Global variables are common pitfalls many developers fall into. Indeed, difficult to scale and maintain an application crippled with globals. Why is that? Isn't it convenient to be able to access variables and their values everywhere? The global state problem is only part of a bigger one, namely leaking states and the lack of encapsulation. »
Simplicity is one of the most important concept to understand and apply as a developer. This article will first define what simplicity and complexity mean. Then, I will explain why simplicity is really important, to finally go over the main practices you can apply to make your codebase simpler. »
Today is a great day: you will begin to develop the new greenfield project of the soon-very-successful startup you work for, as a PHP Ninja Wizard of the Crown. But wait! You're teaming with Dave, your colleague developer! He's creating an Anemic Domain Model! Why? Is it that bad? »
Oh no! You're working on an application which is as messy as your flat! You don't understand anything, every bug takes weeks to fix. You need to improve the quality of your PHP code... but how? What tool to use? A hoover? Don't worry, dear reader, I have some answers for you. »
The DRY principle (Don't Repeat Yourself) is easy to understand but difficult to apply. Should we never repeat our code? What was the true purpose of the principle's authors? Let's decipher what should be DRY in our code, and what should not. »
What are the traps you can fall into, using PHP 7.2? Should you use everything implemented in this new version? Don't introduce ambiguity in your codebase: everything in PHP is not necessarily good to use. »
I can see you spitting your cereals in front of you computer. 'What? A PHP IDE with Vim? Are you insane?'. If I am, I'm not the only one: many developers use Vim, why not PHP developers? This article will describe everything you need for you to build your own personal IDE, which fits your way of working and answers your specific needs. »
Behold the story of a developer (me) who were mocking his colleague for using Vim! He was young, innocent and presumptuous! But at the end, he understood why Vim is so praised since the 70s: it's the best editor ever. I won't go into a crusade to evangelise you with Vim, but you need to know my story: how I ended up using Vim after years with PhpStorm. »
When PHP 7 came up with strong types, I saw the light. I had the hope not to see anymore bugs and inconsistencies due to weak typing in PHP. I remember reading some code and having no idea what could be the type of the variables I had in front of me. Can I use the return of this method as an int? A boolean? Will it create silent bugs and unexpected behaviors? »
When I search and read code about time and date problems developers have, I noticed that a lot of people still use the old PHP functions like date(), time() or strtotime(). What about using the object DateTime instead? It’s time to reintroduce this powerful PHP object. DateTime can do all the usual date and time operations you could ask for, and even more. Using DateTime can save a lot of time when you have to do simple, or more complex operations on dates. »
