What is the recommended error_reporting() setting for development? What about E_STRICT?

Question

Typically I use E_ALL to see anything that PHP might say about my code to try and improve it.

I just noticed a error constant E_STRICT, but

Answer 1

In newer PHP versions, E_ALL includes more classes of errors. Since PHP 5.3, E_ALL includes everything except E_STRICT. In PHP 6 it will alledgedly include even that. This is a good hint: it's better to see more error messages rather than less.

What's included in E_ALL is documented in the PHP predefined constants page in the online manual.

Personally, I think it doesn't matter all that much if you use E_STRICT. It certainly won't hurt you, especially since it may prevent you from writing scripts that have a small chance of getting broken in future versions of PHP. On the other hand, in some cases strict messages may be too noisy, perhaps especially if you're in a hurry. I suggest that you turn it on by default and turn it off when it gets annoying.