I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes code "good." Let's take it for granted that "good" is so meaninglessly subjective that it's not really a useful term for one to use when talking about a program or block of code. So let's say that "thoughtful code" is code that meets my personal subjective definition of "good." But before you zone out, I want you to know that a lot of "bad" code is actually "good" and vice-versa. The counter-intuitive reality is that WordPress contains some of the best PHP code on the planet. Let me explain why…
A Complete Guide to PHP Namespaces
Namespaces are a great feature of PHP. They've taken it from being a complex-to-scale and rather small-scale-only language into something where most projects have a healthy-level of outside code (pulled in with the Composer dependency manager) and a whole lot more clarity about what is where and why.
ORM Patterns: The Trade-Offs of Active Record and Data Mappers for Object-Relational Mapping
One of the topics of seemingly perennial discussion among programmers is whether object-relational mapping (often abbreviated to ORM) is evil or not. Opinions seem to run the gamut from "I use and love it" to "I tried it once and never will again." And you often encounter at least a few "what are you talking about?"s.
Banishing Loops with Functional PHP
I've given the talk "Banishing Loops with Functional PHP" (or "Functional Programming, it just depends on how I titled it) at least three times. But it's still, mostly a talk. You can watch a talk I've given many times right here:
The OWASP Top 10 from 2017, Explained
Recently (at the end of 2017), OWASP updated its Top 10 list. For the unfamiliar, let me briefly explain what that means: the industry standard of basic-web-security education has altered. Though it's never been a complete security education, the OWASP Top Ten is where almost all standards for web-developer security education begin. So when it changes, that's kind of important.
Why Use PHP in 2018?
Let's get it out of the way early: PHP is a strange and ugly language. It's not exceptionally fast. It's not beautiful syntactically. It's not formulated around a clear opinion about good software development practices. And it's still what I write a lot of software in. The obvious question is: why? Why use PHP today?
What I’ve Learned Working in a Code for America Brigade
Like many people, I love the idea of doing positive work for the world. I do both little and big volunteer work, on a recurring and one-off basis. But the point here isn't how much praise I deserve (lots 😝), but what's it been like for me working with Code for Fort Collins. Code for Fort Collins is a member of Code for America's brigade program, and I've been involved for a few years. Here I'm going to examine what I've learned from my involvement.
Semantic Versioning is Caring Communication
WordPress is releasing version 4.9.6 soon. This version number (which follows 4.9.5) is including a whole bunch of features meant to comply with the GDPR, the new European privacy law. This new feature set is a great idea, this version number is not. I say that because of semantic versioning.
Standard
Programming is About People
It's easy to think about programming as an exercise of computers, or of languages and design. But at its heart programming is just about people. I bring this up because it's so easy to lose sight of the fact that people are who you're really programming for, and I just need a reminder sometimes. Maybe you do too.