PHP Development Complete Course Guide - 2025

Section 1: Introduction to PHP

• Overview of PHP

• What is PHP?
• History and evolution of PHP
• Features and capabilities of PHP in 2025
• The role of PHP in modern web development

• Setting Up the Environment

• Installing PHP 8.3 and configuring it
• Choosing the right IDEs (Visual Studio Code, PhpStorm, etc.)
• Setting up XAMPP, LAMP, or Docker for PHP development
• Introduction to Composer: PHP dependency manager

• Hello World Program

• Writing your first PHP script
• PHP syntax basics
• Embedding PHP in HTML

Section 2: PHP Basics

• PHP Syntax and Fundamentals

• Variables and data types
• Constants
• Operators (arithmetic, assignment, comparison, logical, etc.)
• Comments and code readability

• Control Structures

• Conditional statements: if, else, elseif, switch
• Loops: for, while, do-while, foreach
• Nested control structures

• Functions in PHP

• Defining and calling functions
• Function parameters and return values
• Variable scope (local, global, static)
• Anonymous functions and arrow functions

• Error Handling and Debugging

• Types of errors in PHP (syntax, runtime, logical)
• Error reporting and handling with try-catch
• Logging errors and debugging with tools like Xdebug

Section 3: Working with Data in PHP

• Strings

• String creation, concatenation, and interpolation
• String functions (strlen, substr, strpos, str_replace, etc.)
• Multi-byte string handling with mb_* functions

• Arrays

• Indexed, associative, and multidimensional arrays
• Array functions (sort, filter, map, reduce, etc.)
• Array destructuring

• Superglobals and Forms

• Working with $_GET, $_POST, and $_REQUEST
• Handling form submissions
• Input validation and sanitization

• PHP and Date/Time

• Working with the DateTime class
• Formatting and manipulating dates and times
• Handling timezones

Section 4: Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

• OOP Basics

• Classes and objects
• Properties and methods
• Constructor and destructor

• OOP Principles

• Encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism
• Abstract classes and interfaces
• Traits in PHP

• Advanced OOP

• Namespaces and autoloading
• Static properties and methods
• Magic methods (__construct, __get, __set, __toString, etc.)
• Dependency injection and design patterns (Singleton, Factory, etc.)

Section 5: PHP and Databases

• Introduction to Databases

• Overview of relational databases
• Setting up MySQL or MariaDB
• Introduction to database tools (phpMyAdmin, Adminer, etc.)

• Database Connectivity

• Using PDO (PHP Data Objects)
• Executing CRUD operations
• Prepared statements and parameterized queries

• Advanced Database Handling

• Transactions in PHP
• Working with stored procedures
• Using modern databases like PostgreSQL with PHP

Section 6: Advanced PHP Features

• File Handling

• Reading and writing files
• Handling file uploads
• Working with file streams

• Session and Cookies

• Starting and managing sessions
• Setting and retrieving cookies
• Securing session and cookie data

• PHP and APIs

• Consuming RESTful APIs using cURL and Guzzle
• Creating your own REST APIs with PHP
• Working with JSON and XML

• PHP Security

• Preventing SQL injection
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) protection
• Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection
• Password hashing and verification using password_hash and password_verify

Section 7: Frameworks and CMS

• Introduction to PHP Frameworks

• Why use a framework?
• Overview of popular PHP frameworks (Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, etc.)

• Getting Started with Laravel

• Installing and setting up Laravel
• MVC architecture
• Routing, controllers, and views

• WordPress Development

• Setting up a WordPress site
• Creating custom themes
• Developing plugins

Section 8: Testing and Deployment

• Testing in PHP

• Introduction to PHPUnit
• Writing unit tests and integration tests
• Mocking and testing APIs

• Deployment

• Preparing your PHP application for production
• Using tools like Git for version control
• Deploying with Docker and CI/CD pipelines
• Monitoring and scaling PHP applications

Section 9: Modern PHP Practices

• PSR Standards

• PSR-1, PSR-4, and PSR-12 for coding standards
• Understanding dependency injection and service containers

• Performance Optimization

• Profiling and debugging with tools like Xdebug
• Caching with Redis or Memcached
• Using OPcache for PHP

• PHP in 2025

• New features in PHP 8.3 and beyond
• PHP’s role in serverless computing

Section 10: Capstone Project

• Building a Complete PHP Application

• Planning and designing the application
• Using Laravel for back-end development
• Implementing a REST API
• Database integration with MySQL
• Testing and deploying the application

This course structure is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of PHP development, from basics to advanced concepts, while incorporating the latest updates and practices for 2025.