PHP is one of the top programming languages in the world, particularly known for its beneficial features for website design, e-commerce, and database programming. It is a great choice for WordPress developers and also plays well with other content management systems (CMS), such as Drupal. Programming and scripting languages like HTML and JavaScript also play well with PHP, making it the perfect language choice if you intend to develop database driven web applications and websites.
PHP is known as a fairly simple programming language, with developers ranking its ease of use up there with Perl, Python, and Ruby on Rails. While a programmer can definitely learn the language through tutorials (such as those hosted on Developer.com, CodeGuru, and HTMLGoodies), another great method is to use the online course approach. That is the topic of this tutorial, as within the following sections, we will be discussing the best online courses to learn PHP (or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor as it is also known).
The courses listed below are of the best places to learn PHP in an online classroom environment. Each course will be beneficial to beginning level programmers through to intermediate and advanced level developers. Whether you are entirely new to programming and database development, a student studying programming and database administration, or a veteran looking to add more languages to your skillset, you will find something fitting in the sections below.
Building an E-Commerce Website in PHP and MySQL from APTRON Noida
The Building an E-Commerce Website in PHP and MySQL course from APTRON Noida specifically targets beginner level programmers. We like this course because it comes with a specific purpose; instead of just teaching basic PHP syntax and software development concepts, this programming class use E-commerce as its primary focus. By its end, students will be able to create their own database-driven online store.
Another nice feature of this PHP course is the fact that it teaches MySQL and covers working with the Admin Panel. More specifically, students will develop their own custom content management system (CMS) made for an E-commerce website, capable of receiving orders from customers.
Topics covered in this 8 hour series include:
How to set-up and configure templates and databases
How to create an Admin Panel
How to display products and setup the online store frontend
How to work with shopping carts, integrate PayPal, and allow customer registrations
You can learn more about this PHP and MySQL course by visiting its page on APTRON Noida: Building an E-Commerce Website in PHP and MySQL.
Build a Social Network from Scratch: JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL from APTRON Noida
Another offering from APTRON Noida, the Build a Social Network from Scratch: JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL course is another great course with a purpose. It is designed to help would-be developers create a social network, similar to Facebook, from scratch. Not only will students learn PHP and MySQL, they also get a heavy dose of JavaScript and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as well. Server technology, such as Xampp, is also covered, which will be necessary to host and test your new social media website.
This course is a bit heavier than some other, more casual, PHP courses you might find. It is nearly 17 hours long and covers how to code many features commonly associated with social media networks, including:
Registration forms and user sign-ups
Login forms and login pages (including styling)
How to build the basic skeleton and structure of a social media network
How to create a compelling and useable home page or Index
How to develop and design newsfeeds, profile pages, messaging systems, a live search, and notification system
You can learn more or sign-up by visiting the PHP courses site on APTRON Noida: Build a Social Network from Scratch: JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL.
Building Database Applications in PHP from APTRON Noida
The Building Database Applications in PHP course from APTRON Noida is more of a gentle dive into the creating database driven applications with PHP and MySQL. The online course covers the basics of creating such apps, including an overview of basic PHP syntax and programming concepts, as well as techniques such as how to connect to MySQL databases and create connection strings.
Other topics covered include how to use the popular MySQL Portable Data Objects (PDO) library, object-oriented patterns in PHP, cookie and session data management, and how to use SQL commands to CRUD data (Create, Read, Update, and Delete).
More information is available about this PHP course at the APTRON Noida listing: Building Database Applications in PHP.
Web Design for Everybody from APTRON Noida
The Web Design for Everybody online course from APTRON Noida is another great class that eases students into the PHP learning process. What we like about this course is that its primary focus is not PHP – though you will certainly learn PHP throughout the course. Instead, web development technologies like CSS, HTML5, and JavaScript are featured.
Students will further learn about working with the Document Object Model (DOM), working with the Bootstrap front-end framework, the importance of web accessibility, and responsive web design techniques for mobile devices and tablets.
To sign-up for this PHP web development class, visit its page on the APTRON Noida website: Web Design for Everybody.
PHP CodeIgniter for Absolute Beginners from APTRON Noida
The PHP CodeIgniter for Absolute Beginners course is offered by APTRON Noida and makes our list because of its use of a framework – CodeIgniter – to help create projects and codebase skeletons in an easier fashion that coding from scratch.
CodeIgniter is just one of many web frameworks available to programmers. The idea behind a framework is that it create the skeleton of a web app, desktop app, or website, creating the core functionality of a program from common elements, saving a programmer from having to “reinvent the wheel”. Frameworks also help reduce code errors, as developers do not have to worry about re-coding common tasks and typing something in wrong.
Students will learn how to install and configure CodeIgniter, manage cookies and sessions, add website features, and complete a database-driven website, all over the course of 6 hours.
You can learn more about this PHP framework course by visiting its listing on APTRON Noida: PHP CodeIgniter for Absolute Beginners.
