As a newbie in the universe of web development, one might come across a massive collection of programming languages. Interestingly, these have their own set of pros and cons that are unique.
PHP is a programming language that is highly recommended and immensely used. It has effectively been used for creating out-of-the-box web applications and websites. The programming language has flourished over the years. It keeps expanding its regime by offering fresh and exciting features to users.
Whether your requirement is an offshore PHP developer or you’re planning to build a promising career in PHP development, here are the best PHP development practices for you.
You can become familiar with few of the top PHP development practices which are worth a consideration. You will surely like these easy-to-follow practices.
Always use updated PHP version
It’s quite depressing that only a few of the PHP installed are upgraded and maintained in their newest version. This can be due to shared hosting restrictions or unmanaged defaults. But it’s very important for you to use the upgraded PHP version. Apart from this, you should also draft suitable arrangements for planning regular updates of PHP along with the extensions and plugins, which you might be using. With the updated version, you will receive enhanced development speed, new language features, lower memory usage, and security features.
Keep proper documentation of all codes
It’s certainly not shocking these days to see seasoned programmers’ lack of focus on writing easy-to-interpret and logical comments for codes. It is something which needs to be absolutely avoided. As a developer, you must ensure that you write proper codes and maintain a brief documentation of the same. This would help other programmers to understand your code in a better way. It would also help you during the review process in the future.
Use (Don’t Repeat Yourself) approach
This deals with the coding part that is involved with PHP development. DRY is an approach which is used to cut down the redundancy in code. For instance, using a specific code at too many places might make the entire process time consuming and tedious. You will probably not be able to correct any errors or bugs coming out of a parameter that is incorrectly used. Furthermore, you can use DRY to alter the database configuration.
Try Not To Use Short Tags
There is a majority of PHP developers who prefer opting for a shortcut approach for declaring PHP. These programmers use shorter tags such as “<?> or “<%”. This is to add a hint of professionalism. This may look like trying to make code user-friendly, but it needs to be avoided. You could use the official “<?php” instead for declaring PHP. Using short tags are prone to causing issues within XML parsers.
Try multiple PHP frameworks
PHP arrives equipped with a large array of tools and libraries to meet your various web development requirements. Though, in the initial stages of your project, you might approach third-party resources. Here PHP framework’s role arrives in the field. Do not ignore other PHP frameworks. Use FuelPHP, Codeigniter, Yii, Symfony, Phalcon, Laravel, Zend etc. These frameworks allow you to develop brilliant web applications and websites without the requirement for turning into a PHP professional.
Conclusion
These are few of the top PHP development practices which you need to consider. You will be able to execute various web development projects with the help of these.