stuff like cURL without additional fuss, and it apparently makes it easier to switch between PHP versions. Honestly – after having used WampServer – even for this short amount of time – I see absolutely no reason to use AppServ, but I certainly don’t think AppServ is necessarily terrible. I encourage you to check WampServer out if you’re doing any PHP development work.
Anyhow – I also am just starting to realize the full benefits of Eclipse and the advantages and convenience that it offers, particularly with respect to CVS. It finally clicked that I could just point my Eclipse workspace to my WampServer directory, and then checkout my CVS project there while adding the config files to .cvsignore. This would seem really intuitive, but it always seems to be these “obvious” things that end up taking up copious amounts of my time.
I’m also generally focussing on getting better at using CVS and knowing proper development practices – I found an excellent article that does a good job of explaining branching with eclipse that you might want to check out. We have a new workmate as well, and she’s experienced with development practices, and hopefully some of that will rub off on me in the weeks to come as well.
I know it may seem that all I write about these days is work, but I’ve really been quite busy apart from a long weekend in Shanghai recently. I’ll try to get some non-work blog updates posted soon 
