Key Features

• Set up the PHP environment and get started with web programming
• Leverage the potential of PHP for server-side programming, memory management, and object-oriented programming (OOP)
• This book is packed with real-life examples to help you implement the concepts as you learn

Book Description

PHP is a great language for building web applications. It is essentially a server-side scripting language that is also used for general purpose programming. PHP 7 is the latest version with a host of new features, and it provides major backwards-compatibility breaks.

This book begins with the fundamentals of PHP programming by covering the basic concepts such as variables, functions, class, and objects. You will set up PHP server on your machine and learn to read and write procedural PHP code. After getting an understanding of OOP as a paradigm, you will execute MySQL queries on your database. Moving on, you will find out how to use MVC to create applications from scratch and add tests. Then, you will build REST APIs and perform behavioral tests on your applications.

By the end of the book, you will have the skills required to read and write files, debug, test, and work with MySQL.

What you will learn

• Set up a server on your machine with PHP
• Use PHP syntax with the built-in server to create apps
• Apply the OOP paradigm to PHP to write richer code
• Use MySQL to manage data in your web applications
• Create a web application from scratch using MVC
• Add tests to your web application and write testable code
• Use an existing PHP framework to build and manage your applications
• Build REST APIs for your PHP applications
• Test the behavior of web applications with Behat

About the Author

Antonio Lopez is a software engineer with more than 7 years of experience. He has worked with PHP since university, which was 10 years ago, building small personal projects. Later, Antonio started his journey around Europe, working in Barcelona, London, Dublin, and back in Barcelona. He has worked in a number of different areas, from web applications to REST APIs and internal tools. Antonio likes to spend his spare time on personal projects and start-ups and has a strong vocation in education and teaching.

Table of Contents

1. Setting Up the Environment
2. Web Applications with PHP
3. Understanding PHP Basics
4. Creating Clean Code with OOP
5. Using Databases
6. Adapting to MVC
7. Testing Web Applications
8. Using Existing PHP Frameworks
9. Building REST APIs
10. Behavioral Testing