5 ways to improve the way PHP is developed

Each of us has our own skills and methods on how to use the PHP language to develop an application. In fact, as we all know, there are many ways and means to make development easier. Nevertheless, there are some methods, especially coding styles and habits, which are universally acknowledged. We have listed 5 ways to improve the way PHP is developed.

Organization and Style

　　

We should not despise the organization of the code, the choice of coding style should be in advance, many people just randomly doing these things, which makes their code very confusing, very difficult to understand.

You can claim to be the best developer there, but if your code lacks good organization, you're not going too far. For example, at a local community college, you are a teacher. If you decide to randomly select a lot of knowledge from the primary and advanced sources, then teach the knowledge to your students in this order-not from the beginner to the advanced, to teach your students step-by-step, then your students will be very confused and, as a teacher, they will not welcome you, If they don't welcome you, they won't go to your class.

My point is, find a way to fit your organization and coding style, and stick to it, so your code will be organized and laid out.

Internal Documentation

　　

For independent developers, internal documentation is not very popular, it is mainly for enterprise projects and open source projects. However, this is not to say that internal documentation is not good for your project. For your project, internal documentation is the most important part of improving your coding and working methods.

Many of the integrated development environments (IDES) that support PHP support internal documentation, this can help you remember what parameters you used to create those functions, or what the functions are, and if you hand over your project to another developer or team, they will certainly be thankful for the internal document, Because it passes a lot of information about the PHP project, especially the larger PHP projects.

Change Log

　　

Another way to improve your development habits is to create your own change log. You may have encountered this situation in the past: you are developing a large project, but you have to stop for a few months before you can continue to develop the project, and when you come back to continue developing the project, you have forgotten where you stopped and where you should begin to develop the project.

In our development career, we all encounter this situation. This is because the place where we stopped did not leave a change log or record. It takes some time to get used to it, mainly because it's a bit of a hassle to modify the change log, but it's definitely "value for money" if done well, because going back to a project and knowing where you stopped and where you should start is more important than anything else.

version control software

　　

You might think that using a version control software (such as subversion) is a bit too much for you, but surprisingly, many developers never back up a previous version.

Many developers also often reflect on why they didn't back up the items when they finally accidentally destroyed some of the code. I was a victim myself, and when I developed my project, I accidentally deleted some code, but I couldn't make up for the "crime" I had committed. Because I didn't back up the project until I last modified it, so I had to rewrite that code snippet. Since the accident, I've started using my own version control system, which is simple enough to meet my needs.

In addition, using a version control system can help you automate the tasks of backing up and saving revisions, and when you find yourself needing to download an older version of the project, this can at least save you a few hours (and possibly a few days).

Unit Test

　　

For large PHP projects, unit testing is a good way to test code snippets. While it takes some time to choose a framework, we all know that sometimes, when we develop, some bugs are hard to find, let alone go into the finished project and get a needle in the sea. Unit testing is definitely a thorough and effective way to ensure that your code works properly.

You can think of it as a quick and effective way to get a needle out of the sea, and you'd be more willing to use this good tool than a tool that might have taken hours to find bugs. In addition, if you often develop large projects, unit testing is definitely something you should consider.