Label: tips
Friday 22nd November 2013 Great Sites for Learning PHP
Learning a new programming language can be tough - especially when you're trying to learn it in the abstract. Once you've got the essentials down, the best way to keep learning - and to keep the learning interesting - is by getting your hands dirty with some simple projects. As your projects grow more and more complex, sometimes you'll find yourself grasping at straws while trying to figure out a portion of your project. Enter the great tutorial website, always ready to help you out with some of the trickier aspects of project development. With that in mind, we've put together a list of great sites that offer some of the best tutorials online. It's by no means an exhaustive list, but they're all great starting places.
The grandfather of them all is the venerable
W3Schools site. You may remember it from the hazy bygone days of learning HTML and CSS, but it's got great resources for many languages, and PHP is right up there with the rest of them. While its tutorials aren't as in-depth as most of the other sites we'll look at, it has some great tutorials and sandboxes for experimenting with different PHP functions, which makes it great for beginners.
One of the newer - and better designed - sites for learning PHP can be found at the Code Academy. It offers a set of 11 unique courses to take you from the very beginnings of PHP with a very hands-on approach, similar to the sandboxes offered by W3Schools but far more advanced. They don't delve as deeply as some of the other sites, but they're great for the basics.
Once you've shaken off the fear of unfamiliar new code and you're ready for something more advanced and intriguing, swing by PHPAcademy. Their tutorial collection is comprised entirely of free videos which are nicely put together. The only downside is that they're relatively new, and are still building up a large repository of content. Regardless, they're definitely worth visiting to start getting your feet wet with some more interesting PHP projects.
Finally, if you've got a bit of money to throw at the learning process, it's worth checking out the resources offered by the ubiquitous
Lynda. They've got literally thousands of tutorials under their belts, and while they only offer a few for PHP, they cover all the major aspects of what you need to know to get comfortable with PHP, from working with MySQL to building basic Facebook applications. Their experience with teaching is obvious in every tutorial they host, and once you get hooked you'll want to start learning even more!
Posted on November 22nd 2013 at 11:05pm
0 Comments
Wednesday 20th November 2013 Top Tips for PHP Beginners
Learning a new programming language can be a huge undertaking, and learning PHP is no exception. Not only do you have to learn the actual syntax and structure, but there are a number of different subtleties unique to any language, and PHP has its fair share. There are some best practices that you should get in the habit of applying to your work, so you don't have to come back later and break yourself of any bad habits. This is by no means a complete list, but it's a good starting point for PHP beginners.
First and foremost, use the latest version of PHP. This might seem like a no-brainer to everyone, but it's surprising how many people are still using outdated versions of PHP. Just make sure that you check with your hosting provider that they're willing to support the version you use. While all hosts should be supporting PHP 5 by now, they may not be supporting the latest subversion (5.5 at the time of writing)
Next, familiarise yourself with the PHP manual. Another one that might seem like a no-brainer, but most programmers learn from a 'Teach Yourself' guide or similar online tutorial system, and some have never touched the PHP manual in their lives. Give it a shot, and you're almost guaranteed to learn something that was left out of your quick-start guide.
If you haven't already switched to one, try out an integrated development environment, or IDE for short. We recently posted about some of the most popular IDEs, but it's important to find one that feels comfortable to you, so test out some of the available options to find your personal favourite. The simplest improvements over a basic text editor can make you wonder how you ever coded without an IDE.
To save yourself a bunch of headaches while you're learning (and after), make sure you have enabled error reporting. It will save you a huge amount of time trying to sort through code that you're not really familiar with, and you'll be instantly thankful for it. Just make sure that you remember to turn it off before you launch, or your benign users will be confused and any malicious users may have a route into your system.
Finally, make sure you get into the habit of writing your PHP code as cleanly as possible from the beginning. Use naming conventions for your variables that actually mean something, because by the time you're finished your project you'll have lost track of the obscure names you gave to your incremental loops. Indent your code and use plenty of whitespace, which will make sorting through things infinitely simpler and faster, and will make it easier for other programmers to help you out if it turns out you need it.
