Developing in PHP: Things you should have in mind if you are a new PHP developer
After working too many hours during several years in dozens of large, medium and small projects on PHP I feel comfortable sharing with you some of the few things I have learned. If you are a newbie, can could feel confused if there are things you can’t understand and don’t find someone who can response your questions. We are here to solve this problem and give you a light of guidance in some aspects of the programming in PHP. PHP is powerful and it is looking for people who desire have this power in their brains and fingers. I have found in the internet a lot of tools and application I didn’t have the opportunity to use when I was an inexperienced PHP programmer. But today most of you have the privilege of use and have advanced web application in just few hours. I think that not only newbie PHP developers should know about these tools; also intermediate and advanced developers can use it in order they can make easier their own lives. Let’s see now the list I have prepared for you.
1. Phing: The name of this project build system is taken as part of a recursive acronym which means “PHP is not GNU”. I don’t know if it is a protest but it is the reason of the name of this important tool. The most relevant of Phing is that you can examine a group of dependencies that will help you to execute a group of classes and the propel installation of a web application in PHP. Whether you are a developer thinking in large scale project probably this tool is the correct for you. Most programmers that are using Phing say that this application simplifies the work and make useful tasks that help them to save time.
2. Xdebug: It works as an extension of PHP capable of debug and profile your PHP scripts. When you are developing your PHP project your will receive a notification message informing to you all the new errors that appear in your program helping you to correct them easily and save time in your developing process.
3. PHP Unit: The main purpose of PHP unit is making the test of PHP frameworks. When you are working in large project it could be a useful tool because reduce and almost avoid all kind of bottlenecks in your web designs with PHP.
4. Propel: Propel is one of those tools that have the mission to make your work easier. With propel you can work with databases in the abstraction layer. It means that you can define and work with your database in a XML file and build static classes for you that can be operated in your PHP application.
5. WAMP: Wamp is the miracle that has finished with all installation problems with the Apache Server, PHP configuration and MySQL databases. Wamp is an incredible tool than can be easily installed in your computer and has the three vital elements to develop and run PHP WebPages: Apache Server, PHP 5.0 and MySQL Server. Once you complete the installation you will be able to operate all kind of PHP files, MySQL databases without any kind of complication.
