Skip to main content Senior Full Stack Web Developer - Ossi Jalonen

Something like a PHP tutorial

Published: 2024-04-16
Updated: 2024-04-16

I have various work projects going on and I also have various development projects of my own. Multiple Rest APIs, Vue/React/Svelte front-ends, Flutter/dart mobile apps. Golang backends. All sorts of things. AI things, AI image generation things. Two different blog post series on this site already. So why not add one more (or two).

This series is about PHP, as I’ve worked with PHP for quite a while and feel I could have a little look around and see what I know and what I’ve been missing - doing something for a long time does not mean that you know everything about it. Hopefully I’ll find and learn lots of new things. And if this series works out nicely, I’m tempted to do similar series with Golang - language I’ve used for much shorter time.

Below rough guide to what to expect, hopefully I won’t end up revising it too much. I’ve had a bit of artificial help in putting the course outline (among other things) together, but I’m jumping into this with an open mind. I’m aiming to code along so we should end up with a codebase of sorts as well. Hopefully we’ll start (and finish) before the end of the year.

Course outline

  1. Introduction to Modern PHP
    • Overview of PHP versions and their features
    • PHP 7.x and PHP 8.x improvements and new features
    • Backward compatibility and migration strategies
    • Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in PHP
  2. Advanced OOP concepts (inheritance, interfaces, traits, abstract classes)
    • Design patterns (Singleton, Factory, Observer, and more)
    • Autoloading and namespaces
    • PHP Standards Recommendations (PSRs) for OOP
  3. PHP Performance Optimization
    • Opcode caching (OPcache)
    • Profiling and benchmarking
    • Optimizing databases and queries
    • Caching strategies (opcode, data, and full-page caching)
    • Performance tuning and configuration
  4. Security in PHP
    • Input validation and sanitization
    • Preventing common vulnerabilities (XSS, CSRF, SQL injection, etc.)
    • Password hashing and encryption
    • Secure session management
    • PHP Security Headers
  5. Testing in PHP
    • Unit testing with PHPUnit
    • Test-driven development (TDD)
    • Code coverage and code quality tools
    • Continuous integration and deployment
  6. Building PHP Applications
    • Modern PHP frameworks (Laravel, Symfony, etc.)
    • Dependency management with Composer
    • Building RESTful APIs
    • Authentication and authorization
    • Handling file uploads and downloads
    • Working with databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)
  7. PHP and JavaScript Integration
    • Ajax with PHP
    • JSON and XML handling
    • Server-sent events and WebSockets
    • Headless browsers and scraping
  8. Asynchronous PHP
    • Event-driven programming with ReactPHP
    • Parallel processing and multi-threading
    • Asynchronous programming with Promises and Generators
  9. Advanced PHP Topics
    • Working with different data formats (CSV, XML, JSON, YAML)
    • Interacting with web services and APIs
    • Image and file manipulation
    • Internationalization and localization
    • Debugging and error handling techniques
  10. PHP in the Cloud
    • Deploying PHP applications to the cloud
    • Serverless PHP with AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Functions
    • Containerization with Docker
    • Scaling and load balancing
  11. Modern PHP Ecosystem
    • Package management with Composer
    • Popular PHP libraries and frameworks
    • Contributing to open-source projects
    • PHP community and resources
  12. PHP Best Practices and Standards
    • Coding standards (PSR-1, PSR-12)
    • Object caching and data caching
    • Refactoring and code optimization
    • Documenting code with PHPDocumentor

This outline covers a wide range of advanced topics in PHP, including performance optimization, security, testing, application development, asynchronous programming, cloud deployment, and best practices. The course can be tailored further based on the specific needs and goals of the target audience.

Plan on the Intro section in more detail

  1. Introduction to Modern PHP

    1.1. Evolution of PHP

    • Brief history of PHP
    • Significance of PHP in web development
    • Overview of major PHP versions and their release dates

    1.2. PHP 7.x

    • Performance improvements and new features
    • Scalar type hints
    • Return type declarations
    • Null coalescing operator
    • Spaceship operator
    • Anonymous classes
    • Uniform variable syntax
    • Closure::call()
    • Filtered unserialize() support
    • Performance benchmarks and comparisons with previous versions
    • Backward incompatible changes and migration strategies

    1.3. PHP 8.x

    • Performance improvements and new features
    • Union types
    • Named arguments
    • Nullsafe operator
    • Match expression
    • Attributes
    • Constructor property promotion
    • Static return type
    • Mixed type
    • Improvements to type system
    • Improvements to error handling
    • Consistent type errors for internal functions
    • Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation
    • Backward incompatible changes and migration strategies
    • Deprecations and removed features

    1.4. Upcoming PHP Versions

    • Overview of planned features and improvements
    • Release timeline and roadmap
    • Keeping up with PHP developments and news

