PHP is a vast language. There are about 10-20 different ways of
accomplishing the same exact thing. A great programmer knows all of
these methods, but a great programmer I am not. But my experience has
done me well, and I will pass on my thoughts to you.
For the most part, I am self taught when it comes to PHP.
My roots
start with Perl, a language that was taught to me by my friend Ben. I learned a lot from him, and
I developed a strong base for when I dove into the world of PHP. At the
time, however, I had no contacts for other PHP programmers. And such, I
set out about hacking my way through the language.
I found that it was best to set goals. I found something that I wanted
to accomplish, and then I researched how I would do it. Once complete,
I would then set about finding a better way to do it. I ended up with
several projects that never amounted to much. But as I grew, each goal
or project grew in complexity. Eventually, I learned enough to embark
on a massive project. And the Swing-CMS engine
was born.
Albeit, what you see here today wasn't my first attempt. Originally, I
wrote a very simple CMS that I called "Pivot" for my group,
href="http://fulcrum.antisoc.net">Fulcrum. Being naive, I developed
my own template engine that would search and replace tags with PHP
scripts. Ultimately, the system worked, but it was flawed. Armed with
knowledge from "Pivot", I moved on to the first iteration of Swing. It
was a step in the right direction, but it too was flawed and the big
problem was once again the template system.
Finally, I developed a pretty solid core for my engine. And I got here
because I really broke a lot of things. But I didn't have the benefit
of having someone like me offering advice. Sure, you'll still break
stuff, but hopefully you won't run into the same problems that I had.
Here are some quick tips that I can offer to you while you're learning
PHP
Plan Ahead
You can't anticipate every problem
that may arise, but plan ahead. Frequently used aspects of your
application should be stored in functions or classes so that you can
call them from anywhere.
Format Your Code
Follow standard coding
guidelines. Take advantage of whitespace for organization, indent
content within loops, functions or classes and develop commenting
styles.
Use PEAR
For those of you who aren't aware, PEAR is a depository of high quality (and widely used) PHP extensions. Most
of your common applications are here. Want to easily connect to the
database and manage your queries? Several solutions to choose from
(PEAR DB is the most common). Conversions between XML and BBCode, it's
there. This is a great place to start to save yourself time.)
Use PhpDocumentor
Especially for your larger
applications, it can be hard to keep track of your functions and
variables. PhpDocumentor requires you to comment in a special way, but
it's worth it. From your comments, it will generate HTML documents that
will become a wonderful resource. PhpDocumentor is available at the
PEAR website.
Use Smarty
Smarty, as I mentioned earlier, is a template system for PHP. It is very useful in writing web applications
as it helps you keep your code and your HTML templates separate. It's
easy to use and there's no reason to write your own template system.
Never Work on Production Source
Even if you don't
have a production installation, it's a good idea to work on a copy of
your code. You never know when something you do can royally mess up a
project, and it may be hard to revert back to where you were. At the
very least, work off of a copy. If at all possible, try using a CVS or
a Subversion repository to keep track of your code. If you're working
on an Open Source project, check out SourceForge
Experiment
Don't be afraid to take risks. If
you're following my advice above, you're working on a copy anyhow, and
you can easily revert to an earlier version if you break something
serious.
Share Your Code
There is no better way to learn
than to share your code with others. Asking "How do I do this?" isn't
going to get you nearly as much response as if you were to post your
broken code and ask "Where did I mess up?" But this advice goes beyond
learning - this is about respect. Posting your code shows two things:
1) You want to learn a better way to do things and 2) You're willing to
contribute. PHP gurus like to help those who will carry on their
legacy.
Get Involved
Sometimes, the best project is one
that's run by someone else. There are plenty of projects looking for
help on SourceForge (like mine). Just be honest with the project leader
about your skills. They often won't turn down help. Even if you're
mostly beta testing, there's lots to learn from a large project.
Besides, it's a good resume builder if you're in the field.