Posted on November 20th 2013 at 07:53pm
0 Comments
Tuesday 12th November 2013 How to Write Clean PHP Code
Anyone who's ever worked on an ad-hoc development team will tell you how frustrating it can be to have to deal with team members who write messy code. Even if you're working alone, there are huge advantages to taking just a little bit of extra time to keep your code clean and easily readable. You may be thinking to yourself, 'Sure, but I know my own code, what's the point?' The point is that while you're going to be able to revisit the code you wrote yesterday and understand it perfectly even if it's gibberish, how about code you wrote last year? Last month? After a marathon coding session, code you wrote last week might even have slipped your mind. If you ever plan on reusing anything you write, which is an excellent idea, taking the time to follow these tips will make it infinitely easier to do so.
The most important thing to do to help your future-self understand your code is to include quick comments at the beginning of each section. For more involved projects, take the time to make some notes about functions and classes - especially useful for later reuse.
Following the same principle of documentation, when you're debugging your code, don't delete sections of it that have problems, simply comment them out completely. This allows you to quickly test various iterations of your code snippets without having to re-do the same work over and over again, and lets you quickly revert to a previous version. Once you move into production, you can obviously remove the sections that have been commented out, but make sure you keep them around in your latest pre-build version.
Clean is simple and informative. To stay informative, don't give your variables and functions bizarrely esoteric names. Even you will have a hard time keeping track of variables with ridiculous names - now was that variable you wanted to pass GERSFD, GARFVD or ARGFD? Use logical, descriptive names to keep things simple and easily understood for later.
Whitespace, whitespace, whitespace. Sorting through tens of thousands of lines of code is difficult enough without having to take the time to figure out where functions start and end. Your compiler will strip the whitespace during build anyways, so use it as a visual tool and make your own life easier. If you find yourself looking back over your own code or someone elses and getting frustrated trying to make heads or tails of it, you might want to consider using a PHP formatting tool just as PHP Formatter (
http://beta.phpformatter.com/) or something similar.
Posted on November 12th 2013 at 05:29pm
0 Comments
Thursday 07th November 2013 Do You Really Need a PHP Framework?.jpg)
We've discussed various PHP frameworks in the past here, as they can be incredibly useful tools for developers. Instead of recreating entire libraries of code that already exist, making use of a framework can save you days or even weeks of coding - and if you choose the right one, they offer an incredible amount of stability and security. Numerous popular frameworks have huge communities behind them, constantly monitoring the code base, updating it regularly, and plugging security holes and other issues that would quickly become overwhelming for a single person.
However, because of their very nature, there are also some serious downsides to using a PHP framework. Due to their size and scope, they boast a huge learning curve, and the more complex the framework, the harder it is to get up to speed - it's almost like having to learn a new programming language within PHP. Once you've invested that much time into learning a framework, it can become very difficult to switch to an alternative framework if it turns out that another would be better suited to your next project.
While there is often added stability and security gained by using frameworks, the fact that they are almost ubiquitous means that the frameworks themselves are also a much more appealing target for hackers and other malicious users. If a vulnerability is found in a framework, it means that all sites and applications that use that framework are likely to share the vulnerability.
In order to stay on top of this danger, communities are constantly updating frameworks with new code and patching vulnerabilities, which sounds like an excellent way to handle the problem. However, frameworks inherently work the way other libraries do, which means that they have to be embedded directly into your build or code repository. So while they are being updated to ensure security, you then must turn around and update your own implementation of the framework to ensure it's using the latest version.
The value you'll derive from a framework really depends on how you code and the types of projects you work on. If you're working on smaller scale projects, you will probably end up with your own segments of code that can be recycled for various future projects, much in the same way as a framework operates, but without all the tedious issues and unnecessary features that can make working with a framework a hassle. However, if you're regularly working on large scale projects that require the pinnacle of stability and security, a well-chosen PHP framework can be your new best friend.
