Doug Bierer - PHP 8 Programming Tips, Tricks and Best Practices

A practical guide to PHP 8 features, usage changes, and advanced programming techniques

Doug Bierer

BIRMINGHAMMUMBAI

Copyright 2021 Packt Publishing

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First published: July 2021

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I've known Doug Bierer for many years now. It has been my great privilege to work with him on training new PHP developers and helping existing ones to grow their skills. I have even had the distinct privilege of butchering the pronunciation of his name many times. Through the years, though, I've come to respect Doug's ability to take technical concepts and put them in a language that just about anyone can understand. That's why when he wrote and asked me whether I would write the foreword for this book, I was excited to say yes.

Technical training is not easy. Not only does a trainer have to have a thorough understanding of the topic being discussed, but they also have to have the ability to convey ideas and concepts to others in clear language. I've spent a large part of my career struggling with how to best combine these two unrelated skills. Doug makes it look easy and this book is just the latest proof of that. From the language used to the examples given, everything is clearly laid out for you.

PHP 8 is a huge leap forward. Even as we write about PHP 8.0, PHP 8.1 is in the alpha stages of testing, and the tools and concepts embodied in PHP today are as good as they are in any language built for web development. When you add the speed increases that we have enjoyed with each new version for the past few years, you can begin to see why PHP is still a powerhouse of web development.

By purchasing this book, you are taking the first step in being able to harness the power of PHP 8 in your own projects. When you combine the knowledge you will gain from this book and Doug's skill at making the concepts understandable and immediately applicable to your problems, you will have lit the fuse on a rocket that will propel your skills and your career to new heights.

Strap in and hold on this is going to be a fun ride!

Cal Evans ()

Senior Consultant, EICC, Inc.

Doug Bierer has been hooked on computers since his first program, written on a DEC PDP-8, in 1971. In his wide-ranging career, he has been a professional contract programmer since 1978, having written applications in BASIC, PL/I, Assembler, FORTH, C, C++, dBase/FoxBase/Clipper, Pascal, Perl, Java, and PHP. He deployed his first website in 1993 while living in San Francisco. He speaks four languages, has traveled extensively, and now resides in Thailand. He also spent some years doing system administration and TCP/IP networking. Some of his technical works include PHP 7 Programming Cookbook and Learning MongoDB 4.x (Packt), as well as Learning PHP and MySQL, Learning PHP Security, and Learning Doctrine (O'Reilly Media).

Matthew Setter is a highly skilled senior backend software engineer, specializing in PHP and web-based applications, with 20 years' experience. Matthew has worked for small start-ups, in academia, and for Fortune 500 companies.

He has worked on PHP, Go, Bash, TDD and BDD, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL Server, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Docker, Git, Slim, Laminas, Mezzio, Zend Expressive, Zend Framework, Laravel, PHPUnit, Codeception, GoConvey, JUnit, Pico, Nano, Vim, Alpine Linux, Debian, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Apache, NGINX, ufw, and iptables, with a focus on Laminas/Mezzio and Linux.