PHP Programming Learning Path

Master the concepts and skills from basic to advanced to build powerful web applications.

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Phase Main Topic Content & Activities Product Goal
1 PHP Fundamentals
  • Basic Syntax
  • Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
  • New Features in PHP 8+
  • Error & Exception Handling
  • Functions and Arrow Functions
 Build a simple contact form with validation and email sending.
2 Tools & Ecosystem
  • Web Server (Apache/Nginx)
  • Composer
  • Packagist
  • PSR (PHP Standards Recommendations)
 Set up a new project with Composer and integrate an external package.
3 Database Interaction
  • Basic SQL Knowledge
  • PDO (PHP Data Objects)
  • MySQL / MariaDB
  • PostgreSQL
  • ORM (Eloquent/Doctrine)
 Create a basic blog application with create, read, update, delete (CRUD) functionalities.
4 Choose a Framework
  • Laravel
  • Symfony
  • CodeIgniter
  • Core Concepts (Router, Controller, Model, View, Middleware)
 Rebuild the blog application using Laravel or Symfony.
5 Testing
  • PHPUnit
  • Pest
  • Integration & Feature Testing
  • Browser Testing (Laravel Dusk)
 Write unit & feature tests for the core functionalities of the blog application.
6 API & Security
  • Building RESTful APIs
  • API Authentication (Sanctum/Passport)
  • Common Security Vulnerabilities
  • CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)
 Add a RESTful API to the blog application to display posts and handle user authentication.
7 Advanced Topics
  • Caching (Redis/Memcached)
  • Queues & Jobs
  • Asynchronous Programming (Swoole/ReactPHP)
  • WebSockets
 Implement a caching layer for the blog's homepage and a queue system for sending newsletters.
8 Deployment & DevOps
  • Docker
  • CI/CD (Github Actions, Jenkins)
  • Deploy to Cloud (AWS, DigitalOcean, etc.)
  • Server Configuration & Performance Optimization
 Dockerize the blog application and set up a CI/CD pipeline for automatic deployment.

Core Mindsets for PHP Developers

1. Solve Real-World Problems

PHP is a pragmatic language. Focus on solving real-world problems effectively instead of getting bogged down in theoretical purity.

2. Leverage the Ecosystem

PHP's strength lies in its vast ecosystem (Composer, Packagist) and powerful frameworks (Laravel, Symfony). Don't reinvent the wheel.

3. Security is Paramount

As a server-side language, security is your responsibility. Always think about SQL injection, XSS, CSRF. Filter input, escape output.

4. Adapt and Evolve

PHP is constantly evolving. Keep up with new versions, modern practices (like PSR standards), and avoid outdated tutorials.