Posted on November 07th 2013 at 03:08pm
0 Comments
Tuesday 05th November 2013 Easily Reuse Your Own PHP Code Snippets
At this point in your PHP coding careers, you've probably all heard about the value of a framework - how popular they are, how robust they are, and how they can save you hours of time and effort. Of course, they can also add some hours of time and effort at the beginning, as you have their often steep learning curves to adjust to. But most of you likely started coding before you began to use frameworks, as they're generally better suited to large projects, and most devs don't start with large projects. Along the way, you probably found yourself coding similar functions and classes enough times that it finally clicked - you should be re-using bits of your old code! But that can be a huge pain, sorting through old files in an effort to lift out the useful bits, so we've put together a quick list of some useful tools that are designed to help you save and tag your code snippets to start building up a personal framework.
Most of the currently popular snippet storage tools are all web-based, meaning you can access them anywhere. The intended goal is to share them with the PHP developer community, but naturally you don't have to share if you don't want to.
Probably the most feature-packed is Gist, the snippet saver offered by the ever-popular Github. All the snippets posted are automatically treated as repositories, meaning they offer all the same benefits as a full Git codebase. They can easily be saved as private or public, although if you create too many it may become difficult to sort through them all.
Next is our personal favourite, Snipplr. It offers much of the same functionality as Gist, but with a handy tagging system that lets you sort quickly through your snippets. It also lets you easily filter based on language, which can be a great help if you're coding in PHP, CSS, HTML5 and JavaScript all at once.
Finally, for a slightly more well-designed version of Snipplr, you can try Snipt, which lets you go from reading this sending to storing your snippets in about 3 seconds. Tagging, descriptions, and private entries available, and if you get mad at the ads, you can opt to go for a Pro account to save your eyes the hassle.
One last entry that deserves a special mention is FastFox, which you can think of as a time-saver for inserting regularly used expressions. It lets you define text-based shortcuts which are automatically converted into larger pieces of text. If you find yourself using a piece of code repeatedly, you can quickly set up a shortcut for it and save yourself a huge amount of time. While it's available for PC and Mac, it's unfortunately not open source, so you'll be shelling out $20 for it - but a free trial is available from their website to help you make up your mind.
Posted on November 05th 2013 at 07:46pm
0 Comments
Thursday 24th October 2013 Securing Your PHP Application with a Custom Configuration File
When it comes to securing your PHP application against hackers and other types of malicious use, there are a number of different things to consider. We touched on a few of them previously, including what's probably the most important one: filtering all user input. We can't stress enough the importance of correctly validating all user input, including any input that comes in the form of file uploads. However, one of the most useful tools to secure your PHP code against malicious users is built right into the way PHP operates: the php.ini file.
The php.ini file is a customisable configuration file that is called when PHP loads which specifies a number of key settings for how PHP operates and executes your code. Because of this, it's also a great place to handle a couple of security vulnerabilities that are almost as crucial as controlling user input.
The first of these is the issue of error reporting. Obviously, when you're working in a test development environment, it's incredibly valuable to have your error reporting visible to help you quickly source any bugs in your code - but once you move out of the testing phase into a production environment, the data offered by error reporting can provide valuable clues to a hacker about potential vulnerabilities in your code. While you can try to ensure that doesn't happen by writing flawless code, there are a number of global parameters you can set in your php.ini file that will ensure your production code is safe from this issue. The first parameter, error_reporting, does exactly what it says on the tin, namely enabling error reporting at all, and should be set to E_ALL. The follow-up to this is the parameter display_errors, which should be 'off' once you move out of the testing phase. However, as you will probably want to ensure that any errors that do occur are logged, enable log_errors and specify the path using error_log. That's all there is to it!
The other important security vulnerability to prepare for is the type of attack known as session fixation. Essentially, this type of exploit tricks your code into accepting a session ID that has been faked by the malicious user. This can occur in a few different ways, but the methods for overcoming it can all sit in the php.ini file. A few different parameters are very useful: both session.use_cookies and session.use_only_cookies should be set to 1, which prevents GET parameters from setting your session ID. Session.use_trans_sid should be set to 0 to prevent session IDs from persisting, and as a final measure you should modify the name of the session parameter - session.name - away from the default "PHPSESSID" to something random.
