Must-Know PHP Concepts

 

Some of my highly recommended resources:

• PHP For Beginners | 3+ Hour Crash Course (Traversy Media): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCiSSyIGGU 
• Query A Database Using PDO In OOP PHP | Object Oriented PHP Tutorial | PHP Tutorial | mmtuts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_-vmSv2PFo 

 

1. Syntax and Basics

• Data Types (Denoted by a $)
  • integers
  • floats
  • string
  • arrays
  • objects and resources
  • NULL
• Operators
  • arithmethic
  • assignment
  • comparison
  • logical operators
• Conditions/Loops
  • if else statements
  • switch
  • while
  • do-while
  • for loop
  • forEach loop

 

2. Functions

• Function definition: SYNTAX: function() { echo "Hello World" }
• Built-in functions for:
  • string manipulation
  • array manipulation
  • file operations
  • etc...

 

3. Tables

• Indexed tables: tables with numerical indexes.
• Associative tables: tables with named keys.
• Multidimensional arrays: Arrays that contain one or more arrays.

 

4. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

• PHP is an object-oriented language that supports classes and objects.
• Inheritance: PHP allows classes to inherit properties and methods from other classes.
• Access modifiers: public, protected and private are used to control access to members of a class.
• Special methods
  • __construct()
  • __destruct()
  • __get()
  • __set()
  • __call()
  • etc...

 

5. Global

• Arrays of variables are passed to the current script via URL parameters and HTTP POST.
  • $_GET
  • $_POST:
• Used to store sessions and cookies.
  • $_SESSION
  • $_COOKIE:
• $_SERVER - An array containing information about headers, paths and script locations.

 

6. Error Handling

• error_reporting() - Configure and handle errors using the
• handle exceptions by using sample blocks
• custom error and exception handlers.

 

7. File manipulation

• Functions:
  • fopen()
  • fread()
  • fwrite()
  • file_get_contents()
  • etc.
• Manage file uploads using forms.

 

8. Database Interaction

• Database Interaction Extensions.
  • MySQL
  • PDO
• Prepared expressions - Using prepared expressions to perform queries safely.

 

9. Sessions and Cookies

• Sessions: A mechanism for storing user data across multiple pages.
• Cookies: storage of data on the client to track user sessions.

 

10. Processing of forms

• Verification: Verification of user inputs from forms.
• Sanitize: Sanitize streams to prevent vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and XSS.

 

11. Security

• SQL injection: Prevent SQL injection with predicates and proper input sanitization.
• XSS (Cross-Site Scripting): Avoiding XSS by sanitizing user input.
• CSRF (Kross-Site Request Forgery): Implementation of CSRF tokens against CSRF attacks.

 

12. Regular expressions

• Pattern matching: Using regular expressions to match patterns and manipulate text.

 

13. PHP settings

• php.ini: Configure PHP settings with the php.ini file.
• htaccess: Using .htaccess for URL configuration and rewriting.

 

14. Frameworks and Content Systems

• Popular frameworks:
  • Laravel
  • Symfony
  • CodeIgniter
  • etc.
• Content Management System (CMS)
  • WordPress
  • Joomla
  • Drupal
  • etc.

 

15. Composer

• Dependency Management: Using Composer to manage project dependencies.
• Understanding these concepts provides a solid foundation for working with PHP in various web development projects.