    1.5. PHP Language Constructs and Syntax

    • Basic syntax and structure
    • Variables and data types
    • Operators and expressions
    • Control structures
    • Functions and scope
    • Review of language constructs and syntax changes in recent versions

    1.6. PHP Ecosystem and Community

    • Popular PHP frameworks and libraries
    • Package management with Composer
    • PHP coding standards and best practices
    • PHP community resources (forums, blogs, conferences)
    • Contributing to open-source PHP projects

    1.7. Setting up a Modern PHP Development Environment

    • Installing PHP and configuring the environment
    • Popular IDEs and code editors for PHP development
    • Debugging tools and techniques
    • Version control systems (Git)
    • Continuous integration and deployment

This detailed outline covers the evolution of PHP, significant features and improvements in recent versions, upcoming changes, language constructs and syntax, the PHP ecosystem and community, and setting up a modern PHP development environment. It provides a comprehensive introduction to modern PHP.

Demo app: Project Management Application

We’ll aim to build a project management application to demonstrate the various concepts and features covered in this PHP posts series. Here’s a breakdown of the application components that can be built alongside the corresponding course sections:

Project: Project Management Application

  1. Introduction to Modern PHP

    • Set up the project using the latest PHP version
    • Migrate existing code to PHP 7.x or PHP 8.x, if applicable

  2. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in PHP

    • Create classes for Project, Task, User, and other entities
    • Implement inheritance (e.g., different types of tasks or users)
    • Use interfaces for common operations (e.g., ILoggable for logging actions)
    • Implement traits for reusable functionality (e.g., DateUtilities trait)
    • Create abstract classes for shared behavior (e.g., AbstractUser)
    • Implement design patterns (e.g., Singleton for Logger, Factory for Task creation)
    • Use autoloading and namespaces for better organization

  3. PHP Performance Optimization

    • Implement opcode caching (OPcache) for improved performance
    • Profile and benchmark critical sections of the application
    • Optimize database queries and leverage caching strategies
    • Implement full-page caching for frequently accessed pages
    • Tune PHP configuration settings for optimal performance

  4. Security in PHP

    • Implement input validation and sanitization for user input
    • Prevent common vulnerabilities like XSS, CSRF, and SQL injection
    • Implement secure password hashing and encryption for user authentication
    • Manage sessions securely and implement session fixation protection
    • Configure appropriate security headers for the application

  5. Testing in PHP

    • Write unit tests using PHPUnit for critical components
    • Practice test-driven development (TDD) for new features
    • Measure code coverage and enforce quality standards
    • Set up a continuous integration (CI) pipeline for automated testing

  6. Building PHP Applications

    • Develop the application using a modern PHP framework (e.g., Laravel, Symfony)
    • Manage dependencies with Composer
    • Build a RESTful API for project and task management
    • Implement authentication and authorization mechanisms
    • Handle file uploads and downloads for project attachments
    • Integrate with a database (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) for data storage

  7. PHP and JavaScript Integration

    • Implement Ajax functionality for real-time updates and notifications
    • Handle JSON and XML data formats for API communication
    • Explore server-sent events or WebSockets for real-time collaboration
    • Implement headless browsing and web scraping for data extraction

  8. Asynchronous PHP

    • Explore event-driven programming with ReactPHP for real-time communication
    • Implement parallel processing for resource-intensive tasks
    • Use Promises and Generators for asynchronous programming patterns

  9. Advanced PHP Topics

    • Import and export project data in various formats (CSV, XML, JSON, YAML)
    • Integrate with third-party web services and APIs (e.g., project tracking, notifications)
    • Implement image and file manipulation for project attachments
    • Provide internationalization and localization support
    • Implement advanced debugging and error handling techniques

  10. PHP in the Cloud

    • Deploy the project management application to the cloud
    • Explore serverless PHP with AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Functions
    • Containerize the application using Docker
    • Implement scaling and load balancing strategies for high traffic

  11. Modern PHP Ecosystem

    • Leverage popular PHP libraries and frameworks in the application
    • Contribute to open-source projects by submitting bug reports or pull requests
    • Explore PHP community resources and participate in discussions

  12. PHP Best Practices and Standards

    • Adhere to coding standards (PSR-1, PSR-12) throughout the codebase
    • Implement object caching and data caching where appropriate
    • Refactor and optimize the code for better performance and maintainability
    • Document the codebase using PHPDocumentor or similar tools

This project management application can serve as a practical example to reinforce the concepts and techniques covered in each section.

I’m not sure how we’ll piece this all together, but hopefully it’ll be fun. How the posts outline and the demo app will line up will be interesting to see. Looks like we’re also building the demo without a framework, so we might need to follow up this series with a detailed series of posts on PHP frameworks. But that’s still far away in the future. Let’s get this out of the way first. See you in the next post.