These tips won't guarantee the perfect security of your code, but they can go a long way towards preventing the casually snooping hacker from easily breaking into your application and causing untold damages. Take the time to write technically exacting code, and you'll be rewarded by an app that flows smoothly and robustly!
Saturday 19th October 2013 PHP Productivity Tools
When it comes to working on large PHP projects, it's easy to suddenly find yourself bogged down by a few tasks that seem to appear repeatedly no matter how well-crafted your code is, namely testing, debugging, and deployment. Fortunately, there are many tools and utilities that have been released to help PHP developers overcome these frustrations and make the coding process as efficient as possible from start to finish. Here are a few of our favourites!
Test and Debug
No matter how well your code is written, it needs to be tested properly and thoroughly before it can be deployed safely. One of the best testing frameworks is
PHPUnit, an extension of xUnit that lets you write testing code in PHP syntax and then automate the entire process. If command-line isn't really your style or you're looking for a front-end problem, we have also had great luck with an updated version of Firebug called
FirePHP, a Firefox extension that allows developers to sort through PHP errors in the browser. If you need something even more robust, consider XDebug, which is an open-source tool that lets you dig deep into your PHP code and optimise.
Build and Deploy
If you're working on a small project, it can be easy to manage the various code iterations and keep them all straight yourself. But for a larger PHP project that has multiple developers, it can become a necessity to implement some kind of version control software to help sort through the chaos and make sure everything plays nice. Git is easily the most popular version control solution, thanks in large part to the popular third-party website
Github, that offers hosting for various code repositories and helps track code branchings, team member contributions, and lets you roll back unwanted forkings.
Code Control
For both large and small projects, there are a couple of hassles that never go away: formatting and documentation. The bane of all developers working in the zone, documentation is left out all too frequently, giving other devs (or your future self) some serious frustrations. Fortunately a simple tool called
phpDocumentor can use simple syntax to generate your user-friendly documentation for you! When you combine this with another handy tool called
PHP_Beautifier which neatly indents and formats your code, you can whip even the largest projects into visual shape with ease.
Thursday 17th October 2013 5 Great PHP TutorialsWhen you're working on a new project, sometimes it can be frustrating to spend hours working on something, only to find out the next day that someone else has already completed very similar work and made the source code available. Nobody likes wasting time re-inventing the wheel, as anyone who's ever taken advantage of a PHP framework can tell you. With that spirit in mind, here are 5 great PHP tutorials from around the web that you can incorporate into your next project to make it as robust and efficient as possible.
1. In the past, we discussed using PHP caching to decrease the load times of your site, but only briefly touched on how to actually go about it. This tutorial gives a simple example, but those of you with some inspiration will be able to expand it to do whatever you want.
http://papermashup.com/caching-dynamic-php-pages-easily/
2. If you're really hoping to optimise your site's load time, then you'll want to make sure that your files are as small as possible. The best method to do so is by compressing your CSS and JS files with Gzip, which can be done easily in PHP using this simple tutorial.
http://papermashup.com/use-php-to-gzip-css-files/
5. Finally, to prevent the worst from happening in SQL database crash which could cost you all your hard-won data, use this simple tutorial to create a PHP script to output your database to an XML file which can be reparsed to restore your database.
http://davidwalsh.name/backup-database-xml-php
There you have it! These simple PHP tutorials can make a huge difference in the way your project development works, ensuring that your project be more secure and more efficient - and save you from spending time developing processes that others have already perfected.
Saturday 12th October 2013 Speed Up Your Site With Effective PHP Use
Even in the older days of the web, application developers could not afford to be ignorant of SEO practices - but in today's world, it's a vital skillset for maintaining relevancy. One of the most neglected aspects of SEO is page load time, and the way your PHP code is written can make a huge difference in the speed your users (and the Google search spiders) experience. Obviously, one of the most effective things to do is ensure you use a high-quality hosting provider, but this isn't always an option. Fortunately a couple of simple tips and tricks in PHP can make a huge difference in load times, so lets take a quick look at the most popular methods.