The Complete PHP and MySQL Web Development Bundle from APTRON Noida
One of the things we like most about APTRON Noida’s programming and database administration courses is the fact that they frequently bundle courses together. This is the case with their class The Complete PHP and MySQL Web Development Bundle, which bundles a slew of courses into one master class. Students will learn how to work with not only PHP and MySQL syntax, commands, and code, but will also be introduced to several web development frameworks, including the ever-popular CakePHP, Yii PHP, and Laravel.
To learn more, visit the PHP training bundle’s APTRON Noida listing: The Complete PHP and MySQL Web Development Bundle.
PHP Developers DUTIES:
Write PHP code and tests, pushing to production independently.
Write and maintain platform infrastructure as code.
Convert high level designs into standards compliant efficient and performant PHP/HTML/CSS.
Implement monitoring tools in order to grow platform observability.
Review code, providing valuable improvements for the team.
Design system-level code and deliver significant team-level projects.
Write and execute Unit Test plans.
Develop detailed technical analysis and design specifications based on functional requirements.
Investigate and resolve defects.
Participate in functional and technical specification reviews.
Monitor services and systems within our infrastructure.
Work effectively across multiple teams to deliver large projects.
Mentor Junior Developers.
Continuously improve the architecture methodologies and find ways to improve code design, system performance, high scalability and security vulnerabilities.
PHP Tools for Testing and Debugging
1. Cucumber
I recently attended a local Ruby usergroup meeting, and was treated to an introduction to the Cucumber behavior-driven development tool. Cucumber allows you to write tests in "plain English" (or any of 30 other spoken languages) and then execute them in conjunction with a third-party tool such as Watir, Selenium, or Mechanize to execute the tests within a browser.
For instance, check out this Cucumber test (part of the Cucumber example suite), which is intended to confirm the results of a search executed through the Google search engine:
Feature: Search In order to learn more As an information seeker I want to find more information Scenario: Find what I'm looking for Given I am on the Google search page When I search for "cucumber github" Then I should see """ GitHub """
Although originally written for testing Ruby on Rails applications, Cucumber can be used with many mainstream programming languages, including Java, Python and PHP. Learn more about how to configure Cucumber to test your PHP-driven websites
2. PHPUnit
Test-driven development (TDD) is all the rage these days, and for good reason. By elevating the role of testing -- insomuch that tests are developed alongside the application code rather than after much of the application code has already been written -- developers are constantly encouraged to think about the different ways in which errors or unexpected outcomes can occur. As a result, they accordingly write tests to ensure their application doesn't succumb to those errors.
The PHPUnit testing framework offers PHP developers a fantastic solution for doing TDD, offering a rigorous solution for writing, organizing and automating tests. Incorporating such a tool into your daily development routine can result in enormous productivity increases by saving you the hassle of having to test features such as the user login process manually. For instance, the Zend Framework offers support for PHPUnit, allowing me to write tests that can automate testing of the login process, as demonstrated here:
public function testValidLoginShouldAuthenticateSessionAndRedirectToHomePage() { $this->request->setMethod('POST') ->setPost(array( 'email' => 'wj@example.com', 'pswd' => 'secret', 'public' => 0 )); $this->dispatch('/account/login'); $this->assertController('account'); $this->assertAction('login'); $this->assertRedirectTo('/'); $this->assertTrue(Zend_Auth::getInstance()->hasIdentity()); }
This test will confirm that the account controller's login action can accept a valid email address and password, authenticate the account, redirect the user to the site's homepage, and finally confirm that a valid user session exists.
3. SimpleTest
SimpleTest is another great automated testing solution, which like PHPUnit allows developers to write unit tests using familiar PHP syntax. Additionally, SimpleTest offers several features not natively available to PHPUnit (although these features can be used with PHPUnit in conjunction with third-party tools) such as Web interface testing, including the ability to test authentication and Web forms.
For instance, the following SimpleTest test will navigate to the Google home page, insert the query "PHP" into the search field, and submit the form by clicking the Google Search button:
class SimpleFormTests extends WebTestCase { function testDefaultValue() { $this->get('http://www.google.com/'); $this->setField('q', 'PHP'); $this->click('Google Search'); } }
Although not as well known as PHPUnit, SimpleTest's user-friendly approach to testing continues to earn the framework accolades among many members of the PHP community. For this reason, if you're a relative novice to programming and feel particularly intimidated by the various testing frameworks, SimpleTest may be well worth a look.
4. XDebug
Much of the time you spend testing and debugging will involve grunt work that requires you to inspect the state of your application at various stages of execution. Typically accomplished using native PHP statements such as echo and var_dump, reviewing the contents of an object can quickly become a messy affair due to the lack of coherent formatting when the object contents are output to the browser.
The XDebug PHP extension can greatly enhance the readability of this data by changing how array and object contents are output to the browser. Consider the improvements when reviewing even a simple array such as this:
<?php $sports = array(); $sports[] = "Football"; $sports[] = "Baseball"; $sports[] = "Basketball"; ?>
For output using var_dump, the array contents will look like this:
array(3) { [0]=> string(8) "Football" [1]=> string(8) "Baseball" [2]=> string(10) "Basketball"}
However, with XDebug enabled, the array contents will appear like this:
array 0 => string 'Football' (length=8) 1 => string 'Baseball' (length=8) 2 => string 'Basketball' (length=10)
Installed in mere minutes, XDebug is one of those tools that quickly will make you wonder how you ever got along without it. For more information about XDebug,.
