php[architect] November 2018

http://www.phparch.com \ November 2018 \ 19

FEATURE

spl_

Joshua ThijssenHis passion lies in high-end and complex internet systems, code optimization and server administration. His programming is a freelance consultant, trainer and developer.
skills include-but are not limited to-PHP, C, Java, and Python, and he has experience on a wide range of operating systems. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and speaks
about a wide variety of subjects. You can find his blog on http://www.adayinthelifeof.nl.

Mastering

the SPL Library

by Joshua Thijssen

The Standard PHP Library (SPL) has recently gained popularity among PHP developers. With more complex applications and more data to process, the library’s vast
functionality can make development easier and more efficient, but the documentation for the SPL falls far behind PHP’s core documentation.
Mastering the SPL Library - the facets of the library, including background information where needed. Each entry is illustrated with code examples a php[architect] guide covers all
to give you an idea of how to use it. After reading this book, you will be ready to use the SPL interfaces, data structures, and - of course - the iterators.
This book is perfect for those ready to begin using the SPL library and for those already familiar with it who wish to learn the ins and outs of its more advanced features. With its
detailed information and code examples, this book is a great reference for all SPL users. Developers will want it on their desks at all times.

Getting Started With Php? Let’s Start the Right Way!

Junior Grossi

Maybe you’re here because you’re just beginning with PHP, or maybe you worked with PHP

some time ago and would like to catch up. Perhaps you’re used to your way of working with

PHP and haven’t adopted the newest additions to the language. There are many changes and

the language is still improving. Let’s go back a bit in its history.

The PHP language is the most used

programming language for web devel-

opment purposes. It’s present in around

80% of the web, and that’s good because

you have more job offers, more devel-

opers working with it, but there are also

more problems to fix.

It’s really easy to get started with PHP,

and because of that, it’s also easy to start

it the wrong way. The PHP language

we’re talking about is not the same as

it was ten years ago. The language has

improved and it’s getting better with

time. You must understand what’s

currently happening to understand

the best place to begin. It’s not as easy

as just finding a blog post from 2008

and then writing some code. That won’t

work; believe me.

There are many companies hiring

PHP developers. They’re also look-

ing for good code writers, developers

that know what they’re doing and why,

using tested and resilient object-ori-

ented approaches we have nowadays in

the market.

Let’s go through some changes that

came to the PHP world since 2009

which make PHP a better and more

professional language to work with. As

you know, PHP 5 started with good

object-oriented programming support

especially compared to PHP 4, but

things started changing in 2009 when

PHP 5.3 was released.

The Waterfall: PHP 5.3

PHP 5.3 started with two new features

that changed the game forever: name-

spaces and lambda functions/closures.

Namespaces

PHP always was a dangerous place

to go when talking about packages and

libraries. You could have two classes

with the same name, but belonging to

different packages or libraries. That

made developers use naming conven-

tions like Package_Foo as a class name.

In this case, Package would be a sample

package name, just to allow you to have

another OtherPackage_Foo class.

With PHP 5.3 this problem was

solved by adding support for name-

spaces^1. This allowed us to group classes

in a package context, making it easy to

write code in a simpler and more orga-

nized way. The same classes above were

now named Package\Foo and OtherPack-

age\Foo, respectively.

namespace Package;

class Foo

{

// some code

}

It’s now easy to call those classes. You

can call them with the full namespace,

like new \Package\Foo() or with use and

the full class namespace in the top of

the current PHP file, referencing it as

just Foo in your code:

use Package\Foo;

$instance = new Foo();

Lambda Functions/Closures

That was not a feature that radically

changed how PHP works. It did, however,

make PHP easier to understand when

talking about behaviors, allowing you

to group a set of commands in a “call-

able” anonymous function, allowing

you to call it whenever you need to.

1 support for namespaces:

https://wiki.php.net/rfc/namespacecurlies

Before PHP 5.3 all functions had

to be named name. After PHP 5.3 we

started having anonymous functions, or

lambda functions, or even just closures^2.

Now you could attach a function to a

variable, and you could also call that

function/variable whenever you want

or pass it as a parameter to another

function.

$function = function () {

echo 'Hello World!';

}

$function(); // "Hello World!"

This new feature allowed some new

frameworks to start using it for routes,

for example, making the code much

simpler and clearer:

$app->route('/foo', function () {

// route logic here

});

Before PHP 5.3 that was only possi-

ble by using create_function but the

code wouldn’t be as clear as what you

saw above. create_function was essen-

tially a wrapper for eval, so it also had

security implications.

March 2012: Professional

Improvements

When PHP 5.4 was released in

2012, it introduced interesting features

like Traits, shortened array syntax, a

built-in web server, and also improved

performance and reduced memory

consumption.

In addition to the release of PHP 5.4,

2012 was a very important year; the year

Composer^3 was first released. Composer

is the package manager for PHP, period.

2 closures: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/closures

3 Composer: http://getcomposer.org