One of the most useful things you can do, especially when you're writing extensive code segments, is to employ a simple PHP caching system. This is especially helpful when there isn't a heavy amount of reparsing required for each user navigation step, as it lets you skip the reparsing step. If, for example, the user is navigating through a large number of database entries, simply dump the output from your first parse into an html file, and display that to the user when they revisit the same page in the same session. This can dramatically reduce the load on your server from numerous database queries, and can make a huge difference in your user experience.
Next, take a good long look at the external requests your site is making. A growing trend among websites is to pull lots of data from different sources - Twitter feeds, news stories, popular blog comments, etc - but it's important to not let this tendency get ahead of us. This is especially true when you're working on code for a Wordpress or similar-style blog, as the ease of incorporating PHP widgets can make some developers cram far too many requests onto a single page, dramatically increasing load time.
Finally, and probably most helpfully, use a program called Minify on your server. Minify is a free tool that combines your site's various Javascript and CSS files into a single file, removes comments and whitespace, and then compresses the whole thing with gzip. This simple step can increase the load time of your CSS/Javascript by as much as 75%, which is a huge difference in terms of user experience - and Google search spiders also appreciate it.
If you're feeling adventurous, it's possible to use PHP to compress your CSS and other files, but we'll save that for another post - you should be able to see a large difference in your load times just from these simple tips.
Tuesday 08th October 2013 Important Practices for Securing Your PHP Apps
For high-profile, mission-critical PHP applications, security is a paramount concern. Bad security solutions can compromise important servers and lead to the kind of privacy breaches that make news headlines. But for those of us writing more every-day PHP apps, security is still an important concern - especially for anyone who's new to the language. We'll take you through some basic considerations for securing your PHP applications, letting you rest a little bit easier once you finally put your app out into the wild.
One of the most important concerns for any app that accepts user input is validating said input, to ensure that it doesn't throw your app a curveball it can't handle - or worse. Frustratingly, the basic assumption should be that user input can't be trusted, as anything more lenient can leave gaping holes in your security. Many coders use Javascript to validate user input, but this is inherently flawed as users have the ability to disable Javascript, so ensure you validate in PHP.
When your code runs on a page that accepts and then displays user input, such as a comment thread system, bulletin board or similar, it's important to make sure that your application has screened out any possible malicious Javascript code or HTML tags present in the user input. Fortunately, PHP has two built-in functions that make this simple: strip_tags() and htmlentities(). These two can save you a great deal of hassle, so get in the habit of using them!
Everything, naturally, comes back to the user, but sometimes vulnerabilities can be unintentionally exposed by a user and shared with a malicious one - which makes proper error handling critical for the integrity of your security. Many developers hate dealing with this particular aspect of development when trying to get their code out the door in a hurry, but it's far better to invest the time now than to try explaining why you cut corners.
Finally, another important concern is the way your include files are handled. PHP code routinely references other PHP files, often for database access or regularly repeated code segments, which can be inadvertently displayed to the user as plaintext if not properly named. Any extension other than .php may not be parsed properly by a browser, leaving your code vulnerable, so always use the correct extension. To be doubly-safe, store your includes in a folder that doesn't have user access permissions.
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to PHP security, but you can save yourself from a good many problems by following these simple practices.
Monday 23rd September 2013 Benchmarking Your PHP Code Performance
When it comes to getting the most out of your PHP application, there's only so far that raw talent can take you. Most developers can benefit from a little external help when it comes to code optimisation, and even the best of the best can use a bit of help from time to time. The best way to ensure your code is executing as efficiently as possible in terms of resource usage is, naturally, by measuring the efficacy of each individual element and determining where any bottlenecks may exist.
The benchmarking of individual elements is also known as profiling, and there are a number of tools around that can help you with the process, but today we're going to look at one of the most popular tools, called XHGui. XHGui is a fork of the XHProf tool that was originally created by Facebook, but it comes along with a much-improved GUI (as the name would suggest) as well as a number of other improvements. One of the most important improvements on XHProf are the changes in the way the final output is presented, making it handy for creating pretty deliverables for managers who are not - and have never been - developers.
