How to Become an Expert PHP Developer?

The most popular web development language is PHP and developers love to work using this programming language. Near about 20 million domains use PHP, it is the programming language that is used by well known websites like Facebook, Wikipedia etc.

Every web developer wants to master the art of using PHP in an excellent manner. This blog post from Softqube Technologies, PHP Development Company is for such enthusiastic developers who wish to excel at programming and sharpen their skills in the development field. Hence, let’s move ahead and check out some tips that will make a normal PHP developer an Expert.

Get transformed into an expert PHP developer:

• Make use of PHP core functions and classes: If you wish to develop something that is very easily seen on the web then you can first try your hands at that most commonly used PHP function.

  Always take a look at the updated PHP manual before you actually start using the language to write the code for any web application or any eCommerce software. Avoid using long functions when one function does the work of many.

  Stay updated with latest set of PHP functions and classes.

• Form a Configuration File: Apart from just having your database connection settings spread everywhere, it is advisable to develop one master file which includes all the settings as well as your PHP scripts.

  You can change the details later on and combine all files into one single file known as Master file. This is a very useful way when there’s a need to use constants and functions in multiple scripts.

  Using a config file is a very useful and well adopted web application pattern which makes the code modular as well as easier to maintain.

• Always clean the data before actually adding it to the database: One of the easiest ways to clean the data is to make use of SQL injections. It is advisable to clean the database inputs so as to get rid of any issues later on.

  Hence, it is recommended to get a perfect idea of what SQL injections are. A PHP function is available that can reduce any number of huge heaps of problems. This is as follows: “mysql_real_escape_string”

  This function will get the regular string and then clean the entire data from it. When used with html special characters, it transforms the reserved HTML characters as well as protects the database by serving as a safeguard against XSS attacks.

• Always keep Error Reporting On till the development process is complete: Error Reporting must always be left on when the development is going on. This will help you to see run time errors which can quickly identify the origin of errors so that developers can easily fix it.

  This means the more quickly you are aware of the errors, the more speedy actions you can take to rectify them. Once the development process is over, you can set this error reporting off.

• Favourite code snippets must be easily available: In your entire PHP development career, you will have to code for enormous things and at that time favourite code snippets will be useful to you.

  This saves the time thus making it easier to accomplish application development task very soon. Various applications are available that can store and update your collection of code snippets which can be made available anywhere when needed.

Wind Up

These are some of the tips that PHP developers must follow to become an expert in the field. Give it a try and let us know your opinion and do share if you see any positive improvements.