5. Firebug
These days, creating great websites isn't simply a function of understanding a server-side language, with even the simplest of websites are driven by a symphony of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a language such as PHP. Therefore, your ability to test and debug all facets of the website effectively is going to weigh heavily on your productivity. And for such purposes, there are few tools more capable than Firebug, a Firefox extension that you can use to inspect and manipulate every conceivable characteristic of a Web page.
Whether you want to see what your website looks like with all images disabled, experiment with CSS-driven font sizes, or easily measure the dimensions of a DIV using a built-in ruler, Firebug contains a seemingly endless array of useful features capable of answering any question you may have regarding your website's operation.
6. FirePHP
FirePHP extends the aforementioned Firebug's capabilities to the server side, allowing you to easily log messages and other data hailing from a PHP script. This can be tremendously useful when debugging Ajax-driven features, or when you simply want to inspect the contents of an object or array without having to repeatedly insert and delete echo or var_dump statements.
Like Firebug, FirePHP is also a Firefox extension. However you'll also need to install a simple PHP library on the server running your PHP-driven website. This script serves as the bridge for communications between the server and Firebug/FirePHP..
7. Watir
As its name implies, Watir ("Web Application Testing in Ruby") has its roots in the Ruby community, but it can be used in conjunction with a wide variety of programming languages, PHP included. The toolkit allows you to write scripts that automate browser-based tasks in order to determine whether both your Web interface and server-side application are performing as expected. These tests are written in Ruby's always easily understandable code and can perform tasks such as testing a website's login interface, as demonstrated here:
require 'rubygems' require 'watir' browser = Watir::Browser.new browser.goto "http://www.example.com/account/login" browser.text_field(:name, "email").set("test@example.com") browser.text_field(:name, "password").set("secret") browser.button(:value, "Login").click if browser.contains_text("Welcome back, Jason") puts "Test passed. Test user login successful." else puts "Test failed. Test user did not successfully login." end
Although originally natively capable of testing only Internet Explorer, numerous extensions allow you to automate testing within all of the major browsers, including Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome. Further, you can automate the execution of your Watir tests just as you can with PHPUnit using Ruby's Test::Unit framework.
8. Selenium
Like Watir, Selenium is a testing solution that allows you to verify the proper operation of your website from the user's perspective. In addition to providing developers with the ability to write scripted tests, an impressive Firefox extension known as Selenium IDE allows test developers to record tests directly from within Firefox simply by interacting with the website. These actions will then be converted into the scripts that Selenium will use to execute the tests. Scripting capabilities are supported for all of the other major browsers.
9. Human-powered Testing with UserTesting.com
Most small businesses or open source projects lack the funding necessary to hire a full- or even part-time quality assurance team. Yet those of you in search of feedback from your fellow humans aren't out of luck, because quite a few online usability testing services can offer extremely detailed and frank feedback at a surprisingly low cost.
One such service is UserTesting.com, which for just $39 will provide you with both video and written summaries of their testing panel's experience interacting with your website. UserTesting.com's services are so popular that globally recognized companies such as Amazon.com, Staples and Cisco have relied upon the service for unbiased third-party feedback.
10. Bug Tracking with Bugzilla
With all of these great testing and debugging utilities at your disposal, you're going to need some effective way to keep track of the problems you uncover, not to mention assign them to various team members. One of the most popular issue tracking solutions is BugZilla, an open source project used to manage issues within not only high-profile project initiatives such as the Mozilla Foundation and the Apache Software Foundation but also organizations such as NASA, Facebook and The New York Times.
Bugzilla supports all of the features you might expect in a high-quality issue tracking solution, including the ability to track the status of reported bugs, assign and change the status of bugs, and create useful reports analyzing metrics such as bug reporting frequency. Although not written in PHP, it's a Perl-based project meaning you'll be able to run it on any server capable of supporting PHP.
PHP Interview Questions
1. Define PHP in simple terms?
2. To which programming language does PHP resemble?
3. List some of the common uses of PHP?
4. Define PEAR in PHP?
5. Can you name the recommended PHP version?
6. Differentiate between static and dynamic websites?
7. Can you tell us the old name of PHP?
8. How can one execute a PHP script from the command line?
9. What does ‘escaping to PHP mean’?
10. Can you name the scripting engine in PHP?
Which is the Best PHP Training Institute in Noida?
The career option is increasingly in demand for PHP development and there is a steady raise in the amount of interest for IT graduates to enter into the developing field. Hence, there is sure future for the person who gets trained in this subject.
APTRON Noida is told to be the best PHP training institute in Noida as it offers the best Online PHP course “or” Offline PHP course in Noida that are interactive as well as informative. We help students get trained in all the aspects in order to gain powerful knowledge about the web concepts and usage.
APTRON Noida delivers the finest learning with the Online PHP training or PHP Training in Noida that we provide in Noida. We tune up your minds with sufficient practical coaching that carves you career to be the best of your choice.