Since you're doubtless comfortable working with Apache, we'll skip the details of how to install XHGui and focus on what it can do for you once you've got it up and running. Once you've populated it with some data (try comparing heavy site loads with more typical usage patterns), you'll see the breakdown of data for each request: the URL, timestamp, 'wall time' which represents the user's wait time, CPU time used, total memory used, and peak memory usage. You can then drill down even deeper into each request, which gives you more data than you are likely to ever need about each step in your program.
To start your benchmarking, put your application through its paces: run each of the functions you've coded, including all error trapping. Once you've built your initial dataset, you can begin to analyse the problem areas and begin to consider optimisation strategies. Often, the culprits behind slow execution times will be elements of the PHP framework you've chosen to develop in, but any particularly extreme offenders can often be replaced by custom code that does the specific job more effectively - this is just one of the inevitable trade-offs that come with developing using frameworks, and each will have their own specific quirks that need to be considered and corrected for.
If nothing immediately stands out as being the main bottleneck, look for related code elements that interact to create slowdowns and consider recoding them as a more cohesive unit. You can also reconsider any elements that may be better off handled asynchronously, or even reconsider their inclusion at all if they're non-essential. Ultimately, however, the main consideration has to be a balance between user experience, functionality, and execution time, and XHGui is your best friend when it comes to determining how to align that balance.
Posted on September 23rd 2013 at 04:24pm
0 Comments
Friday 20th September 2013 Slow Week of Freelancing? Then Stay Ahead With These Projects
The following article is for our freelancer PHP developers. Being a freelance developer can be difficult, and never more so when you finish a big project and find yourself suddenly without a follow-up to work on. Slow weeks don't have to mean no profits, however, if you think creatively about how you can spend your time. There's a good deal of optional work that can really make an impact on your take-home pay that often gets left by the wayside by busy freelancers, so let's take a look at some of the more helpful things you can do until the next client comes calling. None of it is as appealing as a nice new project to complete, but it can be just as beneficial.
One of the best things you can do is make sure that you're maintaining a proper and up-to-date list of your clients and their contact information. If you're not already, consider using a service like Mailchimp, which offers an easy way to keep track of client information, and lets you reach out them. Old clients can be one of the best ways to generate new business, and some of them may even be interested in repeat business. Reach out and inquire how their current projects are going, and share some of your own current work. Keeping your name in the forefront of their minds is one of the best ways to ensure that they'll recommend you to others or re-hire you for new projects.
Another great way to start generating some additional revenue is to look at your informational assets and think about ways to monetise them. You've probably got a fair amount of reusable code that might be worth something to others, if you were to package it carefully and sell it. Alternatively, you could distribute it under a Creative Commons or GPL license and use it as a method of developing a name for yourself in the programming world - everyone always loves free code. Just make sure to document all the various functions as clearly as possible!
If you're looking to expand your horizons, you might want to use the time to make sure that you're up-to-date about any and all developments in the world of web development. As we all know, things change at an incredibly rapid pace, and it's easy to lose track of new developments when you've been finishing up a project with some marathon coding sessions. The more up-to-date you are, the more impressive you'll be to potential clients who are looking for cutting edge solutions.
Finally - and bear with us here, we know it's not popular - there are the ever-necessary backup and bookkeeping tasks. While they're not popular, they certainly are essential for freelance coders. We've heard many stories from freelancers who have been so swamped with work that their invoicing has fallen off, and they have outstanding money owed to them. A simple followup email is usually enough to get past clients to pay their bills, and otherwise you're simply leaving money on the table that you've already earned. That prospect alone should be enticing enough to make you break out the dreaded accounting software!
Hope the above helps. Whilst it's not directly linked to our PHP encoder we thought we’d share it with you in the first of a series of more general development and business-focused articles.
