Author: Codenga 02.02.2022

PHP language, despite the passage of time, still has a strong position on the market. And still many people start their programming adventure with it. Do you want to become a PHP Developer? Here’s what you’ll need to get started.

Web technologies - key concepts

PHP is primarily used for writing web applications. Therefore, it is very important to master the key concepts related to this topic.

How does the server work? What is the communication between the server and the browser? What is HTTP protocol? What is a session? How do cookies work?

These are the fundamental concepts that every web application developer should know. So start your journey by getting to know the above concepts. You don't have to be an expert right away. The most important thing here is to have a good understanding of the basics. With the emphasis on the word "understanding".

All this can be learned literally in a few days - at least at a basic level. More expert knowledge will come naturally over time. It's a matter of experience and time spent on PHP projects.

PHP key elements

The next step is to learn the basics of the PHP language itself. So you need to get to know such concepts as variables, loops, functions, and conditional statements. That is everything that makes up the foundations of the language.

It is crucial to master the object-oriented aspects of PHP. Almost every application written in this language is based on classes, objects, and methods. This is the foundation without which you can't move forward. Object-oriented programming is the foundation of almost every more complex project.

With PHP, you'll also need to master the language's built-in mechanisms for managing sessions, cookies, date, and time processing. These are also elements that are encountered every step of the way in web applications.

Databases

The vast majority of server applications work with some kind of database. This is quite common because you have to save the data processed by your application somewhere. For example, you need to store users, their data, the content displayed on the page, etc. For PHP applications, a popular choice is a MySQL database. PostgreSQL databases are also common. There are also other possibilities - this is a broad topic.

Anyway, these are usually SQL-based databases. As a future PHP developer you will 100% need a good understanding of database issues. This involves skills such as:

• writing queries in SQL language;
• key operations on the database - creating, reading, updating and deleting (CRUD).

It may come in handy to have some basic knowledge about database configuration, assigning user privileges, etc. It also is important to familiarize yourself with the topics of security, stability, and database performance. Now you only need basics, but with time will also come experience.

Projects - practice is essential

All the knowledge above is of little use if you don't get some real practice with PHP. The same can be said about any other skill. That's why working on projects is so important.

Start this part of your work as early as possible, as soon as you have a reasonable grasp of the basics of the language. Of course, nobody is going to create complex applications with dozens of functionalities in the beginning. Rather, this is about starting to write just about any real, working project. It could be a simple calculator, a simple quiz with random questions, some form that collects data from a website, anything you want.

These projects should be manageable by anyone with an honest understanding of PHP basics. The more projects you do, the more it will pay off in the future. There are no shortcuts here - if you want to become a programmer you have to spend as much time as possible practicing.

Frameworks

Nowadays, so-called frameworks are very often used to create web applications. It is a tool that provides a "skeleton" of the application and many functionalities that facilitate the work on the application.

It happens quite often that knowledge of a popular framework is required for a given position. In the case of PHP, we have solutions like Laravel, Symfony, Zend, etc.

At the very beginning of your learning, don't bother with this issue. However, if you have already mastered the basics of the language, it is worth considering learning a popular tool. This is the knowledge that may be necessary in the future when applying for a job.

Summary

Do you see what task you have in front of you? Learning programming is not only about language. It's also tools, working techniques and most of all as much practice as possible. It's important to think about this subject first. You need to divide the learning into easy to digest fragments.

For PHP, you can isolate a few key areas:

• the most important mechanisms of the Web (HTTP, servers, cookies, etc.);
• mastering the basics of the language including the object-oriented aspects;
• gaining experience in writing projects;
• developing skills, getting to know popular frameworks such as Laravel or Symfony.

There is a lot of knowledge to be gained in each of these areas so the earlier you start the better. Good luck!