PHP in Practice: Building Real Web Apps the Right Way

Before you start

• You have written PHP that reads a form and talks to MySQL — the Foundations course or equivalent
• You know HTML and basic SQL (SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE with WHERE)
• A local PHP 8 + MySQL setup and a terminal you're comfortable typing in

Curriculum

Lesson 1 is free to read, no account needed. The rest unlock the moment you buy.

1. 1 From a folder of scripts to a front controller Preview free Why one entry point beats forty PHP files, and how to route a URL to code in thirty lines with no framework. 4 min
2. 2 Classes that earn their keep Typed properties, constructors, visibility, static vs instance, readonly — and the honest question of when a class is worth having. 4 min
3. 3 Interfaces, abstract classes and traits — picking the right one Three ways to share behaviour, the one question that decides between them, and a base model that stays small. 4 min
4. 4 Namespaces, Composer and PSR-4 autoloading Replace the hand-written autoloader with Composer, understand what PSR-4 actually says, and add your first dependency without regret. 3 min
5. 5 A proper database layer with PDO One connection, prepared statements everywhere, transactions that actually roll back, pagination that scales, and the N+1 problem — seen and fixed. 3 min
6. 6 Forms at scale — validation, CSRF and flash messages A reusable Validator, errors that appear next to the field, old input that survives a failed submit, and the CSRF token every POST must carry. 3 min
7. 7 Authentication done right password_hash and rehashing, session fixation, a remember-me cookie that can't be forged, login rate limiting, and roles without a permission framework. 4 min
8. 8 Uploads, images and private files Validate by content not extension, store outside the web root, resize with GD, and serve private files through PHP with the right headers. 3 min
9. 9 Email over SMTP and a job queue that runs on shared hosting Why mail() lands in spam, PHPMailer over SMTP, a jobs table with a cron-driven worker, and idempotent jobs that survive being retried. 4 min
10. 10 Building a JSON API JSON in and out, correct status codes, API-key authentication, pagination and filtering, CORS, and the errors format clients can actually handle. 4 min
11. 11 Testing with PHPUnit Unit tests for the pure parts, integration tests against a real test database, data providers, faking the mailer through an interface, and what not to test. 3 min
12. 12 Performance you can measure, and a deploy that survives Fridays Opcache, a query log that exposes N+1, indexes with EXPLAIN, file and APCu caching, error logging, per-environment config, and a repeatable deploy with a rollback path. 5 min

How it works

1. 1 · Buy once

   One payment in your own currency, no subscription. Your account is created from the email you pay with.

2. 2 · Log in and read

   Every lesson opens in your account on any device. Mark each one done and pick up where you left off.

3. 3 · Keep the Word file

   The whole course as a .docx — annotate it, print it, read it offline. Re-download it any time from your orders.

Where this course fits

1. PHP Foundations
2. →
3. PHP in Practice · you are here
4. →
5. Advanced PHP Architecture
6. →
7. AI for PHP Developers

Questions about this course