Posted on September 20th 2013 at 03:37pm
0 Comments
Tuesday 17th September 2013 Selecting the Right PHP Framework for Beginners
If you spend a great deal of time working with PHP in your development process, it makes sense to consider utilising an established framework for a number of reasons - namely, writing your code faster and more cleanly. However when it comes down to actually choosing a framework, opinions are wildly varied; fans of some frameworks almost reach the point of religious zeal when it comes down to one choice over another. For those of you just starting out with frameworks, this can create an overwhelming and conflicting set of opinions, so let's take a step back and discuss a few basic considerations about what you hope to achieve with your framework.
The primary concern about selecting a framework is to ensure that it has an active community behind it, as that's what creates the strength of a framework. Frameworks let you quickly and easily reuse code for many common functions and situations, letting you focus on the areas of your application that are specific to your situation. As you can guess, this means that the more people use and contribute to a framework, the more robust and useful it will be.
When you build an application using a framework, your code is inherently dependent on the security and stability of the entire framework codebase, so it can be critical to stay on top of any potential exploits or vulnerabilities that are discovered, and an active community can make this much easier.
The next most important consideration is the quality of documentation within the framework. We've all spent many wasted hours trying to understand another programmer's undocumented code, and with a framework the problem can be 10 times worse. Typically, most frameworks have decent documentation, but it's worth exploring to see which documentation you find easiest to understand and work with. What clicks for some coders won't work for others, so be sure to check this out.
Finally, if you're looking for a framework to help you out with a small, single project, you might want to reconsider - frameworks can often add a great deal of complexity (not to mention execution time), which can make them unwieldy for smaller one-off applications. Even still, however, they can offer you some excellent reusable code that might make things simpler, and if you plan on doing a good deal of PHP coding, then learning a framework early on can save you hours of hassle and reinventing the wheel.
Now that you've understood the basic considerations of framework selection, visit Wikipedia's comparison of the various PHP frameworks here and choose one that you're comfortable with. The best framework in the world isn't any use if it you don't enjoy making use of it!
Posted on September 17th 2013 at 02:31pm
0 Comments
Monday 23rd August 2010 The Importance of Protecting Your PHP Source CodeWhy is it so important to protect your PHP source code? Well, computer coding work is among the easiest of all information products to steal. Clearly, code of any programming language is much easier to steal than a tangible page or book. Often all it takes is the press of a button or two; a quick copy-paste. That is the reality of how easy theft of online text and coding can be.
In the minds of many, cyber data theft does not seem as bad as physical theft, but those who have been a victim of it know that it ultimately amounts to the same thing. If you write a great, original novel and it is stolen and published in someone else’s name, it is terribly hard to get over. Online theft of code is the exact equivalent. Sometimes, coding a great program can be even harder than writing a good book. It takes a great deal of the coder’s thought, sweat and creativity to make an ideal and efficient program. To have your work stolen is among the most frustrating experience possible for any professional coder.
Developers can lose huge sums of money by failing to protect their work. It is absolutely crucial to fully encrypt your PHP source code, especially if it is worth a lot. On the internet, you can lose control of your work in a second. It really is essential to protect your code as early as possible to safeguard against opportunists and lurking code thieves.
Unfortunately, because of the non-tangible nature of code theft, it doesn’t get reported or publicized greatly, but the reality is that it occurs every minute of every day. At any one time, there are millions of people surfing the internet. Many of these are looking for code. Most of them are just being lazy and hoping for a quick way to get their project produced on time, so they go down the easy route of copying someone else’s code. Others are specifically looking for good code for reasons of profitable gain. In any case, their purpose or level of intent is irrelevant. Whoever is replicating your code, shouldn’t be. Your code is your work.
Freelance coders, working on projects for others, are particularly at risk of losing out. If they just hand over their software unprotected, they have no guarantee of getting paid. But if they protect their software with a good PHP encoder, they can offer their program to be used and tested by the employer with the source code encrypted. Following payment, they can pass on the encryption key to the employer so that the source files can be viewed and used to their full potential.
The importance of authorship and intellectual property should not be underestimated, and coders and developers should take all of the steps necessary to protect their PHP source code, and protect their time and financial investment in any project that they do.
Posted on August 23rd 2010 at 12:27pm by admin
0 Comments
